THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



vol. iv. April, 1887. No. 2. 



ADDITIONS TO THE BIRDS OF VENTURA 

 COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. 



RYJ. G. COOPER, M. D. 



The 'List of Birds observed in Ventura County,' by Professor 

 B. W. Evermann, in 'The Auk' for January and April, 1SS6, 

 compiled from the observations of two years, is very full and 

 probably nearly exhaustive for a short period of observation, 

 comprising, as it does, 202 species, only one of which is consid- 

 ered doubtful by the author, and that one (Empidonax ob- 

 scurus) was obtained by myself. It is, however, doubtful 

 whether such a county list could ever be made complete with- 

 out including ninety per cent of the birds known to inhabit Cali- 

 fornia, or about 325 species. This doubt arises from the fact that 

 Ventura County is situated within the winter range of most of 

 the southward migrants, and also the range northward of most of 

 the southern group of summer visitors, while it extends upward 

 from the ocean level to S500 feet altitude on Mount Pinos, near 

 its extreme northeast corner. 



The chief utility of such a list is, therefore, not to show what 

 species occur in the whole county, but their modes of occurrence 

 and other habits within a limited portion where the author lived. 

 While he worked diligently and made several additions to the 

 known range of certain species, as well as to their known habits, 

 he probably did not observe two-thirds of the species to be found 

 in the county limits, and yet it is one of the smaller counties of 



