56 THE CONDOR Vol. XIX 



much as possible concerning the condition and bird life of this part of the pen- 

 insula before the city had grown much or the white man's occupancy of the 

 country had wrought marked effects. We found a few of the early settlers 

 who were able to furnish some helpful hints, but for the most part we had to 

 rely on what one may call ' ' remnants ' ' of the primitive conditions. For exam- 

 ple we were able to visualize what the forested hills of the county were before 

 the planting of the forests, by thinking of them as substantially like the Twin 

 Peaks which have remained largely in their primitive condition. The sand- 

 dune tract a little back from the ocean and south of Golden Gate Park is a 

 sample of what a large part of the county must once have been, especially in 

 its western portion. There was no proper forest, hence there must have been 

 few T of the tree-loving species of birds in the county in the early days. Here 

 and there was a dense live oak covering. Portions of this ancient live oak cop- 

 pice may yet be seen on Strawberry Hill, in the park north of the conservatory, 

 and about the bear pens ; it may also be seen in an even more primitive condi- 

 tion on the hill in the old cemetery known as Laurel Hill Cemetery. 



Some species of birds have doubtless been driven from the county, but it 

 seems certain that more have come than have departed. The changes wrought 

 by man have not all been detrimental to the birds. The region now occupied 

 by Golden Gate Park was formerly in the sand-dune tract, for the most part. 

 The sand-dunes are largely barren of bird life, but the park is a kind of bird's 

 Paradise. Its lakes furnish homes for numerous waterfowl, and its forested 

 hills give conditions closely approximating the Boreal areas of the Sierra. 

 Sutro Forest adds a thousand acres to the forested area of the county, and the 

 tree covered sections of the Presidio are hardly less extensive. The Lake Mer- 

 ced region is, some of it, in its primitive condition, though here, too, some ex- 

 tensive tree planting has been done. It is very probable that a good many 

 waterfowl have been driven from their native nesting places about Lake Mer- 

 ced and that some sea-going birds have been driven from the mainland portion 

 of the county, as well as from the islands in the bay. That part of the coast 

 which extends from the Cliff House around to Fort Point consists, for the most 

 part, of high rocky cliffs ; probably at one time, before the settlement of the 

 county, it teemed with nesting sea birds. Alcatraz Island and Yerba Buena 

 Island were doubtless great breeding places for sea birds also. The name Alca- 

 traz is Spanish for pelican ; and the island was probably a roosting place for 

 the California Brown Pelicans, though it is hardly possible that they nested 

 there, since it is so far north of any present nesting site. 



Mr. W. Otto Emerson writes that thirty years ago the Bullock Orioles 

 were abundant at Lake Merced; if there are any in the county now, we have 

 failed to find them. Ten years ago Ray listed the Intermediate Wren-tit as a 

 resident of the county, and there is one record of its nesting here (Oologist, ix, 

 no. 8, p. 93). It is almost certain that there are none here now. Eggs of the 

 Western Grebe were collected at Merced Lake by A. M. Ingersoll in 1885. 

 These birds are occasionally to be seen there to this day, but they no longer 

 seem to nest there. 



We have included in the following list a number of birds for which we 

 have not been able to find any nesting records. In every case, however, ther? 

 was, in our opinion, a strong probability of their breeding in the county. Fre- 

 quent observation of a bird in the breeding season would seem to us to estab- 

 lish such a probability. Of course this rule would not apply to certain of the 



