186 THE CONDOR Vol. XIX 



Ixobrychus exilis. Least Bittern. Sitta canadensis. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 

 These two species were noted by me in Golden Gate Park on May 12. Both were report- 

 ed to me by competent observers several times after I noted them, and it seems possible 

 that they spent the summer there. 



Planesticus migratorius propinquus. Western Robin. It is not very long ago that 

 the first robin's nest was discovered in Golden Gate Park. This year the birds seemed 

 to me to be more abundant than ever. They are also nesting in San Mateo County at 

 Mount Olivet Cemetery, and on the eastern side of the bay near Berkeley. I noted them 

 carrying food at the cemetery on July 15; and Mrs. Amelia S. Allen reports them from 

 the Berkeley station. 



Phalacrocorax auritus albociliatus. Parallon Cormorant. 



Phalacrocorax penicillatus. Brandt Cormorant. 



Mr. W. Leon Dawson some years ago reported Farallon Cormorants as nesting 

 in large numbers on the Seal Rocks, where they seem never to have been noted previ- 

 ously. On July 15 I examined the birds on these rocks very carefully with a telescope 

 magnifying twenty diameters. There were several hundred cormorants on the rocks and 

 a good many of them were nesting. The nests could be plainly seen and birds were also 

 seen carrying nesting material to the rocks. Dawson mentioned only Farallon Cormo- 

 rants, but of those I examined about a third were Brandt Cormorants. 



Amphispiza belli. Bell Sparrow. On June 2 I found a pair of Bell Sparrows 

 nesting on the east slope of Mount Tamalpais, west of Larkspur. There were several 

 young just leaving the nest and hardly able to fly. The species has been noted in the 

 county near Nicasio but is apparently nowhere very common. 



Hylocichla guttata slevini. Monterey Hermit Thrush. On June 10 I noted a few 

 Monterey Hermit Thrushes on the eastern slope of Bolinas Ridge. The locality is rather 

 dense forest, and in condition approaches Boreal. The time of year and the surroundings 

 are such as strongly to suggest that these thrushes, with so disconnected a breeding 

 range, have one of their nesting colonies in western Marin County. 



Circus hudsonius. Marsh Hawk. In July, 1915, I noted a number of Marsh Hawkc 

 on Point Reyes Peninsula and suspected that they were nesting there as some of the 

 birds seen seemed to be in juvenile plumage. On June 20 of the present year I found a 

 nest about two miles from Point Reyes Light House. The nest was composed of grass 

 and contained five eggs rather advanced in incubation. I believe that this is the first 

 breeding record for Marin County and for the whole humid coast region. — W. A. 

 Squires, San Francisco, California, September 15, 1911. 



Condition of Game Birds in East-central California. — During two months of the 

 past (1917) summer, and six weeks of the same season in 1914, I was engaged in field 

 work at various points in western Mono County. As last winter was a hard one for all 

 forms of mountain life because of the severe and long-continued cold, and as there are 

 now many more hunters in the district each fall than there were three years ago, it 

 seems to be worth while to report upon the apparent condition of the game birds of the 

 district. 



Most of my time during both years was spent at points between eight and nine 

 thousand feet in altitude, which was an excellent location for both quail (Oreortyx p. 

 plumifera) and grouse (Dendragapus o. sierrae). In 1914, both species were well repre- 

 sented, and although by no means common, especially the latter, both were apt to be en- 

 countered during a walk of a couple of miles through their haunts. In 1917, throughout 

 a greater length of time, and during rambles that were of considerably greater extent, I 

 saw neither quail nor grouse; nor did anyone who was camped in our near vicinity, ex- 

 cept my brother-in-law, who met a small family of grouse one day. This present scarcity 

 I believe to be due more to the severe winter than to human agencies, for both birds make 

 decidedly hard hunting. Although most of the published information pertaining to the 

 Sierra Grouse gives one the impression that these birds haunt the pines and associations 

 of scant undergrowth, my experience has been that they seldom resort to the larger con- 

 ifers except to roost, and to escape their enemies by remaining motionless in the upper 

 branches. At least in the locality under consideration, their favorite habitat is in the 

 vicinity of dense aspen thickets, and the tangles of manzanita, hazel and other brush on 

 the dry hillsides and benches of the high Transition Zone, from which they flush to the 

 timbered ravines. Such is the favorite haunt of the quail as well. Even with hunters 



