THE OOLUGIST. 



127 



A Collecting Trip Near Monterey, Gala. 



May 10, '94. — I left Salinas in my 

 brother's company this morning bound 

 for Pacific Grove intending to labor and 

 to collect some there. In Toro canyon 

 a nest of the Western Bluebird was 

 found in a cottonwood and contained 

 four young nearly fledged. A nest of 

 the Gala. Woodpecker was found also, 

 28 feet up in a dead portion of a syca- 

 more and contained four fresh eggs, one 

 of which was a runt. At the ''Chinese 

 gardens" I left the rig and footed it the 

 I'emaining six miles. First nest was 

 of Desert Sparrow Hawk, eggs and 

 young, in a large dead pine. An inac- 

 cessible nest of Pigmy Nuthatch came 

 next, which contained young as parents 

 were conveying food to them. This 

 species is a common nester here ana the 

 nests are made of moss or lichens and 

 sometimes a substance of the "white 

 sage" is added with small and occasion- 

 ally quill feathers of other birds mixed. 

 Then a set of four half-incubated eggs 

 of Hai'ris's Woodpecker was taken from 

 the top of a small dead iDine nearby. 



A Bluebird had a nest with young in 

 a stub near this one and then the ring- 

 ing c-1-e-a-r-r-r of a Western Red-tail 

 Hawk came from a hill^above. The 

 nest was in the top of a lai'ge pine not 

 far away. It was lined with oak-moss 

 and seemed desex'ted, the bird probably 

 having another nest. Several inaccess- 

 ible nests containing youcg, of the 

 Nuthatch were observed. 



A description of this locality (Mon- 

 erey would not be amiss. — As the San 

 Lucia mountains approach the bay 

 they are diminished to large hills 

 which have been cut and gorged by 

 rain until ravines, hollows • and 

 ci'eeks are found on every hand, the 

 water gradually finding its way to the 

 ocean. Over all these, except in some 

 spots, there is a growth of pines and 

 live-oaks, denser in some portions than 

 in others, with an undergrowth of both 



black and huckleberry bushes, wild 

 lilac, poison oak, and manzanita,, min- 

 gled with young pines and oaks. The 

 saline air rapidly decays this pine tim- 

 ber so when a tree loses its top it soon 

 becomes a stub. Stubs, large and small 

 are very numerous in this section and 

 as the old ones fall or are cut down 

 new ones take their places'. The bark 

 has fallen from most of those that are 

 found. This timber is unlit for lumber. 



This evening while resting from dig- 

 ging I was accosted by a former collect- 

 ing fr-iend, L. M. JNichols. The subject 

 of course was Oology. He described 

 the nesting, and also his taking of a 

 "queer little owl" on April 24th. Hav- 

 ing told me that an acquaintance had 

 the set of five eggs we proceeded to 

 that person, s home where I viewed and 

 obtained it. It proved to be of the 

 Gala. Pigmy Owl. 



May 11.— Mr. Nichols and myself left 

 on a tour this morning. First nest was 

 in a tall slender pine and contained one 

 fresh egg of the Nuthatch [Siita, here- 

 after) which was secured with a rope. 

 The Slender-bill has not been found 

 here as yet. A Harris's Woodpecker's 

 nest was found in a small dead pine, 

 containing three young nearly fledged. 

 In a limb of a large dead pine situated 

 near the bay, a nest of Siita was found 

 with seven badly incubated eggs and 

 farther up in the top a Red-shafted 

 Flicker's nest contained young. Tree 

 Swallows were flitting about intending 

 to build soon. We had now arrived in 

 the vicinity of Point Pinos and another 

 nest of Sitta in a small dead pine, was 

 found to be ready for the eggs. A nest 

 of Parkman's Wren was soon discover- 

 ed about 10 feet up in a dead pine, with 

 seven badly incubated eggs and higher 

 up, a nest of Siita with young. 



Turning homeward we found a set 

 of five of Siita in a pine stub, 8 feet up. 

 Near the railway close at hand we 

 found a nest of Earrisii with young, in 

 a small dead pine. As the Pigmy Owl's 



