170 
THE CLAPPER RAIL. 
the latter, many have been shot, and the boatmen intend to make caps or 
their fur. 
In the Carolinas there are some most expert marksmen, of whom I know 
two who probably were never surpassed. One of them I have seen shoot 
fifty Marsh-hens at fifty successive shots, and the other, I am assured, has 
killed a hundred without missing one. I have heard or read of a French 
king, who, on starting a Partridge, could take a pinch of snuff, then point 
his gun, and shoot the bird ; but whether this be true or not I cannot say, 
although I have witnessed as remarkable a feat, for I have seen a Carolinian, 
furnished with two guns, shoot at and kill four Marsh-hens as they flew off 
at once around him ! On speaking once to a friend of the cruelty of 
destroying so many of these birds, he answered me as follows : — “ It gives 
variety to life ; it is good exercise, and in all cases affords a capital din- 
ner, besides the pleasure I feel when sending a mess of Marsh-hens to a 
friend such as you.” 
Clapper Rail, Rallus crepitans , Wi!s. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 112 ; but not the 
figure, which is that of R. elegans. 
Clapper Rail, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 201. 
Clapper Rail or Salt-water Marsh-lien, Rallus crepitans , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. 
iii. p. 33 ; vol. v. p. 570. 
Male, 15, 202. Female, 14, 194. 
Exceedingly abundant from Texas to New Jersey, breeding in all salt- 
water marshes. Few proceed eastward beyond Long Island. Constantly 
resident from the Carolinas southward. Not inland. 
Adult male. 
Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, slightly curved, 
rather deep at the base. Upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight 
until towards the end, where it is slightly curved, the ridge slightly flattened 
for a short space at the base, and extending a little on the forehead, narrow 
and convex to the end ; a deep groove runs on either side parallel to the 
ridge for two-thirds of the whole length ; the edges inflected, with a verj 
slight notch close to the tip. Nostrils lateral, linear, direct, open, and 
pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very long, extremely narrow, 
the sides erect, slightly convex, the edges inflected, the tip narrowed. 
Head small, oblong, much compressed. Neck long and slender. Body 
slender, much compressed. Feet long ; tibia bare a considerable way above 
the joint ; tarsus of moderate length, strong, compressed, and anteriorly 
covered with broad scutella, posteriorly with smaller, and on the sides 
reticulated. Hind toe very small and slender, middle toe longest, fourth 
considerably shorter, aud but little longer than the second ; toes free, scutel* 
