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PREFATORY NOTE. 



THE notes contained in this book were taken 

 from March to May, 1889, and from March to 

 July, 1894, at Twin Oaks in southern California. 

 Twin Oaks is the post-office for the scattered 

 ranch-houses in a small valley at the foot of one 

 of the Coast Ranges, thirty-four miles north of 

 San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific. 



As no collecting was done, there is doubt 

 about the identity of a few species; and their 

 names are left blank or questioned in the list 

 of birds referred to in the text. In cases where 

 the plumage of the two sexes is practically iden- 

 tical, and only slight mention is made of the 

 species, the sexes have sometimes been arbitra- 

 rily distinguished in the text. 



Several of the articles have appeared before, 

 in somewhat different form, in ' The Auk,' * The 

 Observer,' and ' Our Animal Friends ; ' all the 

 others are published here for the first time. 



The illustrations are from drawings of birds 

 and nests by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and from 



