Ma5^ 1907 THE BREHDING BIRDS OF ESCONDIDO 91 



Psaltriparus minimus californicus. California Bush-tit. Common among the 

 willows, oaks, and higher brush along the rivers and on hillsides. March 18, to 

 June 14. 



Polioptila caerulea obscura. Western Gnatcatcher. Not uncommon in the 

 brush near ravines and on low hillsides and among the willows. April 16 to 

 June 24. 



Polioptila californica. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. Onl}^ found once by me in 

 San Pasqual, April 5, 1901. Several nests said to have been found at Escondido. 



Sialia mexicana. Western Bluebird. Nest found at Crescent Valley with 

 young in March, 1905. No other record. Breeds plentifully in the higher moun- 

 tains and vallej^s. 



Su-p-plementary list of birds found hreediug at Escondido Rcscivoir, elevation 

 1250 feet, and about tzuo miles outside limits covered in foregoing list: 



Vireo huttoni oberholseri. Oberholser Vireo. 



Sitta carolinensis aculeata. Slender-billed Nuthatch. Both the above found 

 by Mr. James Dixon. The latter species, possibh^ both, decidedly out of its range 

 which should be the higher hills up to the level of the deciduous oaks. 



Birds found breeding at Vista, (ruajome and San Luis Rey, 10 to J'j miles 

 northzvesterly from Escondido : 



Corvus corax sinuatus. American Raven. Found by Mr. B. P. Carpenter 

 nesting at Vista in 1905. 



Plegadis guarauna. White-faced Glossy Ibis. A colony of about a dozen 

 birds was found nesting in the tules at Guajome in 1901. No other records. 



Ardetta exilis. I^east Bittern. Found nesting in the tules at San I^uis Rey 

 in 1901. 



Telmatodytes palustris paludicola. Tule Wren. Common in the tules at San 

 L,uis Rey; never seen around the ponds in San Pasqual. 



Escondido, L \jlitoruia . 



GUI.I.S AS SCAVENGERS 

 By WALTER K. FISHER 



THAT gulls are admirable scavengers is a fact well known, and it is considered 

 of sufficient economic importance to insure their protection by all enlightened 

 sea-coast towns. Some municipalities dump their garbage into the sea, and 

 if gulls are at all common they do the rest, with the aid of numerous other water 

 birds. Altho the neighborhood of a garbage chute may not be attractive to the 

 average bird student, it is none the less a good place to watch and photograph 

 gulls, provided these birds are plentiful in its vicinity. 



Not far from the town of Monterey, California, there is such a chute, used 

 chiefly by the Presidio of Monterey. On either side are convenient rocks upon 

 which to stand, or place a tripod. The gulls swim in to the base of the chute and 

 are very tame, or were three years ago. After feeding they sit about on the rocks, 

 and one has little trouble in securing all the negatives he desires. The accom- 

 panying picture shows a number of immature gulls watching for morsels to be 

 washed out b}^ the waves. The immaturity of these birds may account for their lack 

 of fear. I am not sufficiently practiced to be able to identify young gulls on the 

 water, but the old birds which were common in the vicinity were chiefly Earns 

 argentatus and L. occidentalis; so it is probable that the majority of the birds in 



