to be as follows: the bill longer than the head,
straight or slightly curved, compressed at the base, and cylindrical
toward the tips, the upper mandible channeled, the nostrils opening
longitudinally at the base of the bill in the grooves, open through
and through, but in part closed with membrane; legs very stout, bare
of feathers to some distance above the tarsal joints, with three long
toes to the front and one to the rear, articulated on the tarsus, the
front toes free or divided to their bases; the wings of mean length
and rounded, the first quill being shorter than the second, and the
third and fourth the longest in the wing.

The Clapper Rail, or Mud Hen, is one of the most remarkable, and like
its relative, the Corncrake of England, makes its note heard all the
night long. It is fourteen inches in length and eighteen in the
stretch of the wings; the bill is two inches and a quarter long,
slightly bent, and of a reddish-brown color; the upper part is black,
and streaked with dull brown; the chin and streak over the eye are
brownish-white; the fore neck and breast are reddish-brown; the flanks
and vent black, with white tips to the feathers; the coverts of the
wings are dark chestnut-brown, and the tail-feathers and quills dusky,
without any margins; the legs are dull brown, and the irides dark red.
This species is very common, during the summer, through all the
latitudes of the United States, keeping near the sea-coast, as it
prefers the salt marshes to the waters of the interior. It is a very
noisy bird, especially during the night and before rain, which are, of
course, the times when the _molusca crustacea_, and other small
animals, upon which it feeds in the marshes, are in the greatest
activity, and most easy to be obtained.

Wilson's account of the casualties to which it is exposed in the
breeding season, is so graphic, that we shall in part quote it. "About
the twentieth of May," he says, "they usually begin building and
laying at the same time; the first egg being usually dropped in a
slight cavity lined with a little dry grass pressed for the purpose,
which, as the eggs increase to their usual complement, is gradually
added to till 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, to conceal it from the view
above; but this very circumstance enables the experienced egg-hunter
to distinguish the spot a