IN A MISSION PATIO 



tail-feather except the two middle ones, being largest on the 

 outer feathers and decreasing toward the center. The 

 breast was grayish white, the throat dull yellowish, this 

 color extending down on the sides of the breast. The 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts were pure white, and a 

 narrow ring of the same encircled the eye. There were two 

 obscure whitish and buffy bands on the wings and a concealed 

 patch of yellow on the head. The bill and feet were black. 

 The male bird is similar in markings but all the colors are more 

 intensified — especially the patches of yellow and black. In 

 the breeding season the markings of the male bird are still 

 more brilliant and clean cut. This warbler was common about 

 the mission and surrounding country during my stay there — a 

 bright, animated bird with a sharp tsip of a call-note. 



At almost any time of the day we may see from the mission 

 patio the black form of the turkey-buzzard sailing overhead 

 with peerless command of the air. We note the separated tips 

 of the long flight-feathers, giving the wing the appearance of 

 having a frayed edge, the contrast of color between the black 

 body and heavy shoulders, and the wing-quills, which show the 

 sunlight through them, giving a light brownish appearance. 

 The buzzards were well fed, I fear, during our visit to Capis- 

 trano, for the drought was so protracted that the old sheep were 

 not strong enough to nurse their young, and many a Icimb was 

 left by its helpless mother, dead upon the hillsides. 



Then there are the barn-owls which are so inseparable a 

 feature in my memory of the ruins. They occupied the room 

 next to mine — the one containing some of the images which had 

 once graced the church — and when I first heard them bustling 

 about in there in the dark I was inclined to fancy that perhaps 



[1331 



