Sept .1911 SOME BIRDS OF TIIK SAK OUlvXTIX BAV RKGIOX, CAI.IFORXIA 
l.S,? 
Bell Sparrows { Atnphispiza bc//i) were sparingly scattered in pairs over the plain, 
and in July they were in family parties and easily the commonest bird. 
In the former month Western Martins ( Prague s. kesperia) were around the 
water-holes, as were several Tree Swallows { Iridoprooic bicolor), wdiile Barn 
( Hinnnio crythrogastra) and Cliff Swallows ( Pefrochclidon htnifrons) were set- 
ting up house-keeping in the village. Two pairs of Rough-winged Swallows {Stel- 
gidopfciyx scrripcunis) were found breeding in the bank along the bay, and as far 
as I can ascertain, this is the first time that the latter species has actually been 
found breeding on the peninsula, although it apparently does so clear to Cape San 
Lucas. 
California Shrikes {Lanins 1. ga/nbcli) are common residents here, and far up 
into the mountains. The warblers were represented by one each of the Yellow 
(probably Dcudroica a. brezvsteri, although I am not sure), and the Black- 
throated Gra}^ ( I), nig/rsrens ) , both of which were seen in the pepper trees not a 
hundred yards from the shore. 
Mearns Thrasher ( 7'oxos/oina c. n/car//si) is the resident subspecies beyond a 
doubt, but the three individuals which I saw in the heavier brush were so wary 
that I was unable to get a shot at them. The 1910 A. O. U. Check-list gives the 
range of this form as “Lower Sonoran Zone” , but in the San Pedros, February 
1908 I found them to be tolerably common nearly to the higher limit of the llpper 
Sonoran Zone where I discovered an incomplete set of two eggs and an unfinished 
nest. These were among straggling pines on the bench-land at over three thous- 
and feet. 
Pallid Wren-tits ( CJ/a/naea I . kcns/iazvi) were occasionally seen, and Western 
Gnatcatchers { Polioptila r. obsrnra) were common. 
SOMP: COLORADO HORNIvD OWL NOTKS 
By EDWARD R. WAR REX 
WITH ONK PHOTO 
M r. KFYI'IS’S paper in the January Condor, “A History of Certain Great 
Horned Owls”, brought to my niiiid my own experience with a family of 
the Western Horned Owl {Bubo idrginianus pallcsrcns) near Paonia, 
Delta County, Colorado. While some account of these was published in the 
Wilson Bulletin for September 1903, (A Nest of the Western Horned Owd), I have 
ventured to rewrite my recollections, and add a few other notes thinking they may 
prove interesting. 
Paonia is situated in the valley of the North Fork of the Gunnison River, at 
an altitude of about .3,700 feet. The valley itself is quite wide, with mesas on 
either side, and then low hills gradually increasing in altitude. In the valley, 
where not cultivated, are sagebrush and greasewood, with cottonwoods along the 
river; on the hills are cedars and pinvons. The soil is largelx' an adobe, which 
when eroded forms more or less sulistantial cliffs or bluffs. 
The nest was in a niche in the face of an adobe bluff a couple of miles up the 
North Fork \"alley from the towm. This bluff was somewhere about forty feet 
high, and the nest-site a little more than half way below the top. I was told that the 
birds had nested there for several vears. It was on the eighth of May, 1901, that 
I made my first visit. As my friend and I approached the bluff we saw one of the 
parent birds sitting at the mouth of the hole, but it flew^ away before I had a chance 
