CLAPPER RAIL. 375 
birds, as they are there acknowledged to be more than double in number 
to all other marsh fowl. 
The Clapper Rail, or as it is generally called, the Mud-hen, soon an- 
nounces its arrival in the salt marshes, by its loud, harsh and incessant 
cackling, which very much resembles that of a Guinea fowl. This noise 
is most general during the night ; and is said to be always greatest before 
a storm. About the 20th of May, they generally commence laying and 
building at the same time ; the first egg being usually dropped in a 
slight cavity, lined with a little dry grass, pulled for the purpose, which, 
as the number of the eggs increase to their usual complement, ten, is 
gradually added to, until it rises to the height of twelve inches or more, 
doubtless to secure it from the rising of the tides. Over this, the long 
salt grass is artfully arched, and knit at top, to conceal it from the view 
above : but this very circumstance enables the experienced egg-hunter 
to distinguish the spot at the distance of thirty or forty yards, though 
imperceptible to a common eye. The eggs are of a pale clay color, 
sprinkled with small spots of dark red, and measure somewhat more 
than an inch and a half in length, by one inch in breadth, being rather 
obtuse at the small end. These eggs arc exquisite eating, far surpass- 
ing those of the domestic hen. The height of laying is about the 1st 
of June, when the people of the neighborhood go olf to the marshes an 
egging, as it is called. So abundant are the nests of this species, and 
so dexterous some persons at finding them, that one hundred dozens of 
eggs have been collected by one man in a day. At this time the crows, 
the foxes, and the minxes, come in for their share; but not content 
with the eggs, these last often seize and devour the parents also. The 
bones, feathers, wings, &c, of the poor Mud-hen lie in heaps near the 
hole of the minx ; by which circumstance, however, he himself is often 
detected and destroyed. 
These birds are also subject to another calamity, of a more extensive 
kind. After the greater part of the eggs are laid, there sometimes 
happen violent north-east tempests, that drive a great sea into the bay, 
covering the whole marshes ; so that at such times the Rail may be seen 
in hundreds, floating over the marsh in great distress ; many escape to 
the main land ; and vast numbers perish. On an occasion of this kind 
I have seen, at one view, thousands in a single meadow, walking about 
exposed and bewildered, while the dead bodies of the females, who had 
perished on or near their nests, were strewed along the shore. This last 
circumstance proves how strong the ties of maternal affection are in 
these birds ; for of the great numbers which I picked up and opened, 
not one male was to be found among them ; all were females ! such as 
had not yet begun to sit probably escaped. These disasters do not 
prevent the survivors from recommencing the work of laying and build- 
ing anew ; and instances have occurred, where their eggs have been 
