The Clapper Rail, 
Or Mud Hen, Marsh or Meadow Hen, 
(. Rallus longirostris crepitans .) This bird, 
which answers equally well to any of the 
above names, is found in certain parts of 
, the great salt meadows along the coasts of 
New Jersey and Long Island in large 
numbers. Being a very shy bird, living 
along the creeks of the salt meadows 
where few men go early in the year, its 
habits, time of coming and going, &c., 
are not well known. It is supposed they 
travel at night. The time of arrival on 
Long Island is dependent on the season, 
but from the 1st to the 15th of May is the 
time they are first seen. Their food con- 
sists of worms, aquatic insects, &c. They 
form a group apart from the other Rails 
during the breeding season and are not 
very sociable, but, on the contrary, exceed- 
ingly shy. Instinct does much for these 
as well as other birds, and knowing liow 
the wonderful powers of man are directed 
toward their destruction, or to obtaining 
their eggs, they are obliged to carefully 
hide their nests under some tuft of grass, 
left standing from the previous year, or 
among the reeds, where they are entirely 
hidden from the Hawks and Owls and their 
worst enemy, man. They make but little 
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