Aug. 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



93 



and from appearances should say she had 

 raised one brood at least this season. I 

 have looked very carefully for the male 

 bird whenever I took a nest, but have 

 never been able to see him. Very often 

 there were two or more females buzz- 

 ing around, but the males kept well out 

 of the way. The nests I have taken have 

 all been composed of the same material, 

 "cotton," from the willow and thistle, and 

 in some cases a few bits of green moss. 



They were very much the same shape. 

 Those taken from the vines were a little 

 deeper than those from the trees, however. 

 They measured about as follows : f of an 

 inch in diameter by £ inch deep, inside 

 measurements ; outside diameters 1J to If 

 inches by If dee}} ; one specimen meas- 

 ured 2 inches deep, but it was an unsually 

 large one. — A. W. A., JBeaverton, Oregon. 



A Few Birds Noticed in Golden Gate 

 Park, San Francisco, May 9, '84. 



In a walk over a part of the Park that 

 has not yet been improved, I found more 

 bird life than one would erpect to see 

 where the trade winds sweep over the sand 

 downs one half of the year. Russet-back 

 Thrushes were heard singing in the thick 

 low Scrub Oak where thej r breed and are 

 common, also the little P. minimus. The 

 Ground Tit's whistling is heard in the 

 dark thickets. If disturbed it will come 

 out to take a jieep at you with a few pur- 

 ring notes, bob his tail, as much as to say, 

 " It is no use, you can't find my wife's 

 nest," then hop back into the thicket. I 

 found a nest of half fledged young. W. 

 House Wren and California Bewicks are 

 not uncommon, House Finch, American 

 Goldfinch and Green-back breed, and are 

 very common. Lazuli Bunting not very 

 common. The Spurred and California 

 Towhee breeds, I took sets of fresh eggs. 

 I was within sis feet of a Green-tailed Tow- 

 hee, (P. chlorurus,) the first I have seen or 

 heard of near San Francisco or Hayward's. 



It was scratching in the dead leaves under 

 the low dark Scrub Oairs, along with the 

 California Song Sparrow. I saw one West- 

 ern Savannah S2)arrow. Anna's Humming 

 Bird is quite common, as there are lots of 

 flowers in the Park gardens where it breeds. 

 A Cooper Hawk flew over and put all the 

 small birds to wing. On June 2, 1881, 

 saw two ravens fly off over the sand hills. 

 Twenty or more Gambel's Quails were let 

 loose in the Park in October of 1881 by 

 Henry Chapman, naturalist and taxider- 

 mist, of San Francisco, now dead. They 

 were seen for some time during the follow- 

 ing spring, then seemed to disappear, and 

 it is supposed they were driven off by the 

 California Quail, as they are the boss of 

 the Park lawns. At dusk hundreds can be 

 seen feeding on the grass. The spring of 

 1882 two dozen Gambel's Quail were 

 brought up from Arizona and turned out at 

 Hayward's. I saw them along the creeks. 

 They seemed much tamer than the Califor- 

 nia. None have been found breeding. No 

 doubt they have been shot by the pot 

 hunters that come out from the city. They 

 are easily distinguished from the California 

 variety by the black patch on the belly 

 and chestnut head. The " Johnnie Bull 

 Sparrows " have found their way into the 

 Park. — W. O. Emerson. 



Broad-winged Hawk. 



(Buteo pennsylvanicus.) 



Accompanied by my friends, A. H. Bur- 

 rington and R. C. Ashworth, I started out 

 April 14 for a walk. Thinking there might 

 be a new bird in the undergrowth we made 

 off in that direction. Just before we came 

 to the thicket we had to pass through a 

 piece of hard and soft wood timber, so we 

 looked about to see if there were any nests 

 of the common Crow, (Corvus america- 

 nus), in progress of building. We had 

 nearly reached the thicket when I espied a 

 nest in a hemlock, and as it looked fresh 

 told rny companions I would go up to it. 



