76 General Notes. [^J 



had the appearance of being new arrivals. Wind strong south by west. 

 In the afternoon a severe squall with rain lasted three hours, then cleared 

 with wind west. 



September 17. I drove over the eastern portion of the island but did 

 not see any birds. 



September iS. Clear weather, strong west winds; drove over the west- 

 ern part of the island; saw no birds. 



September 19. Rainy day, wind south by west and southwest; drove 

 out but saw no birds. At six and a half o'clock p. m. it cleared with wind 

 west. 



September 20. Hazy; a smoky southwester. I was all over the western 

 ground, but failed to discover any birds. From this date until October 4, 

 I drove more or less over the best ground, and saw other sportsmen 

 dailv, but no birds were noted except on September 24, when a flock of 

 six young American Golden Plover were seen towards the west. These 

 were the //V.v/ and only young birds noted this season. I made inquiry of 

 two Edgartown (Martha's Vineyard) sportsmen regarding the birds in 

 their locality and was told that only about a dozen scattering Plover and 

 four or Ave Eskimo Curlew had been taken. They told me that on the 

 iit\ of August some Plovers were seen passing high up over the town 

 (Edgartown) but none stopped. 



Summary. — The great scarcity of these birds this season is shown when 

 I state that only fourteen Golden Plover and one Eskimo Curlew have 

 heiii shot on Nantucket, and only a dozen of the former and four or five of 

 the latter at Edgartown, a record unexampled, I think, for twenty years. 

 In considering the reasons for this scarcity of birds the present season, 

 I must account for it theoretically as due in part to the continued fair 

 weather and favorable migrating conditions which prevailed prior to the 

 20th of August, as also to the long threatening weather which seemed to 

 precede for several days all the storms which prevailed during the migrat- 

 ing period this season. The birds probably adapted their migratory 

 movements to such conditions. I have remarked of late years that it is 

 to the sudden local storms which occur while they are on passage along 

 this coast that their presence nowadays is due, such conditions forcing 

 them to seek shelter temporarily from the inclement weather. — George 

 H. Mackay, Nantucket, Mass. 



The California Vulture in the San Gabriel Range, California. — In 



the San Gabriel Range, Sept. 25, 1893, I saw and shot at a California 

 Vulture. When I first saw the Vulture it was about 350 feet away, across 

 a gulch, perched on a fir stub about 40 feet from the ground. Mr. F. Hawley 

 of Los Angeles was with me. The bird had heard us talking, and heard 

 us shoot, but did not fly. I walked up to within 15 or 20 yards before it 

 decided to leave. I then fired. At the report it pitched oil" the perch and 

 down into a narrow, crooked canon below, the large white triangular area 

 under the wings showing plainly as the wings were spread. We searched 



