CALIFORNIA CLAFPEB BAIL 



285 



The California Clapper Rail makes its permanent home on the salt 

 marshes where the vegetation consists chiefly of pickle- weed {SaU- 

 cornia ambigua) and an evergreen shrub {Grindelia cuneifolia) . Here 

 it may easily be found at any time of the year skulking along the banks 

 of the small muddy sloughs which penetrate the marsh in every 

 direction. 



Its very long and unwebbed toes make large chicken-like tracks 

 spaced about ten inches apart in the soft mud of the slough banks 

 and these are very easy to recognize. The voice, too, is characteristic. 

 It is a harsh, mechanical cackling — chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, or 

 cheek-a-cheek-a-cheek — uttered rapidly for several seconds and sound- 



6995 



Pig. 48. California Clapper Eail. 



Fig. 49. Light-footed Eail. 



Both drawings are natural size and the two serve to show the 

 differences in size of bill between these two closely similar species. 



ing as if two or more birds rather than a single one were participating 

 in its production. When flushed this Rail jumps almost straight up 

 into the air for six or eight feet and then flies off in a clumsy manner, 

 its short narrow wings moving at the rate of two or three beats per 

 second. These flights are usually short, the bird soon dropping down 

 again into the protection of the marsh vegetation. 



Rails in general begin to nest rather early in the year. The breed- 

 ing season of the California Clapper Rail commences about the middle 

 of March, and by the first of April full sets of eggs are to be found. 

 On March 31, 1912, H. W. Carriger (MS) found three sets of nine 

 eggs each, all fresh, on the marshes near Redwood City, San Mateo 

 County. On April 3, 1915, the writers found two fresh sets of nine 

 eggs each on Bay Farm Island, Alameda County. April 18, 1885, 

 Emerson discovered five nests near Hayward, Alameda County, two 



