DIVISION EIGHT — SCIENCE. 5^9 



and burr-clover is abundant, this bird is a strict vegetarian. It is a great 

 ravager of gardens and vineyards ; it will touch almost nothing but grapes, 

 if it can get them ; and the amount of white grapes a quail can eat in a day 

 is amazing." 



Pigeon. — Of the pigeon family we have two species. The mourning 

 dove, or, as it is commonly called, the "turtle dove," is the same as the 

 eastern bird. They are hunted a great deal, and often congregate in flocks 

 in weed-patches and stubble fields, where they obtain their food. The 

 mourning dove breeds from January to September. The eggs are sometimes 

 laid on the ground, but usually the frail nests are built in the bushes and 

 trees. 



The band-tailed pigeon, or as here called the " wild pigeon," is a large 

 bird — even larger than a tame pigeon. It is most numerous in the winter, 

 and subsists mainly on acorns, being most abundant where the largest 

 supply of its food is situated. They usually remain in the mountains, but 

 when the snow comes low down, or the acorn crop is short, they come to 

 the oak groves in the valleys. lyarge numbers are sometimes shot around 

 Santa Anita. The band-tailed pigeon retires to the farther ranges to breed, 

 though a few have been observed to remain in the vicinity of Oak Knoll as 

 late as June. 



Vulture. — The turkey vulture is the same as the eastern "turkey 

 buzzard." It is a notorious scavenger, being most common in cattle-raising 

 regions. About here they are very common, and a landscape is hardly 

 complete without two or three sailing slowly overhead. They breed in the 

 hills to the west of Pasadena, and lay two spotted eggs on the ground under 

 some rock or bush. [See "Buzzard Cliff," page 374.] 



The California vulture [or condor] is one of the rarest birds, as it is 

 seldom seen, and then only in the mountains. It has the general appear- 

 ance of the turkey vulture, but is very much larger, having a stretch of 

 nine feet and even more, and a length of four and one-half feet.' It is thus 

 fully as large as the condor of South America. It is said that fifty years 

 ago the California condor was very common ; but the cattle-men by poison- 

 ing carcasses in order to exterminate wild beasts, also killed great numbers 

 of the vultures, and thus this species became very scarce. 



Note. — This monarch of American birds is so rare a creature as to be 

 worthy of some further notice. In 1888 there was an organization called 

 the "Pasadena Academy of Sciences," of which Wm. ly. Vail was secre- 

 tary ; and in reply to some inquiries by him, Prof. C. F. Holder wrote : 



" The bird you kindly allowed me to see is a rarity in this section, and 

 is the largest North American bird. It is known commonly as the California 

 vulture or condor, and to science as '' PseudogrypJuis Calif orniamis.''' The 

 bird takes the place in this country of the great condor of the Andes, 

 and probably rivals it in size, attaining a breadth of wing of ten feet. It 

 was unknown until the settlement of California, and is now known to range 



