60 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
it over, inch by inch. This is accomplished by a careful swing of the foot, 
which at first is exceedingly tiring, but which grows comparatively easy as 
practice makes it a mechanical action. One thing is interesting as a side light 
on this bird’s shyness, a habit that is a constant aggravation to the collector. 
This is the astonishing ease with which the birds bring themselves to abandon 
incomplete sets when they are discovered. Although I have found several 
incomplete sets, I have in no instance succeeded in collecting a full set from 
the nest at a later date. In every case the bird had deserted when I went back. 
Of course, with the method of search employed, one is bound to kick into some 
of the nests and disturb the surrounding marsh weed before discovering them. 
That a naturally retiring bird should desert under these conditions is, of 
course, not surprising. On at least two occasions, however, I have found nests 
containing incomplete sets by a lucky glimpse of the eggs through an opening 
in the protecting growth above them, while I was still at a considerable dis- 
tance from them. In these cases, I have turned aside without apparently notie- 
Fig. 25. A Farallon Rail in its salt marsh home; photograph of a captive 
ing the nests, and have left the vegetation absolutely untouched in their vicin- 
ity, and yet the result has been the same — desertion ! 
The nature of the food of these birds remained unknown to collectors 
for many seasons, until the fall of 1912, when the stomachs of a small 
series were saved for examination. On close inspection, I found the remains 
of a species of small “bug” that lives very abundantly on the salt marshes 
where the birds were taken. I then gathered a number of these animals and 
sent them to Joseph Grinnell of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, to whom 
I am indebted for forwarding them to the United States National Museum for 
identification. The reply was as follows: “They are Isopod crustaceans be- 
longing to the species Alloniscus mirabilis (Stuxberg).” Appearances to the 
contrary notwithstanding, it’s really just a small bug! I believe this to be the 
chief food of the Rails living in the salt marshes of this region, and as nearly 
all the tidal sloughs abound with these small creatures, the food problem can- 
not he a serious one for the birds. 
Several collectors have spoken to me in regard to the migration of these 
