8 



THE OOLOGIST 



THANKS 



The frontispiece with which this 

 edition of The Oologist is introduced, 

 is the work of M. J. Hoffman of Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y., and is contributed by him 

 as the first contribution to the new 

 volume for our readers who are inter- 

 ested in an effort to make a bigger 

 and better Oologist. It is a pleasure 

 to credit him with this generosity. 



LATE 



Last Sunday, Nov. 18th, a friend 

 and I drove twelve miles east of Day- 

 ton, O., back of Fairfield, the big U. S. 

 Aviation Camp. 



A big swamp has been recently 

 drained by dredging and above the 

 camp is a good sized piece of timber. 



I was walking through some brush 

 when my attention was attracted by 

 a pair of Long Billed Marsh Wrens 

 close by. 



They were having a fine time and 

 making all sorts of clatter and I was 

 surprised to find that I could almost 

 capture both of them as they came 

 within about fifteen inches from my 

 hand and did not seem to have the 

 least fear of me. Heretofore I have 

 never been able to get a good look at 

 this fellow or his mate, for they have 

 been so shy always, and this encount- 

 er seemed rather remarkable, also be- 

 ing so late in the season too. 



J. B. Harris. 

 Dayton, O. 



Concerning a Condor 



To very few ornithologists, even 

 here in California has it been given 

 to see the great California Vulture, 

 (gymnogyps calif orianus) in its na- 

 tive haunts. 



With each recurring year the 

 chances that one will see one are di- 

 minishing, for they are retreating 

 back into the almost inaccessible 

 mountains and many localities where 



it's great shadow was once a not un- 

 common sight now see it no more. 



In this county (San Diego) the old- 

 timers tell us that they well remember 

 when it was not uncommon in the 

 mountains, to see a dozen of the great 

 birds feeding on the carcas of a steer, 

 and they often came down into the 

 lower valleys, and even to the coast. 

 But that was many years ago. It is 

 doubtful if any such collection of 

 birds has been seen in this section 

 since the early 80's. While it is prob- 

 able that one and possibly two pair 

 of the birds still remain and breed in 

 the county, one might spend weeks in 

 the whole hundred miles of mountains 

 from the Mexican border to the north- 

 ern county line and be in luck to see 

 a bird. No eggs have been taken in 

 the county, so far as known, since the 

 late 90's when a single egg was taken 

 from a cave on a precipitous mountain 

 side some 25 miles from here. 



This egg is now, I believe, in the 

 collection of the Editor of The Oolo- 

 gist. 



It was my good fortune in 1901, to 

 have in my possession for a few 

 months a living specimen of this 

 mighty bird. It had been taken by an 

 Indian on one of the mountain ranch- 

 es, a rifle shot bringing it down with, 

 as was supposed, a broken wing, and 

 had come into the possession of the 

 store-keeper at Julian, a small moun- 

 tain town. News of its capture some- 

 how reached San Diego,- and the re- 

 sult was a thrilling account of a "Real 

 South American Condor" which had 

 been captured in the county, with a 

 lurid description of the fight it put up 

 before overpowered and a very good 

 and accurate description of a South 

 American Condor, taken probably 

 from the Britannica, but not very ap- 

 plicable to the bird in question. With 

 a naturalist's curiosity I at once wrote 

 to the owner of the bird to find out if 



