I8S6.1 EVERMANN Oil Birds of Ventura County, California. l8^ 



150. Guiraca caerulea. (597.) Blue Grosbeak. — Rare. Perhaps a 

 ■summer resident, but I have never seen it except in the spring. 



151. * Passerina amcena. (599-) Lazuli Bunting. — This beautiful 

 little bird is rather common as a summer resident. 



152. Piranga ludoviciana. (607.) Western Tanager. — A. summer 

 resident; not common. It doubtless breeds in the county, although I 

 never succeeded in finding its nest. Arrives from the south about the 23d 

 of April. 



153. * Progne subis. (611.) Purple Martin. — Summer resident; 

 moderately common, nesting usually in holes in trees. It does not seem 

 to have adopted, to any great extent, the custom of nesting in boxes, so 

 common with this species ' back in the States.' 



154. * Petrochelidon lunifrons. (612.) Cliff Swallow. — An abundant 

 summer i-esident. In i88i, a colony of more than a hundred pairs nested 

 in a shed in Santa Paula. The nests were ftistened to the rafters, much 

 after the manner of the Barn Swallow. Many horse-hairs were plastered 

 into the nests and these often caused the death of the builders. I took 

 from this shed some six or eight dead birds which I found hanging about 

 the nests, they having gotten entangled in the hairs. 



155. * Chelidon erythrogaster. (613.) Barn Swallow. — Summer res- 

 ident, but not common. 



156. * Tachycineta bicolor. (614.) Tree Swallow. — Summer resi- 

 dent, abundant. Many breed in holes in the willows near the mouth of 

 the Santa Clara River. 



157. *Tachycineta thalassina. (615.) Violet-green Swallow.— 

 This beautiful Swallow is rather common during the spring migrations. 

 A few remain to breed. 



158. *Clivicola riparia. (616.) Bank Swallow. — Summer resident; 

 locally abundant. 



159. *Stelgidopteryx serripennis. (617.) Rough-winged Swal- 

 low. — Perhaps a common summer resident, but u^ualh' confounded with 

 the preceding. 



160. Ampelis cedrorum. (619.) Cedar Waxwixg. — A frequent 

 winter visitant. Often seen in flocks of six to twenty about the pepper- 

 trees, upon the berries of which they feed. 



161. *Phainopepla nitens. (620.) Piiainopepla. — This is to me one 

 of the most interesting of the birds found in this part of the State. On 

 October 15, 1879, I first met with this species,-— a young male which I 

 found in the valley near Santa Paula. While collecting Gambel's Spar- 

 rows and Spurred Towhees along a brush-fence I obser\ed this bird flying 

 from one stake to another, darting out frequently after some passing in- 

 sect. I saw no others until early in the following May, when I met with 

 a flock of a dozen or more in Santa Paula Caiion. They were feeding 

 upon certain insects then common about the elder and sumac bushes 

 which grow plentifully in that part of the canon. I did not observe 

 them again until August (I was unable to visit the canon during the 

 summer), when I again found them in small flocks feeding upon the ber- 

 ries of the choke-cherry. Here they remained until late in October, when 

 they migrated southward, to return again about the middle of April. On 



