Mar., 1912 
PASSERELLA STEPIIENSI IN MARIN COUNTY, CALIEORNIA 
67 
about the latitude of southern Monterey County. On the east side of the Sierras 
there were none, nor was any Passerclla found as far as the Museum expedition 
went to the north of this limit. We know that inegarhyncha comes in still farther 
north, hut between ]\It. Whitney and the southern half of Tulare County there 
seems to be a hiatus as far as Passerclla is concerned. 
The situation now is that stephensi has been found breeding as far north as 
above outlined in Tulare County, possibly wintering in Santa Barbara County, 
and an occasional winter visitor to Marin County, very much farther north. The 
distance from its next most northern record to Marin County is something like 175 
or 200 miles, at least, with plains, lowlands, rivers or bays to cross, and with abso- 
lutely no records between these extremes, making this situation an extremely inter- 
esting one, and proving that there is room for a lot of investigating in this line- 
It also apparently shows another exception to the rule that birds do not winter 
north of their breeding grounds. 
The two photographs herewith presented are to show the similarity of the 
ground occupied by stephensi in its breeding' range in tbe San Jacinto Mountains 
and in its wintering place in Marin County. Both localities are rocky, waste areas, 
covered with cypress in Marin County — which is replaced by chinquapin on the 
breeding ground, though a little of this is found in Marin County also, and with 
ceanothus and manzanita in both places. In Marin the elevation at which these 
birds are found is about 1500 feet while in their southern breeding grounds it 
varies from 7000 to 9000 feet. Singularly to state they are found in Marin County 
only upon the very tops of the ranges, and never even such a small matter as two 
or three hundred feet below the tops, although the conditions may seem absolutely 
the same. 
NESTING OF THE CANADA GOOSE AT LAKE TAHOE 
By MTLTON S. ray 
WITH FOUR PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 
M ichael RYAN, an old settler of Lake Valley, has assured me that he has 
noted geese nesting at Rowland’s Marsh almost every spring since 
he first came, thirty years ago. Be this as it may, I failed to record 
the bird on trips through the marsh in 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1906; and while 
a large, noisy bird like the Canada Goose could hardly be overlooked- I must 
acknowledge not visiting some of the sections of the marsh where I have since 
found it rather common. 
My first acquaintance with the goose was made on the first of June, 1909, 
when I came upon a pair at the north end of the marsh. The birds were very 
wild and kept well out of gun range. I searched the vicinity but failed to locate 
any nest. Some days later I learned that the keeper of a nearby resort had a 
short time previously collected a nest of eggs of the goose. These he had 
hatched beneath a domestic hen, and the young were successfully reared. I feel 
quite sure it was the parents which I observed, and also feel rather certain it 
was the only pair in the marsh that year. 
On arriving at Bijou, May 20, 1910, I was informed that geese had become 
more abundant than ever in the marsh, and that residents who lived close by had 
