



NATURALIST IN CALIFORNIA. 415 
and warmer spots, chiefly in the ravines of the neighboring 
mountains. A duck was seen by an old resident on the 
river, which he said was very rare there, and from descrip- 
tion was probably the long-legged Tree-duck (Dendrocygna 
Julva), since found to frequent the Sacramento Valley for 
nine months of the year, and to breed there; one of the few 
peculiarly western species. I shot or observed many other 
species of aquatic birds while here, but they furnished no 
very interesting facts. I obtained one each of the Red- 
necked and Williamson's Woodpeckers (Sphyrapicus nucha- 
lis and Williamsonii), the only ones seen, and probably 
stragglers from the north. 
I had been ten weeks at the post before I saw a single 
Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia), and then found only 
one pair, several miles distant, inhabiting a burrow evidently 
freshly dug by themselves. In the absence of the large bur- 
rowing squirrels, or other animals of similar size, they are 
sometimes compelled to burrow, but do. not seem to increase 
in numbers in such localities. The general hardness of the 
Soil on the upland is also an obstacle to their digging. 
On March 10th I observed the first Hummingbird (prob- 
ably Atthis coste, which Dr. Kennerley found in February 
1854, in the warmer valley of William's Fork), and the 
same day saw large flocks of geese migrating north. The 
first Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) was killed this day, and I 
obtained the first Horned Lizard (Doliosaurus platyrhinos). 
The weather now being very warm, flocks of cranes, swal- 
lows, and various winter residents were seen going north- 
ward daily. On the 15th I saw the first Bat and Western 
Whippoorwill, and on the 19th shot another Mexican Fly- 
catcher, probably also a winter resident. There is evi- 
dently a constant moving northward of the winter residents, 
but apparently none from Mexico. i 
On March 22d I obtained the first seen of the Pale Spar- 
Tow (Spizella pallida* ), which seems to go farther south to 

*Decidedly this and not S. Brewerii, which Coues supposes to replace it in Arizona 
and westwards, 
