60 



THE OOLOGIST 



SOME NOTES ON THE LIGHT- 

 FOOTED RAIL 



(Rallus levipes. A. 0. U. No. 210.1) 

 The above species is one of the fast 

 disappearing birds of California. Al- 

 ways a very locally distributed 

 species. It is, or rather was confined 

 to the very few tidal marshes and la- 

 goons of Southern California. The bird 

 approximates in habits the eastern 

 Clapper Rail, but unlike its eastern 

 relative never to my own knowledge, 

 nests in tall grass, as we very often 

 found the Clapper Rail doing. The 

 salicornia or "pickle weed" seems to 

 be essentia! to the Light-footed Rail 

 for a place to build its home. I Liav.^. 

 fcund its nest within two feet of the 

 tidal marsh, to a good half mile away, 

 but the later nest which was situated 

 in the center of a very large tract ^.r 

 dry marsh, occupied a place under the 

 only clump of salicornia within sighi. 



A favorite place for the nest is 'ai- 

 der a thick growing clump or mat of 

 salicornia, and quite often upon a little 

 rise in the ground, but very many of 

 the nests I have fcund personally were 

 simply hollows scratched out under- 

 neath the pickle-weed where it grew 

 absolutely level, and there was noth- 

 ing at all to differentiate the nesting 

 site from the growth around it. The 

 nest proper is usually a thick mat of 

 sea-weed, saicornia, and plant stems, 

 with a rather shallow depression on 

 top for the eggs; excepting for rhe 

 very top layer of sea-weed, the whole 

 mass is more or less soaked a'nd must 

 be well dried in the oven before being 

 fit for the cabinet if collected. In the 

 majority of nests which have come 

 under my observation, the space im- 

 mediately surrounding the nest was 

 covered with empty periwinkle shells. 

 These must be carried by the birds 

 from the water ways where they 

 abound, to the nest and eaten there. 

 In a few instances I have found well 



defined runways leading through the 

 vegetation to the nests, but never 

 covered over, as is often the case with 

 some of our other Rails, for one in- 

 stance there were three of these trails, 

 each leading directly to the nest. My 

 tape line gave the longest two hun- 

 dred and eighty-seven feet. This was 

 unusual though, as most nests could 

 with difficulty be found only by poking 

 around under the salicornia. The 

 birds, as a' rule, are very shy and slip 

 away at the approach of danger; an 

 exception to this was a female who 

 stuck to her nest till I poked her with 

 my stick. She half rose in her nest 

 and faced me with a snapping beak, 

 and when she finally decided it was no 

 use, she scheeched loudly when she 

 flew, being unfamiliar with the Ral- 

 line language I don't know just what 

 kind of a tongue lashing I got, but I'll 

 bet it was a "dandy." 



On May 4, 1920 I found a female 

 with seven newly hatched young. As 

 I came closer the mother fiew into the 

 slough nearby and swam swiftly 

 across. Five of the young followed 

 her, but two of them seemed afraid 

 to make the attempt. I finally succeed- 

 ed in catching one of these and held 

 it awhile to examine. It was jet black 

 with brilliant yellow eyes, and kept up 

 a constant "cheeping" but seemed in 

 no wise greatly frightened, but cuddled 

 down into my half-closed hand as if 1 

 was its mother sheltering it. During 

 this time the other little fellow in the 

 grass kept up the same "cheep, cheep, 

 cheep" and the female swam back 

 across the slough very excited and 

 several times simulated a bird with a 

 broken wing in the water. When I 

 put the young one in the water it swam 

 to the mother and soon after the other 

 one also swam across and the whole 

 family disappeared under the thick 

 growing salicornia of the opposi*'e 

 bank. 



The species nest from April till 



I 



