304 GAME BIEVS OF CALIFORNIA 



being very pugnacious, it would come to the open space and be easily- 

 shot. Its flight is said to be swift and more protracted than that of 

 most rails, but it can seldom be driven to take refuge in flight. 



On December 28, 1883, W. E. Bryant secured a specimen of the 

 Yellow Rail at Alvarado, Alameda County. Of this bird it was stated 

 that it was pointed by a dog and picked up in the hand, whereupon 

 it made a noise something like a young chicken (Belding, MS). One 

 of the specimens in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology from the Suisun 

 marshes was captured by a house cat. 



The stomach of a Yellow Rail collected by A. C. Shelton in Rincon 

 Valley, Sonoma County, November 17, 1912, contained eighteen clover 

 seeds (TrifoUum sp.) and a quantity of grass (H. C. Bryant, 1913, 

 p. 92). This is of course insufficient evidence to show that this rail 

 subsists entirely or chiefly upon a vegetable diet. The scarcity of 

 insects at this time of year was probably responsible for the lack of 

 animal matter in this particular stomach. 



The only reason why the Yellow Rail is classed by law as a game 

 bird is because it belongs in the same family with the larger rails 

 which are legitimate objects of pursuit for food and sport. It is 

 altogether too rare and too small properly to take rank as a game bird 

 in this state. As the reader has doubtless already inferred, this bird 

 is so seclusive in its habits that, as yet, very little is known of its life 

 history. 



California Black Rail 



Creciscus coturniculus (Ridgway) 



Other names — Farallon Bail; Forzana jamaicensis ; Creciscus jamaicensis; 

 Porzana jamaicensis coturniculus; Forzana coturniculus. 



Description — Adult male: Whole head, foreneck, and most of under surface, 

 blackish slate, darkest on top of head; iris red; bill blackish; hind neck and 

 back dark chestnut, brightest on hind neck and deepening to black on rump 

 and tail; middle of back, rump, tail and outer surface of closed wing with 

 small sharp dots and short irregular cross-bars of white; scapulars and outer 

 surface of closed wing blackish brown; flight feathers dusky brown sparsely 

 dotted with white; axillars, under surface of wing, and flanks, slaty brown, 

 barred narrowly with white; belly pale slate barred with whitish; under tail 

 coverts slate gray barred with white and more or less tinged with light cinna- 

 mon brown; legs and feet "bright yellowish green" (Audubon, 1842, V, p. 

 158). Total length 5.37 inches (136 mm.) (one specimen); folded wing 2.56- 

 2.81 (65.0-71.3) ; bill along culmen 0.55-0.60 (14.0-15.3) ; tarsus 0.76-0.85 (19.3- 

 21.6) (ten specimens). Adult female: Similar to male, but duller colored on 

 back, and lower surface somewhat lighter in tone, particularly on throat and 

 belly. Folded wing 2.56-2.68 (65.0-68.1); bill along culmen 0.52-0.55 (13.2- 

 14.0); tarsus 0.76-0.83 (19.3-21.1) (ten specimens); all from California. Juvenile 

 plumage: Somewhat lighter in general tone of coloration than that of adults. 

 Natal plumage: Probably as in the Eastern Black Bail which is "entirely 

 bluish Black" according to Baird, Cassin and Lawrence (1858, p. 750). 



