Nov., 1903 I 
THE CONDOR 
153 
latter were the crown sparrows and lark buntings, the male buntings already 
about half clothed in their striking summer plumage. 
Large trees were rather scarce on the divide and were not very large there 
except by comparison. They were principally isolated live oaks or black-jacks 
and most of them contained nests of the red-tailed hawk, usually old and deserted, 
but the new ones already contained either eggs or young birds. Of course all the 
hollow trees we saw had to be clo.sely inspected and in one old stump we found a 
large pole cat peacefully taking his siesta. We had a good look at him but were 
very careful not to disturb his slumbers. He belonged to the white-backed, bare- 
nosed species and appeared to be very fat, also, fortunately for us, very sleepy. 
In the winter the Texan jays are generally in small parties of four or five 
individuals, family parties probably. In the winter of 1896-1897 when large num- 
bers of the common eastern blue jay {Cyanocitta cristata) visited us, and it was not 
uncommon to see flocks of from fifty to one hundred of them, our native jays did 
not mix with them but wandered about in their usual small flocks. These flocks, how- 
ever, were far more numerous than they have ever been since. Probably a heavy 
crop of shin oak acorns in this neighborhood and a failure of the mast in other 
places, attracted the birds of both species. I have not seen the eastern jay here 
but once before; in 1887 they were very plentiful. They remained until the mid- 
dle of April on both occasions, but none of them stayed here to breed. 
A List of Birds from the Santa Cruz Mountains, California 
BY M.\I,COI.M P. ANDP:RS0N and HUBERT O. JENKINS 
D uring the Christmas holidays of 1902-03 the writers made a ten days trip 
from their homes in Santa Clara Valley, California, to the sea, a distance of 
twenty-five or thirty miles. At that time recent rains had made the moun- 
tain road very bad so our first day, and half of the second, was spent in reaching 
San Gregorio Creek, a stream on the western slope of the coast range. Here near 
the village of La Honda we camped several days on the bank of the stream in a 
deep cold canyon. This canyon runs east and west at this point, so the sun which 
rose to us about nine, lingered just above the crest of the southern mountain until 
near four in the afternoon. The northern slope of the canyon thus received some 
warmth, but the southern and densely wooded side, little or none. For this reason, 
no doubt, the upper parts of the northern side have been cleared and were then in 
use as pastureland while the original forest, except some of the largest redwoods 
has been preserved on the southern side. 
The most prominent forest tree in the neighborhood is the redwood {Sequoia 
sempervirens), but many Douglas spruces {Pseudotsiiga taxifolia) occur, and the 
undergrowth is very dense. This consists largely of several species of oaks 
{Quercus), the tan bark oak {Quercus doisijiora), the buckeye {^disculus calif or nica') 
and the poison oak {Rhus diversi/oba). San Gregorio creek, like all streams of 
this portion of the coast range is lined with alders {Alniis oregano.'), and the Cali- 
fornia laurel ( occurs on the banks as well as on the 
damp hillsides high above the stream. About two miles west of La Honda or 
eight miles from the coast the redwood forest ceases quite abruptly, giving place 
