10 



THE OOLOGIST 



the South to become the plebian rice- 

 bird. I have yet to hear a bird sing on 

 the wing in autumn. 



MORKIS GiBBS, M. D., 

 Kalamazoo, Mich. 

 ( To Be Continued) 



Winter Bird Notes From California. 



One of the most abundant winter res- 

 idents of Santa Clara Co., Cal., is the 

 Western Robin (Merula migratoria pro- 

 pingua). He is regarded by the ranch- 

 ers of Santa Clara Co. as a good weather 

 prophet, although I could never confirm 

 their belief. When the Robins arrive in 

 force in the fall, the farmers prepare for 

 heavy winter rains, and when they are 

 scarce it is said to indicate a dry sea- 

 son. 



Although we have a county game law 

 protecting this bird, they are neverthe- 

 less killed in considerable numbers by 

 the small boy, Italians and other foreign- 

 ers, but I think that in the last few 

 years the farmers are more and more 

 coming to realize the need of protecting 

 this and other beneficial birds. Just 

 recently I have heard of several parties 

 who intend to make an example of any 

 one they can find shooting Robins, and 

 1 hope that before long something will 

 be done to enforce the law. At any 

 rate, the Cooper Ornithological Club 

 will soon have a law pass, in the state 

 legislature, unless something unexpect- 

 ed happens, which will protect all the 

 song and other birds at all seasons of 

 the year, and which, if passed, we mem- 

 bers intend to see enforced. 



The Robin arrives with us about the 

 first of October and remainsuntil March. 

 They are more or less gregarious, a flock 

 usually containing about fifty birds, al- 

 though I have seen flocks which, no 

 doubt, held several hundred. 



The Varied Thrush (Hesperocichla 

 naevia) arrives about the same time that 

 the Robin- does, but is not nearly so 

 common. They are of a retiring dispos- 



ition and favor a location for their win- 

 ter home, which contains a number of 

 thick cypress, pine or other thick trees 

 or shrubs, usually near some house, 

 where they are quite content to remain 

 in the seclusion tfius afforded until it is 

 time for them to again journey to the 

 thick spruce woods of British America 

 or Alaska, to their summer home. 



Another common winter resident is 

 Audubon's Warbler {Dendroica audu- 

 boni). Most of their time is spent in the 

 orchards vigorously searching, with 

 many a sharp "chit," for insects and 

 other food. They arrive about the first 

 of October, and are abundant from this 

 time till the last of February. When 

 they first arrive they are changing from 

 the summer to winter plumage, and 

 some of the specimens taken at this time 

 are very interesting. 



In this locality I have made an obser- 

 vation which may, perhaps, help to 

 prove that the sub-species of Audubon's 

 Warbler, described by Mr. Robert Mc- 

 Gregor, of Palo Alto, and named 

 Hoover's Warbler, {Dendroica coronata 

 hooveri) shows a constant variation. Mr. 

 Grinnell found Hoover's Warbler abun- 

 dant and nesting in the Kotzebue Sound 

 Region of Alaska, (see Pacific Coast 

 Avifauna No. 1, p. 55) but found no 

 Audubon's Warblers. Now, our Audu- 

 bon's Warbler, which nests in Califor- 

 nia, arrives here in the fall about the 

 middle of October, but I have never 

 noted Hoover's Warbler before late in 

 December. This would help to prove 

 that they are a distinct sub-species, 

 whose summer home is Alaska, and the 

 long distance they have to travel will 

 account for their delay in arriving in 

 the winter. 



A very modest, though interesting 

 bird is the Dwarf Hermit Thrush, (Tur- 

 dus aonalaschkce) which is fairly com- 

 mon in our locality in the winter time. 

 He is generally not a very sociable fel- 

 low, always traveling by himself through 

 our gardens and feeding upon worms. 



