The Light-footed Rail 
of Norway rats, which infest these marshes and which do not scruple to 
plunder the nests, whatever the stage of incubation reached. 
According to Mr. Chase Littlejohn, still another enemy has arisen to 
make the life of this bird miserable—a certain mussel once imported from the 
East. This thrifty bivalve flourishes and increases enormously in just that 
range which has been from time immemorial the peculiar province of the 
rail; viz., the mud strip just below the line of vegetation on the banks of 
the tide channels. Now the bird must seek its living here or change its 
habits entirely. But the mussel is a sensitive, not to mention a super¬ 
cilious creature, and when our native son steps carelessly, it closes its 
doors with a bang—and often seizes the hapless rail by the toe. 
So common is this, that many specimens with maimed feet or missing 
toes have been taken, and a few have been captured right where they were 
being held captive by the mussels. Others, more fortunate in escaping, are 
nevertheless condemned to drag about a ball on the foot, a mass of dried 
mud and trash of which the mussel is the unyielding nucleus. The bivalve 
apparently never releases its hold, and even in death, which must soon 
occur, does not relax its deathly grasp upon its victim. 
In one instance at least, a bird was seized by the bill, and although it 
was able to wrest the bivalve free from its anchorage, the creature had 
closed upon its beak with such a grip that the bird was unable to get food, 
and was found in a famished and attenuated condition. This specimen 
Mr. Littlejohn has in his collection, a mute reminder of one knows not how 
many scores of similar tragedies. 
No. 303 
Light-footed Rail 
A. O. U. No. 210. i. Rallus levipes Bangs. 
Description. — Adult: Similar to R. obsoletus, but slightly smaller and colora¬ 
tion warmer and darker; breast, etc., cinnamon-rufous instead of cinnamon-brown. 
Bill averaging shorter; feet and legs less robust. Av. of 5 skins: wing 151.1 (5.95); bill 
56.3 (2.22); tarsus 52.7 (2.07). 
Recognition Marks. —As in preceding species; smaller and darker. 
Nesting. — Nest and eggs indistinguishable from those of preceding species. 
Range (chiefly within California).— Resident in coastal marshes from San Quen¬ 
tin, Lower California, north at least to Santa Barbara. 
Authorities.—Henshaw (Rallus obsoletus). Rep. Orn. Wheeler Surv., 1876, 
p. 273 (Santa Barbara); Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. i., 1899, p. 45 
(orig. desc. of Rallus levipes; type locality, Newport Landing, Los Angeles Co.); Willett, 
Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 32 (s. Calif., nesting dates, etc.). 
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