TIlIv COXDOR 
Vol. XI 11 
1 (,() 
Herodias egretta. Egret. One bird wa.s seen on a pond at the extreme west 
end of the lake on the morning of May 29. 
Butorides virescens anthonyi. Anthoiu' Green Heron. Two birds were seen 
flying over the marshes. 
Nycticorax nycticorax naevius. Black-crowned Night Heron. Breeding in 
the tnles in small numbers in compan\- with the Ibis. Five nests were found on 
the 28th, all of which contained young except one, which contained three badly 
incubated eggs. In one case the young were nearly full grown. These nests were 
more substantially built than those of the Ibis, and were placed lower down in the 
tnles, being from one to three feet above the water. 
Rallus virginianus. Virginia Rail. One bird seen on the 28th. 
Fulica americana. Coot. Nesting abundantly. Many young birds were 
noted and several nests containing fresh eggs were found. One thing that im- 
pressed us as being very strange was the fact that no nests of the Florida Gallinule 
( (ralli)!ula galcata'^ were found nor were the birds seen. This bird, which breeds 
so commonly in many parts of southern California in company with the Coot, was, 
if not entirely absent, at least very rare. 
Oxyechus vociferus. Killdeer. Common along the shores of the lake. 
Aluco pratincola. Barn Owl. Fairly common in the more dense of the tide 
thickets. 
Chordeiles acutipennis texensis. Texas Nighthawk. We both agreed that we 
had never seen this species so abundant as it was in this vicinity. In the evening 
they were noted in great numbers catching insects over the surface of the lake. 
Cypseloides niger borealis. Black Swift. On the evening of May 28, a little 
before sunset, a flock of eight or ten of these birds circled over our camp for sev- 
eral minutes. They were close enough to allow us to positively establish their 
identity. 
Yellow-headed, Tricolored and San Diego Red-wing Blackbirds were nesting 
abundantly in the tides. Fresh eggs were found and full grown young were noted. 
FIELD NOTES FROM SOUTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 
Ry II. S. SWART 1 1 
WITH ONE PHOTO 
I N PURSUANCE of the investigation into the mammal fauna of the vSan Joaquin 
\'alley which the Museum of Wrtebrate Zoology of the Ibiiversity of California 
undertook during the past spring (see Grinnell, Condor XHI, 1911, p. 109), 
the writer of this spent in the field the time from May 5 to June 6. Though mam- 
mal collecting was the prime object of the expedition, a few birds were also pre- 
served, while notes were kept on all the species encountered; and it seems worth 
while to place on record some of the scattered information acquired regarding the 
details of distribution of certain of the species met with in the region we traversed. 
During this last month of the expedition collecting was carried on at four 
points: at Bakersfield and McKittrick, in Kern County, and at Simmler and Santa 
Margarita in San Luis Obispo County. At Bakersfield our camp was established 
in the hills about eight miles north of the town, at the western edge of the oil field. 
The.se hills, carrying a sparse growth of grass, are otherwise almost entirely devoid 
