I 20 Merriam, Some Birds of Southern California. [April 



Sayornis nigricans. Black Phcebe. — April 30, 1S89, I found three 

 eggs in the nest of a Black Phcebe five feet down in a deserted well. 

 Before the eggs hatched, a pump was put down the well and water pumped 

 up every day, but the birds did not desert the nest. In 1S94 a pair of 

 Phoebes built inside a whitewashed lath chicken house. The nest, made 

 of large pellets of mud like a Swallow's, was plastered against a board in 

 the peak of the chicken house. 



Contopus richardsonii. Western Wood Pewee. — June 29, 1894, a 

 Wood Pewee was brooding in a small oak, having moved from its first at- 

 tempted nest in the top of a high oak, probably driven away by Blue Jays. 



Aphelocoma californica. California Jay. — The flight of these Jays 

 is often undulating. Mr. Merriam told me that he had frequently seen 

 them carrying acorns. One year they took them from the oaks by the 

 house to a side canon half or three-quarters of a mile distant. Forty or 

 fifty of them were at work, straggling along a few at a time, all day long 

 for a period of a week or more. Sometimes they had two acorns in their 

 bills. In Moosa Canon the Jays carried the nuts from the bottom of the 

 canon to the sides of the hills above ; and at another place, near Ocean- 

 side, they carried them four miles, from the oaks of the valley to the 

 chaparral of a mesa. 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. Ykllow-iieaded Blackbird. — I 

 saw large flocks of them on the mustard seven miles west of the valley, 

 and found one in the vineyard with Brewer's Blackbirds and Redwings. 



Icterus cucullatus nelsoni. Arizona Hooded Oriole. — April 23, 1889, 

 a pair were building in an oak beside a ranch-house. They made their 

 entire nest of the orange-colored parasitic vine, the dodder of the meadows. 



Scolecophagus cyanocephalus. Brewer's Blackbird. — They usually 

 began building about March 2$. They nested familiarly in the oaks 

 beside a house and also in sycamores. When the vineyard was being 

 cultivated, all the Blackbirds of the valley, both Brewer's and Redwings, 

 assembled to follow the plow. 



Mr. Merriam told me that he had seen flocks of perhaps five hundred 

 Blackbirds, of both species, fly down and light upon the backs of a band 

 of grazing sheep. At such times a few of the birds would pick out wool 

 for their nests, bracing themselves on the backs of the sheep and pulling 

 where the wool had been loosened by the scab. He had also seen the 

 birds ride hogs, horses and cattle, but he said the horses usually switched 

 them oft. 



Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis. House Finch. — The commonest 

 bird in the valley, building about the houses more familiarly than Robins. 



Chondestes grammacus strigatus. Lark Sparrow. — Seen frequently 

 in the orchards. Its song resembles that of the Song Sparrow, but is 

 richer and has a purring quality that characterizes it. Saw one carrying 

 building materials, April 9, 18S9. 



Habia melanocephala. Black-headed Grosbeak. — The Grosbeak 

 has a marked habit of song flight. At its best, with the exception of the 



