14 



THE OSPREY. 



Gaiilornia Departiiieni 



Edited by DONALD A. COHEN, 

 Alameda, Cal. 



All Ornitholog-ists west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains will favor the editor of this Department, 

 as well as the publishers of The Ospkky, by 

 furnishing- notes, news, or articles and illustra- 

 tions for publication. 



THE Cooper Ornitholog-ical Club of 

 California (with reference to +he 

 northern division ) is doing- active 

 work, and, as nearly all the members of 

 this division who live near enough to at- 

 tend the meetings 

 regularly reside 

 in Alameda and 

 Santa Clara coun- 

 ties, it was de- 

 cided at the Aug- 

 ust meeting to get 

 up a list of birds 

 occurring in these 

 two counties. 



Messrs. Barlow 

 and Osgood were 

 chosen to g^et up 

 the Santa Clara 

 county list, and 

 Messrs. Bryant, 

 Emerson, Taylor 

 and Cohen to g^et 

 up the Alameda 

 county list. As 

 a spirit of rivalry 

 existed between 

 the two commit- 

 tees as to whose 

 list would include 

 the larg-er number 

 of birds, a dinner 

 was staked on the 

 result. Santa 

 Clara county is 

 rich in bird life, 

 the California 

 Condor ( Pscmio- 

 gryp/ins ( a/ifor- 

 niaiiiis) occur- 



ring, but Alameda count}- is ecjually pro 

 ductive, and when we inclvule our long 

 list of bay-shore birds we ought to "take 

 the cake." 



THE exceeding-ly common House 

 Finch occurred this year in Ala- 

 meda with no visible decrease, yet. 



on a farm and orchard of over 100 acres, 

 where I usually' find their nests g-alore, 

 only three were found this season. In 

 former 3-ears nests of this bird were per- 

 sistently torn down with but little success 

 toward driving these fruit pests away. 

 Why they should suddenly refuse to nest 

 in this locality, I am at a loss to know, 

 for on neig-hboring land they were as 

 common as ever. 



ANYONE collecting- egg-s of the 

 Cormorants where eg-g-eating- Gulls 

 abound would do well to cover the 

 partial sets with grass or seaweed. This 

 method insures full sets at the proper 

 date. The Cormorant is a close sitter, 



but the Gulls are 

 apt to destro3'the 

 eg-g-s before she 

 Can g-et back to 

 nest. This trick 

 is about the only 

 way to obtain full 

 sets of Baird's, 

 Brandt's and Far- 

 allone Cormor- 

 ants on the Far- 

 allone Islands. 



THE Western 

 Robin, a 

 usually 

 abundant winter 

 resident in this 

 part of Califor- 

 nia, was practic- 

 ally absent last 

 winter. Only a 

 very few were 

 seen. The year 

 before found them 

 extra plentiful. 



FEBRUARY 

 11th, acom- 

 mission 

 house in San 

 Francisco had for 

 sale, alive, two 

 Whistling Swans 

 in adult plumag-e, 

 and about twenty- 

 five Brant, American White-fronted, and 

 Snow Geese. The last two species were 

 colored in some cases as if they had in- 

 terbred, sug-g-esting- that they had been 

 reared in captivit}-. All were unusually 

 tame, and attracted a g-reat deal of curi- 

 osity. 



DONALD A. COHKN, KDITOK CALIFORNIA DICPT. 



