THE CLAPPER RAIL. 
165 
Length to end of tail 19 inches, to end of claws 26, extent of wings 25 ; 
bill 2f ; tarsus 2i, middle toe and claw 2}f ; wing from flexure 7, tail 2£. 
Weight 1 lb. 9 oz. 
Adult Female. 
The female, which is smaller, is similar to the male, but has the tints 
somewhat duller. 
Length to end of tail 18 inches, to end of claws 221, extent of wings 24. 
Weight 1 lb. 2 oz. 
Young in autumn. 
The young in autumn and fully fledged resemble the female, but are 
duller in their colours. 
THE CLAPPER RAIL, OR SALT-WATER MARSII-HEN. 
Rallus crepitans, Gmec. 
PLATE CCCX. — Male and Female. 
Although this species is a constant resident, and extremely abundant along 
the salt-marshes and reedy sea-islands of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 
Alabama, and Louisiana, to the mouths of the Mississippi, and probably 
farther south, at all seasons of the year, it leaves these districts in considerable 
numbers in spring, and extends its movements along the Atlantic shores as 
far as the Middle States. They confine themselves entirely to the salt- 
marshes in the immediate vicinity of the Atlantic, the islands and the chan- 
nels between them and the main shores, but are never seen inland or on 
fresh waters, unless when, during high tides, they remove to the margins 
of the main, where, indeed, during heavy gales and high seas, these poor 
birds are forced to take refuge, in order to escape the destructive fury of; 
the tempest that, notwithstanding their utmost exertions, destroys great 
numbers of them. On all such occasions the birds appear greatly intimidated 
and stupified, and as if out of their proper element. Those individuals which 
leave the south for a season, reach the shores of New Jersey about the 
middle of April, and return to the Southern States about the beginning of 
October, to spend the winter along with their young, after which period 
Yol. Y. 23 
