NATURALIST IN CALIFOKNIA. 475 



and warmer spots, chiefly in the ravines of the neighboring 

 monntains. A cluck was seen by an old resident on the 

 river, which he said was very rare there, and from descrip- 

 tion was probably the long-logged Tree-duck {Dendrocyr/na 

 fulva), since found to frequent the Sacramento Valley for 

 nine months of the year, and to ])reed there ; one of the few 

 peculiarly western species. I shot or observed many other 

 species of aquatic birds while here, but they furnished no 

 very interesting facts. I obtained one each of the Red- 

 necked and Williamson's Woodpeckers (^Sphyrapicus nitcha- 

 lis and Williamsonii), the only ones seen, and probably 

 straii-o'lers from the north. 



I had been ten weeks at the post before I saw a single 

 Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) , and then found only 

 one pair, several miles distant, inhabiting a burrow evidently 

 freshly dug by themselves. In the absence of the large bur- 

 rowing squirrels, or other animals of similar size, they are 

 sometimes compelled to burrow, but do not seem to increase 

 in numbers in such localities. The general hardness of the 

 soil on the upland is also an obstacle to their digging. 



On March 10th I observed the first Hummingbird (prob- 

 ably Atthis cosfce, which Dr. Kennerley found in February 

 1854, in the warmer valley of W^illiam's Fork), and the 

 same day saw larije flocks of geese miirratino: north. The 

 first Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) was killed this day, and I 

 obtained the first Horned Lizard (DoUosaurus platyrhinos) . 

 The weather now being very warm, flocks of cranes, swal- 

 lows, and various winter residents were seen going north- 

 ward daily. On the 15th I saw the first Bat and Western 

 Whippoorwill, and on the U)th shot another Mexican Fly- 

 catcher, probably also a winter resident. There is evi- 

 dently a constant moving northward of the winter residents, 

 but apparently none from Mexico. 



On March 22d I obtained the first seen of the Pale Spar- 

 row (SpizeUa pallida*), which seems to go fiirther south to 



* Decidedly this and not S. Breioerii, ■which Coues supposes to replace it in Arizona 

 and westwards. 



