The Light-footed Rail 
THERE IS no such conspicuous difference between this species and 
the northern bird as is indicated by the name levipes , although the feet of 
the females do average slightly smaller than those of obsoletus. Levipes is 
just as surely a “Clapper” Rail, and this fact should be recognized in 
nomenclature. Inasmuch as this species was described from a beach near 
Los Angeles, and inasmuch as Los Angeles is entitled by divine edict 
(which no one hitherto has presumed to cjuestion) to everything in sight, 
I respectfully propose for this nimble-footed creature the name Los An¬ 
geles Clapper Rail. The San Francisco Clapper Rail is manifestly obsole¬ 
tus , but the Los Angeles Clapper Rail, if not strictly levipes, is at least 
levicor, as becomes a true-hearted son of the South. 
Whatever might be the size, or weight, of our Clapper Rail’s feet after 
a bath, they sustain an emphatic increase whenever the bird essays to wade 
in the muck. Mucking is the serious business of life, but the Rails react to 
it as variously as people might. The first bird I ever saw, at Sandyland, 
was a sorry-looking slattern at best. She had been dabbling as well as 
wading, and while her feet were several sizes too large for her, as might be 
expected, her face was completely masked in muck, a veritable Dolores 
of the Swamps. 
Taken in San Diego 
1534 
NEST AND EGGS OF LIGHT-FOOTED RAIL 
Photo by D. R. Dickey 
