A Journey Across the flierras—S. California. iO 
A Journey Across the Sierras, S. California 
Ey Wm. Shore Baily. 
Continued from par/e 370, I'ol. V., Neie Series. 
Tlie next day wo waiidorod slowly on towards the 
coast, following the course of the Santa Clara river, here 
quite a nice stream. The country was charming'. The river 
banks were lined with very fine willows, cottonwoods, and 
sycamores. Alfalfa fields in some of which haymaking was 
going on, looked pleasantly green after the bare nioxuitain' 
country we liad just passed through. Birds were everywhere 
numerous; my old friends the Blackbirds, both Bed-winged and 
Yellow-headed (X. .ranthocephalns) being especially in evi- 
dence). I found several nests of the latter in the tules, along 
the river bank. Tliey were built in very mucli the same way 
as the Bed -wings. This part of the valley was given up to 
stock raising, and we passed one fme ranch, which, from the 
way it was kept, evidently belongetl to an Englishman. Three 
fourth." of the landownei-s in this part of California are Mexi- 
cans. Amongst the stock on this ranch we saw a large flock 
of Crows {Cnmis anierira/nis hesperis), walking about nuich 
as oui' Books <lo at homo. In the river bank we passed another 
colcny of Bank Swallows, and while looking at their nests, I 
spotted a Barn Owl {St ri.c pmt i ludhi) in a hole near the top of 
the bank, a rather curious place for thi- kind of l;ird to bi'ocd. 
The throe young ones wv:>re (piitc plainly visil)lo fi'om the 
road. At mid-day we halted, near a large cactus patcli, and 
after lunch I wont birds' -nesting. The first nest found was 
the Bnby-throated Humming Bird's. A beautiful bird and an 
equally perfect cup-shaped nest. This was suspended from a 
giant thistle and contained two tiny white eggs. This Hum- 
ming Bird {TrochiJns rufiis) is found all through California, 
and I have seen it in summer in the high Sierras. I also 
found a nest of the Grey Thrasher (Harporhi/nehus redivivu.s) 
a bird not unlike the Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler (Pom- 
atorhiniis eri/flirogeni/s) Ivut greyer in colour and with 
shorter bill. The nest was like our Blackbird's, as 
were the eggs also. Another nest found was that of 
the Californian Goldfinch {Chrysomitris tristis), a little yel- 
low bird with a black head and much more like a 
