Notes from Field and Study 



isi 



the sights we saw would probably be im- 

 possible now anywhere else on the Atlan- 

 tic coast north of Chesapeake Bay, so 

 I thought it might interest readers of • 

 Bird-Lore to give in brief the results of 

 the two trips, especially as few ornitholo- 

 gists seem to have visited the island at 

 those seasons of the year. 



It was with no small amount of satis- 

 faction that, on November 26, we looked 

 into one pond and almost at a glance saw 

 American Megansers, Baldpates, Red- 

 heads and Ruddy Ducks, swimming by, 

 fifty yards off shore. The entire absence 

 of the so-called "fresh-water" Ducks in 

 March was compensated for by a flock of 

 some 2,000 Brant. They were standing 

 in the marshes of the North Shore Inlet, 

 and, when they flew up in great masses, 

 many thousand ducks which covered the 

 waters of the inlet took alarm and flew up 

 too. For fully five minutes the air was 

 black with waterfowl, flying east, west, 

 north and south, the Ducks quacking and 

 the Geese honking; then they formed in 

 one great flock and streamed out to sea. 

 The majority were Black Ducks, Whistlers 

 and Buffleheads, but there were probably 

 many other species. It certainly was a 

 wonderful and impressive sight. B3- far 

 the most abundant Duck in March was 

 the Whistler, and hardly five minutes 

 passed, during the whole day, when we 

 did not see some. They were in the bay, 

 in the ponds and inlets, in the ocean, or 

 sitting in hundreds along the beach, and 

 from the highest hills in the center of the 

 island we could hear the musical" whistling 

 of their wings out at sea. 



Land-birds were comparatively scarce 

 on both trips. Four Fish Hawks and a 

 great Blue Heron were noted in ^Nlarch. 

 On November 26, thirteen Great Blue 

 Herons were seen, eleven of them in one 

 flock. Below I give a list of the waterfowl 

 seen on both trips, with an approximation 

 of their numbers, which will probably 

 seem greatly exaggerated; but every 

 effort was used to be accurate, and it is 

 likely that the eye, entirely untrained to 

 such numbers, is unable to take in the 

 real amount. 



Species March 24 Xov. 26 



American Merganser . 25 



Red-breasted Merganser . 25 100 



Mallard i 



Black Duck .... 2,000 2,000 



Baldpate 100 



Redhead 6 



American Scaup Duck . 200 25 



Whistler 10,000 150 



Bufflehead 5° -7 



Old-squaw 5, 00° -5° 



American Scoter ... 10 3 



White-winged Scoter . 500 1,000 



Surf Scoter 500 150 



Ruddy Duck ... . 12 



Brant 2,000 



— Ludlow Griscom, Xeii' York City. 



Some Nesting Notes 



The following notes are the result of 

 two days' observations, — one day in the 

 Puente and Coyote Hills, and the other 

 in the willow bottoms of the San Gabriel 

 River. 



On May i, 1910, I found the following 

 nests: Two California Jay nests, one in 

 an oak tree 4 feet from the ground, 

 shallow-bowl-shaped, a foundation of dry 

 oak twigs lined with dark brown plant 

 fiber, contained three young just hatched 

 and one egg just hatching. The other 

 nest was six feet from the ground similar 

 in construction and lined with the same 

 plant fiber; it contained five young, 

 partly feathered out. 



Several Red-wing Blackbird nests in 

 the La Habra Valley, along Coyote 

 Creek. A typical one was in a weed at the 

 edge of the water, two feet above the 

 water level, composed of dry grass, and 

 contained three well-incubated eggs. 



In the Coyote Hills I found the follow- 

 ing: A California Linnet's nest in a tree 

 tobacco plant beside the road, six feet 

 from the ground, of weed stems and twigs 

 lined with small cottony leaves of muUen, 

 contained four well-incubated eggs. 



A Thrasher's nest, species undeter- 

 mined, in a sage-bush two and one-half 

 feet from the ground, bowl-shaped, of 

 coarse sticks lined with rootlets contained 



