1876.] Californian Garden Birds. 95 
cisco Bay, though more rare than larger ones. In Ventura 
County I found them to vary in full from 5.65 to 6.25 long, wing 
2.40 to 1.80. The eggs also vary exceedingly in size and pattern 
between the extremes given in Birds of North America, iii. 25 
and 27. 
I might extend this catalogue of garden birds considerably by 
mentioning additional species found building in other places in 
gardens, but less commonly. The following are common here 
along creeks on the borders of the town, but not yet found build- 
ing within garden fences. 
The Oregon thrush ( Turdus ustulatus), now known to build as 
far south as latitude 35° and probably 34° in California, arrived 
here April 20th, when 7. nanus had gone north. I have been 
informed that the robin (7. migratorius), never before known to 
remain in the valleys in this latitude in summer, has begun to 
breed in cherry orchards three miles from here. 
The black-capped warbler (Myiodioctes pusillus var. pileola- 
tus) arrived March 30, and in Ventura County March 18, 1873. 
This isa month earlier than I saw them nearer the coast, as 
noted in the Ornithology of California, i., and accounts for their 
early appearance in Oregon. It is a month earlier than the sum- 
mer yellow-bird, for which I mistook it in 1854 at Puget’s Sound, 
arriving April 10th. (Natural History of Washington Territory, 
ii. 181. These dates also need correction in later books. ) 
The bank swallows (Cotyle serripennis) have holes in the 
steep banks of the creek, one of which I opened May 17th, and 
found seven fresh eggs in it at a depth of two feet, and five feet 
from the top of the bank. The ground wren (Chamea fasciata) 
is a resident in bushy places along creeks or on dry hills, and 
often frequents fences about clearings where shrubs or brush are 
abundant. It is very artful in concealing its nest in dense thick- 
ets. The plain titmouse (Lophophanes inornatus) is a very socia- 
ble bird where its favorite live-oaks are left standing near houses, 
building in March in any suitable hole it finds. The least tit- 
mouse (Psaltriparus minimus) is another sylvan bird which re- 
mains about houses among oaks and other trees, even in the city 
of San Francisco. I obtained a nest with seven fresh eggs on 
May 15th. The western purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus 
var, Californicus), though not before seen in summer in the | 
valleys, sometimes remains near the cool bay of San Francisco, 
and, if not building in gardens, joins the house linnets in their 
depredations on fruit. 
