A LIST OF THE LAND BIRDS OF SANTA CRUZ 

 COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. 



B\ Richard C. McCiRKc.ou. 



INTRODUCTIOX. 



SOME time ago Mr. W. Otto Emerson prepared for publication a 

 paper under the title of Some of the Birds of Santa Crnz County, Cali- 

 fornia, including therein observations made during hisseveral collect- 

 ing trips through the Santa Cruz Mountains. These trips were in vSepteni- 

 ber, 18S3. October and November, 1884, and May, 1889. In the introduc- 

 tion he says: "I have gone over this route three different seasons, making 

 not longer than a three weeks outing at one trip. I found that the bird 

 life did not vary greatly from the canyons of the upper Los Oatos, Su<[uel, 

 Boulder and Bear Creeks to the higher ground of the sunmit which lies 

 2100 feet above the sea level. One great cause of abundance of bird life 

 in this range of country is the great variety of timber and bru.sh which 

 furnishes an abundance of food for insectivorous birds as well as for those 

 that feed uj)on fruits and seeds, and which gives them at the same time 

 shelter during storms and in the nesting season. The timber is composed of 

 live, black, white, and tan-bark oaks, redwood, narrow-cone pine, creek alder, 

 maple, sycamore, laurel, madrone and willow, with an undergrowth of what 

 is known as the wild coffee bush, buckeye and azalea. Chemise, sage, 

 manzanita, and mountain mahogany are found only around the top of 

 Loma Prieta. In the deep, dark canyons not so much bird life was found 

 as I expected nor as was noted in the more open and higher places. As 

 it was tlie migration season I looked for many stragglers moving southward 

 in September and early November. Of the 118 species here given, 97 were 

 found breeding, leaving only 21 as visitants from other localities and a 

 number of these no doubt would have been found nesting later on." 



In 1898 Mr. Henry B. Kaeding spent a month in the Santa Cruz Moun- 

 tains and presented before the Cooper Ornithological Club a paper *.n\Somc 

 Su)nnicr Birds of Santa Cru3 County. Concerning his list Mr. Kaeding 

 says: "The following notes were taken during one month's stay — from 

 May I to June i — upon the top of Ben Lomond Mountain, Santa Cruz 

 County, at an altitude of 2300 feet, and eight miles west of Boulder Creek. 

 No species are recorded except .such as came actually under my observa- 

 tion and were positively identified. While undoubtedly many species in- 

 habit this region be.sides those noted here, the following are all that can 

 be vouched for by the writer. The list comprises sixty-six genera, em- 



