PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 547 



The female, while incubating, was very wary, slipping quietly away 

 from the nest and returning to it very stealthily, below the tops of the 

 reeds. 



The 1st of April I discovered four of these birds in a marsh, in which 

 was a rank growth of tide, flags, and reeds. Having shot one of them, 

 and the others were not molested, they remained in the marsh until May 

 15, or later. This marsh, the only one seen during the winter, harbored 

 several species not elsewhere noticed, among them Porzana Carolina. 

 On one side of the marsh a lagoon or pond of fresh water, of 10 or 15 

 acres extent, was the resort of numerous gulls, ducks, and waders. 



April 29 I noticed, for the first time during this visit to Lower Cali- 

 fornia, Progne suhis, Petrochelidon lunifrons, and Cypselus saxatiUs cir- 

 cling over the lagoon. It is a question whether these birds came from 

 the mountains of the peninsula or from the mainland. 



May 1, while on the beach, a very large, compact flock of NumeniuH 

 hudsonlcus was, with the aid of a field-glass, discovered in the distance, 

 rapidly approaching from the south. After sweeping in large circles 

 over the lagoon, thus enabling me to shoot several of them, they alighted. 

 They appeared to be w^eary as well as strange birds. The following 

 morning, as I could not find the flock, my impression was it had re- 

 sumed the journey northward. 



That the birds of Lower California breed regularly in spring 1 have 

 no doubt. The first nests ol)served were Pandmi-liaUaetus caroUnensis, 

 Espiritu Santo Island, February 1 ; Auriparm flaviceps, La Paz, Feb- 

 ruary 27 (nest in this case unfinished); Calypte costa;, La Paz, March 2, 

 {bird setting). 



With the single exception of a juvenile "or dwarfed LophorUjx califor- 

 niea, shot January 25, at Pichalinque Bay, and which was apparently 

 but six or eight weeks old, no young birds were seen until April 14, 

 when a brood of PoUoptila plumhea just out of the nest were observed. 



May 17, the last day of my stay at San Jose, I saw the following spe- 

 cies, besides well-known residents : 



1. Progne subis (L.). 

 Common. 



2. Molothrus ater obscurus (Gm.). 

 Rarely seen in ]May. 



3. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.), 

 Rarely seen in May. 



4. Cypselus saxatilis Woodh. 

 Rare ; no specimen taken here. 



5. Polyborus cheriway (Jacq.). 

 AJjundant. 



6. Pandion haliaeiius carolinensis (Gm.). 

 Common. 



