290 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFORNIA 



Marks fok field identification — Same as for California Clapper Rail. In 

 hand may be distinguished from that species by olive brown rather than 

 grayish brown tone on upper surface, deeper cinnamon color of breast, and 

 whitish instead of rusty stripe from bill over eye; also by smaller size, espe- 

 cially of foot and bill (compare figs. 48 and 49). 



Voice — Like that of California Clapper Rail. 



Nest — In salt marshes (usually) along the seacoast; constructed of stems 

 of marsh vegetation. 



Eggs — 6 to 9, ovate to elongate ovate in shape, measuring in inches, 1.69 

 to 1.77 by 1.21 to 1.26 (in millimeters, 42.8 to 45.0 by 30.8 to 32.0), and averag- 

 ing 1.72 by 1.23 (43.7 by 31.3); color creamy white, evenly and rather sparsely 

 spotted and blotched with umber brown and lavender (one set, seven eggs, in 

 Mus. Vert. Zool.). 



General DISTRIBUTION — Coastal region of southern California, and of Lower 

 California south to San Quintin Bay. Casual at Yuma, Arizona. 



Distribution in California — Common resident on salt marshes of southern 

 seacoast, from Santa Barbara to and including San Diego Bay. 



The Light-footed Rail, which inhabits the coastal marshes of south- 

 ern California and Lower California, is so closely similar to the Cali- 

 fornia Clapper Rail that it might be considered merely a southern 

 race of the latter. Neither of them is migratory, and there is a strip 

 of coast nearly two hundred miles in extent between the southern limit 

 of the California Clapper Rail and the northernmost station for the 

 Light-footed Rail. Practically all of the coastal marshes from the 

 vicinity of Santa Barbara south to and including the vicinity of San 

 Diego Bay are inhabited by the present species, and it is also found 

 along the coast of northern Lower California. 



The Light-footed Rail is slightly smaller than the California 

 Clapper Rail, is somewhat darker colored on the back and breast, and 

 the light stripe from the bill over the eye is whitish instead of rusty. 

 Since the ranges are so distinctly separated, these two species are most 

 easily identified by locality, after they have once been determined as 

 Clapper Rails. 



There are no essential differences in the general habits of the two 

 species. The Light-footed Rail, however, has been found breeding in 

 an inland brackish marsh, though, to be sure, this was not far from 

 the seacoast. Willett (1906, p. 151) found a nest in some reeds at the 

 edge of Nigger Slough, Los Angeles County, on May 29, 1906. The 

 nest was a very loose affair, the foundation being composed of decayed 

 tules and reeds, and the upper part, containing the cavity, of broken 

 bits of tule stalks. When first found, the nest contained three fresh 

 eggs, and when reexamined on June 14 it held nine eggs partially 

 incubated. The eggs were creamy white, spotted and blotched with 

 umber and lavender, principally around the large end, the lavender 

 markings having the appearance of being beneath the surface of the 

 shell. The eggs measured 1.56 to 1.61 inches long by 1.12 to 1.16 broad. 



