HEERMANN'S NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA. 261 



Strix pratincola, Bonap. I first met with this bird in Sacramento, where it is 

 yet very abundant, frequenting the hollows of the old oaks that ornament that city. 

 At eve they issue from their hiding places to seek for their prey, and have become so 

 familiar as not to heed the noise or the lights in the streets. They are abundant in 

 the salt marshes of Suisun Valley, where from the reeds, in which they take refuge, 

 I have started, during a single day's hunt, forty or fifty of this species, and the Otus 

 brachyotos. The two specimens in my possession were shot, in 1851, by a Justice of 

 Peace before his own door, in K street of Sacramento city. 

 Otus brachyotus, (Gmel.) Common. 



Bubo magelannicus, (Gmel.) These birds in 1849 were quite abundant in the 

 environs of Sacramento city ; and at that time I often procured three and four speci- 

 mens in an evening, but in 1852 they had become comparatively scarce in that 

 vicinity. This can only be explained by the fact^that many of the hollow oaks which 

 they frequented, have been destroyed ; besides which, the march of civilization has 

 done its part in expelling them, together with the wolves, whose dismal howls are no 

 longer nightly heard around the city, as they were at that period. 

 Ephialtes asio, (Linn.) Not rare. 



Besides these Rapaces, of which I have specimens from that country, I also 

 frequently saw there the Cathartes californianus, (Shaw,) Cathartus aura, (Linn.,) 

 and Haliaetus leucocephalus, (Linn.) 

 Chordeiles virginianus, (Briss.) Not rare. 



Progne PURPUREA, (Linn.) Abundant; incubating in large numbers at Sacra- 

 mento city. 

 HiRUNDO BicoLOR, Vicill., and Hirundo rufa, Vieill., are abundant. 

 HiRUNDo LUNiFRONS, Say. Abundant ; extending over the whole surface of Cali- 

 fornia. At San Francisco they build their round and bottle necked nests, under the 

 eaves of churches and private houses, in such numbers that in many places they have 

 become an unpleasant nuisance to the inhabitants. 

 CoTYLE RiPARiA, (Linn.) and C. serripennis, (Aud.) are not rare. 

 Tyrannus vERTiCALis, (Say.) Very abundant; incubating in the country. The 

 nest is built of the same materials, and in the same situations as our T. intrepidus. 

 The eggs, also, have a close resemblance to those of that species. 



Tyrannula cinerascens, Lawrence. This bird frequents the deep shady woods, 

 and has the same solitary and retired habits as our Tyrannula crinita. The nest is 

 built in a hollow, composed of grasses, and lined with feathers. The eggs, five in 

 number, are cream color, marked and speckled with purplish red dashes and faint 

 neutral tint blotches. This bird has a different note from our T. crinita, and is 

 undoubtedly a good species, for which knowledge we are indebted to Mr. Lawrence, 



of N. Y. city. 



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