LIGHT-FOOTED RAIL 289 



that formerly diu-iiig liigli tides as many as forty Clapper Rail could 

 easily be killed along Oakland Creek. None of these birds are to be 

 found in that locality at the present time. Accounts generally agree 

 that the California Clapper Rail is much less abundant now than it 

 once was. Even the extended annual close season, in force for a few 

 years and now replaced by total protection, was not sufficient to pro- 

 tect this bird ; for its haunts are so readily accessible to the Bay 

 cities that hunting remained excessive. In 1913, the Federal Migratory 

 Bird Law was passed, and within two years a nuirked increase was 

 observal)le locally on the Alameda County marshes : proof tliat ade- 

 quate protection long enough continued will restore the species. The 

 worst enemy of the rail now remaining is the Norway rat which 

 infests many parts of the salt marshes, and whose depredations during 

 the nesting season have come to our personal notice. 



The California Clapi)er Rail is truly a native of the Golden State, 

 being found nowhere else in the world. It deserves protection on 

 esthetic grounds^ if not on economic ones. It is entirely within possi- 

 bility that at the expii-ation of the present closed term of years, hunt- 

 ing can again be safely allowed — witli of course, a small bag limit 

 and short season. 



Light-footed Rail 



Rallus Icvipes Bangs 



Other names — Southern California Clapper Kail; Clapper Rail, part; Bangs 

 Bail; Bcilhis obsoletus, part. 



Description — Adults, both sexes: Similar to California Clapper Rail, but 

 with back darker and more olive in tone, breast a richer tone of cinnamon, and 

 size slightly smaller. Top and sides of head blackish brown ; top of head 

 with black, bristle-like feather-tips; streak of light cinnamon or dull white 

 from base of bill backwards over eye; chin and throat white, bordered along 

 sides and behind with cinnamon, the latter blending with the darker tones of 

 sides of head and neck; iris dark brown; bill brownish orange at base, dusky 

 along ridge and at tip; rest of upper surface including rump and tail, olive 

 brown broadly striped with blackish; outer surface of closed wing chiefly 

 cinnamon brown; inner secondaries like back, and rest of flight feathers dark 

 brown; axillars and under surface of wing brown barred narrowly with white; 

 foreneck and breast deep cinnamon, fading to buffy white on belly; sides and 

 flanks dark grayish brown barred sharply with white; lower tail coverts like 

 flanks, except for outermost feathers which are white; legs and feet dull orange 

 brown, darkest at joints. Males: Total length 15.00-16.44 inches (.381-417 

 mm.); folded wing 6.08-6.27 (155-160); bill along culmen 2.22-2.37 (56.4-60.2); 

 tarsus 2.24-2..35 (57.0-59.7) (six specimens). Females: Total length 14.75- 

 15.19 (375-386) (four specimens); folded wing 5.48-5.87 (139-149); bill along 

 culmen 2.05-2.14 (52.2-54.3); tarsus 1.98-2.14 (50..3-54.3) (six specimens). 

 Juvenile plumage: Probably similar to that of California Clapper Rail (which 

 see). Natal plumage: Wholly uniform glossy black; bill dusky, with yellowish 

 white band near end, and yellow spot about nostril; feet (dried) blackish. 



