28 THE CONDOR Vol.. IX 



make an ideal nesting place for the quail, and many a nest did we uncover. From one cock I 

 had just pitched the third forkful of hay to the rack, when a quail flew past my head appar- 

 ently from the wagon. vSearch revealed the fact that with the last fork of hay I had picked up a 

 quail with her nest and eggs and had landed all safely on the rack. Twelve eggs were found re- 

 posing unharmed in their nest of feathers. 



To my knowledge the last of the much persecuted mourning dove {Zeiiaidura macroura) left 

 this locality November 4, 1906. Sportsmen (?) demanded of the Supervisors that they open the 

 shooting season two weeks earlier than formerly, contending that by August i, all the doves had 

 gone to the valley. Yet on that date I knew of twenty nests, containing eggs or 3'oung, within 

 an eighty-acre field on this place, and the birds were fairly plentiful thruout September. 



A straj' yellow-billed magpie or California crow occasionally visits at this altitude (1750 feet), 

 but returns immediately to his valley home. — Ernest Adams, Clipper Gap, California. 



Band-tailed Pigeons at Santa Barbara.— On September 18, two of these handsome 

 birds alighted on a lilac bush in our garden. They were quite tame, allowing me to approach 

 within a few feet; thus I had an admirable chance to identify them as the above named. As they 

 did not attempt to feed during their short stay, it is my supposition they were migrating, and 

 had stopped over to rest. This is the first time I have seen Colinnba fasciata in this County. — 

 Regin.\ld Rogers, Santa Barbara, CaliJ'ornia. 



A Notable Sparrow's Nest. — A nest of Passer domesticiis, with two entrances, blew down 

 from its unstable perch in the Virginia creeper on the side of my house, November 25. The spar- 

 row had industriously gathered together a mass of dry grass as big as a hat. The nest, which 

 was deep, was warmly lined with feathers. At one side, below, there was an opening thru the 

 feathers evidently designed as a "look out," or ventilator. The bird might have escaped thru 

 the hole in case of necessity, but probably used the main entrance exclusively as a point of 

 ingress, as the feathers about the extra orifice projected blades outward, showing that the bird 

 could not have well flown in without disarranging the downy window casement. — H. R. Tay- 

 lor, Alameda, California. 



The Alaska "Water-thrush in California. — On August 16, 1905, I obtained an example 

 of Seinriis noveboracensis notabilis which provides the second record known to me for this State. 

 The bird was flushed from a tangle of bushes which surrounded a spring in a ravine, a hundred 

 yards or so back of Jim Johnston's house at Cactus Flat. This is a "pocket" at about 6000 feet 

 elevation, on the desert slope of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, Cali- 

 fornia. 



The region is an arid one, and I was at the spring on purpose to scrutinize the hordes of birds 

 which were constantly visiting it for a drink and a bath. A good part of these were transients, 

 which reminds us again that to stand the best chance of finding northern stragglers, one must 

 strike the fall migration early in August. 



The water-thrush was among a throng of warblers and small sparrows, several of the latter in 

 streaked juvenal plumage, and I did not recognize it as anything noteworthy, until it flew up out 

 of the shade and perched with other small birds, drying themselves in the open branch-work of a 

 fire-killed oak. Then my attention became fixed upon it because of the peculiar reciirrent dip- 

 ping movement of its body, and its identity flashed into my mind. I promptly "auxed" the 

 bird, and found upon skinning that it was a ''bird-of-the-year," as shown by the large "windows" 

 in the skull yet ungranulated. To be more explicit the specimen (No. 7157, Coll. J. G.) is in com- 

 plete first-winter plumage. It is precisely like examples from northern Alaska in both coloration 

 and measurements. — Joseph Grinnell, Pasadena, California. 



Another New Record for Marin County, California. — For the first time in my long 

 residence in this County it has been my fortune to see a yellow-headed blackbird in this part of 

 the State. On October 17, I saw two males of this species {Xanthocephalus xanthocephalns) fl}'- 

 ing north and close enough to be readily distinguished, being just about out of gunshot, but near 

 enough to be unmistakable. There is no particular reason why this species should not be found 

 here occasionally; but no individual has been previously recorded that I know of. — Joseph Mail- 

 WARD, San Francisco, California. 



The ^English Sparrow in I^os Angeles County.— On dropping off the train at Newhall 

 for the outing meeting. May 19, 1906, the first birds observed were a colony of English Sparrows, 

 (Passer douiesticus) which had their homes about the station buildings, and in the pines and 

 eucalyptus trees adjacent. There was the same noisy chatter heard everywhere in the East; and 

 the black-throated males with the duller females, made identification unmistakable. Thus we see 

 that this little pest is gradually closing in on us, Tehachapi having heretofore afforded the near- 

 est record (see Howard, Condor VIII, p. 67).— J. Eugene Law, Hollywood, California. 



