274 BULirETIN 135^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A. J. van Rossem writes me that he once — 



Found a nearly completed nest, from which the bird was flushed, in a clump 

 of spear grass {Scirpus) . Because of the dense growth of the stems, the nest 

 was about 18 inches from the ground. This is the only occasion which has come 

 to notice where the nest was off the ground. 



Eggs. — The eggs of the light-footed rail are practically indistinguish- 

 able from those of the California clapper rail. The measurements 

 of 40 eggs average 44.6 by 31 millimeters; the eggs showing the four- 

 extremes measure 49.1 by 31, 44.9 by 32.3, 41.6 by 30.9, 48 by 29.7 

 millimeters. 



Young. — A. M. Ingersoll has sent me the following notes: 



Both sexes incubate. I have seen young when alarmed by my presence seek 

 concealment by placing their heads in crab holes and cavities on a rather steep 

 mud bank, also under pieces of driftwood and other rubbish. Young light-footed 

 rails are able to swim on the day of birth. On one occasion an old rail with 

 swaying head and quivering wings stood some 25 feet from me, and about the 

 same distance from a nest with six babies, facing me; a few rapid notes were 

 uttered, evidently family instructions, for the young scrambled from their nest 

 and five of them slowly made their way over several yards of oozy mud, across- 

 water of a tide stream and up the bank to a patch of weeds. The anxious par- 

 ent did not take wing or apparently cease to look at me until the five young were 

 safely concealed. One frail baby only got a few inches away from the nest; and 

 two of the swimmers were so exhausted that the tidal current carried them some 

 distance away from their companions. 



Plumages. — The molts and plumages of the light-footed rail are 

 apparently similar to those of the California clapper rail, to which it 

 is closely related. 



Behavior. — I also have the following interesting notes from J. 

 Eugene Law : 



The secretiveness of this species renders it hard to find but when the annual 

 highest tides come it is literally floated up out of its cover and becomes conspic- 

 uous. I collected specimens on such a tide on December 7, 1915. When I ar- 

 rived the water was already over most of the salieornia leaving only thin patches 

 of cover. Perhaps 50 or more light-footed rails were seen in the course of two 

 hours. As I rowed about they swam frantically toward such cover as was in 

 sight, and would "freeze" along side any projecting grass or weed, but their 

 bodies silhouetted conspicuously on the glassy water. They swam with awkward, 

 chickenlike movements of the head, forward and back, and when pressed too hard 

 rose into the air and flew some distance before dropping heavily into the water. 

 As this rarely happened until the boat was within gun range, they were at the 

 mercy of the gunner. They could not swim so fast quite as I could row a small 

 flat bottomed skis'. 



The clear water only a foot or so deep over the salieornia aff'orded a splendid 

 opportunity to observe two which were wing-tipped, and which dove when pressed 

 too closely. They went straight down, poking their head into the salieornia where 

 they apparently held on by means of their beaks, for their bodies were in plain 

 sight with legs and feet sticking up. Here they invariably stayed until uncon- 

 scious, when their hold would relax and they would come to the surface feet first, 

 to lie for a moment before regaining consciousness. One of them got partly 



