The California Clapper Rail 
No. 302 
California Clapper Rail 
A. 0. U. No. 2io. Rallus obsoletus Ridgway. 
Synonyms.— Salt-water Marsh-hen. Mud-hen. 
Description. — Adult: Above olive-gray or grayish olive, feathers of back, 
scapulars, etc., varied by exposed blackish centers of feathers; forehead and fore-crown 
interspersed with numerous black denuded shafts; a pale tawny or whitish supraloral 
stripe; chin and throat whitish or palest tawny; fore-neck and breast, broadly, uniform 
deep cinnamon; lining of wings, axillars, sides and flanks (broadly, sometimes meeting 
across the middle of belly), and crissum, brownish dusky, coarsely and narrowly barred 
with white; middle of belly pale tawny; lateral under tail-coverts pure white. Bill and 
feet (drying) horn-color. Downy young: Uniform glossy black. Length (av. of io 
San Francisco Bay bird-skins): 368.5 (14.49); wing 163.1 (6.42); bill 60.3 (2.37); tarsus 
54.7 (2.15). 
Recognition Marks. —Small crow size; olive-gray above, reddish below; marsh 
skulking habits. 
Nesting. — Nest: In salt marsh near tide-gut; a more or less bulky crater of 
broken grass-stems or dead stalks of salicornia; usually concealed by overshadowing 
vegetation. Eggs: 7 to 11 (12 of record); creamy white to pale buffy (ivory-yellow 
and cartridge-buff), spotted, boldly and sparingly, with chocolate and dark vinaceous 
gray. Av. of 25 eggs in the M. C. O. Coll.: 42.2 x 30.8 (1.66 x 1.21); index 71.7. 
Season: c. April 10th (March-June); one brood. 
General Range. —Resident on salt marshes tributary to Monterey and San 
Francisco bays. Casually observed north to Humboldt Bay and possibly Gray's 
Harbor, Washington. 
Distribution in California. —Resident in the salt marshes of the southern arm 
of San Francisco Bay and in the vicinity of Elkhorn, Monterey County. Formerly 
occurred on the north side of San Francisco Bay, and has been recorded from Tomales 
Bay and Humboldt Bay. Accidental on the Farallons. 
Authorities.- Newberry ( Rallus elegans), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. vi., 1857, 
p. 96 (San Francisco and Petaluma); Ridgway, Am. Nat., vol. viii., 1871, p. 111 (orig. 
desc. of Rallus elegans, var. obsoletus; type locality, San Francisco); W. E. Bryant, Bull. 
Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. v., 1880, p. 124 (habits, desc. eggs, etc.); Cooke, U. S. Dept. 
Agric., Bull. no. 128, 1914, p. 18, map (distribution); Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, Game 
Birds Calif., 1918, p. 283 (desc., occurrence, habits, etc.). 
SAN FRANCISCO is a comparatively clean city, as cities go; but San 
Francisco Bay mud is the deepest and the blackest and the stickiest—in 
short, the muddiest that ever vexed a poor birdman wanting to get from 
here to yonder across a half-filled tide-gut. The distance across may not 
be over a dozen feet—just a little long for jumping, with an uncertain foot¬ 
hold on either bank. What’s to do? It is miles around this absurd little 
artery of the salt marshes. Shall we try wading? Only once! And never 
again! The mud is unfathomable; and the scuttling crabs, who say it is 
/ 53 ° 
