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ART. XXV. — Notes on the Birds of California, observed during a residence of three 



years in that country. 



By A. L, Heermann, M. D. 



The birds to which allusion is made in the following notes, were collected by me 

 in various parts of California, but principally in the vicinity of Sacramento city, from 

 which, as a central point, I made excursions to the gold mines on the American 

 river, to the sources of the Cottonwood creek, which takes its rise in the coast range 

 of mountains, in the northern part of California, to the southern mines, on the 

 Calaveras and Consumnes rivers, and to the city of San Diego and its immediate 

 neighborhood, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. I visited, also, the Ferrea Leones 

 islands in the Pacific, south of San Francisco, about twenty-five miles from the latter, 

 which are resorted to by numerous species of sea birds, for the purposes of incu- 

 bation, and in the eggs of which a trade is carried on with San Francisco, to the 

 amount of thousands of dollars per annum. 



I have given particular attention to collecting, and describing the eggs and nests 

 of all such species as I have met with, in the proper season, as this description of 

 information has become important in the determining of generic characters, and even 

 of species. 



BuTEG BOREALis, (Gmcl.) Quitc abundant in the country, and more especially in 

 the fall season, when I have, in a single day, shot several specimens in their young 

 plumage. 



BuTEO LTNEATus, (Gmel.) Abundant. 



Archibuteo FERRUGiNEUS, (Licht.) I first met with this fine species in the plains 

 of the Sacramento river valley. I have there observed it perched sluggishly on a 

 tree, watching for its prey, as is the habit of our Buteo boreahs. Its flight is slow 

 and steady, and I have seen it sailing over the prairies and plains in search of mice, 

 with which description of food, I found on dissection, the stomachs filled, of the two 

 specimens which I obtained. This bird was first brought from California by Mr. 

 Kern, in Fremont's overland expedition of 1846. The eggs I procured, in 1851, 

 from a nest placed in the topmost branches of an oak. The nest was composed 

 externally of large twigs, and lined with coarse grasses and moss. The eggs were 

 two in number, white, and stained with faint brown dashes. 



