1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 39 



ally mounting; higher but more often for no other purpose, seemingly, than to 

 allow the stragglers to catch up. Sometimes these birds fly very low, tacking and 

 flapping against the wind ; at other times they sail along far above the earth. 



During 1906, these flights occurred February 22, March 5, and March 17, 

 each being a partly cloudy and very windy day, and although there had been 

 many calm sunshiny days between, not a buzzard was seen during the intervals. 

 On the 17th I happened to be where I had an excellent opportunity to observe 

 them. I do not know how many had passed over before they were noticed, but I 

 counted one hundred and fifty-four of the big fellows within the next half hour. 

 These flights have been observed as early as the first week in February and as 

 late as the third week in March, depending, seemingly, upon the weather. 



Now, the questions that interest me most are these : Where do these partic- 

 tdar birds spend the winter and where do they go after passing this place in the 

 spring? Is this a general migration that extends throughout the southern and 

 central parts of the state? If so, how far north do they go? I shall be very 

 grateful to anyone who will answer any of these questions for me. 



On October 5, 1905, I saw a large number of vultures congregating over- 

 head at a great height, and no sooner would some of them drift away toward the 

 south than another squad would begin to form, and this continued throughout 

 that day and part of the next forenoon. After that date vultures were noticeably 

 scarce, but not altogether absent, in the vicinity of Fresno. The previous year a 

 similar exodus took place on September 21. 



One windy day in March the writer was investigating some willow clumps 

 along the San Joaquin River, and noticed a Turkey Vulture a short distance away 

 perched on a branch of a sycamore that extended over the water. The bird had 

 his back toward me and appeared to be asleep, so I threw a stone toward him, de 

 siring to see what he would do if suddenly disturbed. As the missile crashed 

 through the branches and fell with a splash into the water it produced an efifect 

 both disgusting and amusing. Without even looking around to learn the cause 

 of such a rude awakening the vulture proceeded with all haste to unburden him- 

 self of apparently the greater portion of his last meal. At the same time he 

 sprang into the air and flapped hurriedly out of sight down the river. 



White-tailed Kite. Elanus leiicurus (Vieillot). 



The only record the author has been able to unearth of the occurrence of 

 this bird in any part of the valley was given him by Mr. Chester Lamb, who saw 

 one of the birds flying over the oaks near Laton, on the last Sunday in Maiy, 

 1910. Upon his return from there he told of seeing the Kite and mentioned it 

 as being the first one he had seen since the summer of 1899, when he observed the 

 species near Palo Alto. 



The region about Laton seems better adapted for this bird than any other 

 place in the valley, and the presence of at least one bird of this species during 

 May might indicate that it was breeding there. 



Marsh Hawk. Circus hudsonius (Linnaeus). 



Formerly this hawk was an abundant winter visitant over the lowlands al- 

 most everywhere in the valley, but, like nearly all the birds of prey, it seems 

 unable to withstand the onward march of civilization. It has been much reduced 



