i.S- Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnaaus). Red-headed Woodpecker. 



Authority: Gambel, Journ. Acad. Xat. Sci. Phila., 2nd ser., i, 1847, p. 55, reports finding 

 this bird common in oak timber near the Mission San Gabriel (Los Angeles County). Either 

 Gambel was nodding when this statement fell from his pen, or else the sudden substitution of 

 -1/. erythrocephalus for M. formicivorns deserved more rigid investigation. The Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker is normally confined to the region east of the Rockies, but it has occurred casually as far 

 west as Arizona, and its sporadic appearance in California would not be exactly impossible. 



16. Ceryle americana septentrionalis Sharpe. Texas Kingfisher. 



Authority: Coues, Proc. Acad. Xat. Sci. Phila., 1866, p. 59, claims to have observed this 

 species, along with the Belted Kingfisher, in the fall of 1865 "at several points on the Colorado 

 River between Forts Mojave and Yuma." This is high authority, and the claim is several times 

 repeated. However, no mention was made of birds seen on the California side of the river. The 

 species inhabits tropical Mexico, and occurs north to southern Texas, with one appearance in 

 southeastern Arizona. 



17. Otus asio brewsteri Ridgway. Brewster's Screech Owl. 



A larger, darker form of Screech Owl is presumptively resident in the northwestern humid 

 coastal strip of California; but the line of demarcation between Ridgway 's new subspecies and 

 0. a. bendirei has not been agreed upon. 



18. Limosa haemastica (Linnaeus). Hudsonian Godwit. 



Authority: Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxiv., 1896, pp. 391, 756), "California," without 

 citation of locality. These vague ascriptions deserve little credence, but in this case it is not 

 impossible that a bird breeding west to western Alaska might pass down the Pacific Coast instead 

 of carrying wholly east of the Rockies, as habitually. 



19. Numenius borealis (Forster). Eskimo Curlew. 



Authority: Heermann, Pac. R. R. Rep., x., 1859, p. 66, "common" "in the San Francisco 

 market"; also two more recent ascriptions. The species, now practically extinct, was never 

 positively recorded west of the Rocky Mountains, and the local claims are believed to have been 

 based on small specimens or misidentification of N. hudsonicus. 



20. .-Egialitis dubia (Scopoli). Little Ringed Plover. 



A specimen, Xo. 39523, U. S. Xat. Mus., supposed to have been taken at San Francisco, and 

 first reported by Ridgway (Amer. Xat.. viii., 1874, p. 109). The evidence is not clear, but this 

 pakearctic species has been found casually in Alaska, and might not impossibly drift down the coast. 



21. Creagrus furcatus (Xeboux). Fork-tailed Gull. 



Authority: Anthony, Auk, xii., 1895, p. 291, "seen" "off San Diego." Normal Range: 

 Galapagos Islands (breeding), south to Peru. Opinion. — Grinnell rightly disallows the Monterey 

 records of Prevost and Des Murs (Voyage of the Venus, 1855), because of South American compli- 

 cations; but there are persistent rumors that Creagrus is a great wanderer, and I believe it will 

 show up in California if it has not already done so. 



22. Brachyramphus craverii (Salvadori). Craveri's Murrelet. 



Van Rossem's record (Condor, xvii., 1915, p. 74) of numbers obtained on the ocean "about 

 midway" between San Diego and "Los Coronados Islands" (L. C.) might pass as a record if the 

 status of B. craverii as a species were not in doubt. It may prove to be nothing more than a pseu- 

 domorph of B. hypoleucus. 



23. Grus americana (Linnaaus). Whooping Crane. 



Authority: Audubon, Birds Amer., 1842, p. 195, breeding "from Upper California north- 

 ward"; also, Belding, Zoe. 11, 1891, p. 99, seen in spring and fall in Butte and Sutter Counties. 

 Grinnell deems the evidence inconclusive, but my experience of these all-but-vanished birds in 

 the State of Washington inclines me to a tolerant view. 



24. Perdix perdix (Linnaeus). Hungarian Partridge. 



Introduced, with the scantiest evidence of success, by the California Fish and Game Com- 

 mission. The Hungarian Partridge, a native of Europe, seems to afford its pursuers a maximum 

 of sport, and its successful introduction into California would be a godsend to our harassed native 

 species; but there is evidently a weak spot in its armor somewhere. 



25. Colinus virginianus virginianus (Linnaeus). Bob-white. 



Persistent attempts have been made to introduce this eastern favorite as a game-bird of 

 California, but all such are foredoomed to failure — unless, perchance, the price of the peltry of 

 our various "vermin" soars to still dizzier heights. onnn 



