The Clapper Rail again in Massachusetts. — I have the pleasure ot 
hereby presenting for record a third example of Rallns longirostris crepi- 
tans obtained in this State; and' at a remarkably late date in the season. 
The bird was taken in a small pond-hole in ‘Rocky Nook,’ Kingston, on 
Dec. 29, 1885. It was in fair condition, showing no sign of being crippled. 
It is now in possession of W. C. Hathaway of Plymouth, to whom I am 
indebted for above particulars. 
The dates and places of the previous authentic records are : May 4, 1875, 
Boston Harbor ( Purdie , Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1877, p. 22), and October, 
1879. Plymouth ( Brewster , Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1881, p. 62). F. C. 
Browne, Framingham, Mass. Auli, 4 , Oct, 188 7 • p, s \3 HH • 
The Clapper Rail again in Massachusetts. — I have the pleasure of 
hereby presenting for record a third example of R alius longirostris crepi- 
tans obtained in this State ; and at a remarkably late date in the season. 
The bird was taken in a small pond-hole in ‘Rocky Nook,’ Kingston, on 
Dec. 29, 1885. It was in fair condition, showing no sign of being crippled. 
It is now in possession of W. C. Hathaway of Plymouth, to whom I am 
indebted for above particulars. 
The dates and places of the previous authentic records are : May 4, 1877, 
Boston Harbor {Purdie, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1877, p. 22), and October,’ 
1879. Plymouth {Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1881, p. 62).— F. C. 
Browne, Framingham, Mass. CUJtC. I ? &6C, /Jf^7 / . 3^ 
7 /U /> ffiyjr / I?rorn tlle 28th day of last August until about the 20th day of Septem- 
i her a water bird, which I suppose to have been a Clappe r Rail, located 
itself and remained among the wild oats that grow on the muddy banks 
of the Connecticut River upon the shore directly opposite the city of 
Springfield. During calm days the call of the bird, which very much 
resembles that of the common Guineahen, could be distinctly heard 
from this side of the river, a distance of more than a quarter of a mile. 
Au/t, °l H'C™' 
np.gjd. 
All my attempts at capture failed, although I approached within a few 
feet of the bird. I know of but one Clapper Rail having been taken in 
this vicinity. U). Ulf rrv*! , - 
A Second Massachusetts Specimen of the Clapper Rail {Ral- 
lies longirostris). — Mr, Arthur Smith has shown me a fine specimen of 
the Clapper Rail which he shot late in October, 1879, at Gurnet Point, 
Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a dark colored example in full fall 
plumage. It was killed on a salt marsh where another large Rail supposed 
to be of the same species was seen at the same time. After the expunging 
of the old-time records the Clapper Rail was first reinstated as a bird o°f 
Massachusetts by Mr. H. A. Purdie in this Bulletin for January, 1877. A 
year later Dr. Brewer published* a notice of what would at firstreading seem 
to be a second specimen, for no reference is made to Mr. Purdie’s previous 
record and the date of capture is given as May, 1876; but upon looking 
up the bird in the “ New England Collection ” of the Boston Society I 
find it to be the same as that upon which Mr. Purdie based his data. 
Oddly enough Dr. Brewer apparently makes a similar blunder with 
Rallus elegans when he gives a specimen ( 1 . c.) as “ shot in Nahantin the 
spring of 1876,” with the remark that there is “no previous record for 
New England, except West Haven, Conn.” The latter statement is 
obviously incorrect, for the presence of the King Rail in Massachusetts 
had been made known by Mr. Purdief a year previously, and, if I am not 
greatly mistaken, Dr. Brewer’s specimen and the bird taken by Welch 
“at Nahant, Nov. sr, / 8 yj,” are identical. — William Brewster, Cam- 
bridge , Mass. 
* “ Notes on certain species of New England 
the Birds of New England. By T. M. Brewer.' 
Vol. XIX, Feb. 6, 1878. 
t Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. II, Jan., 1877, p. 
Birds with Additions to his Catalogue of, 
Proc. of the Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist., 
22 . 
Bu& N.O.O, C.Jan,, 1881, p. . 
?3 
