22 
THE CONDOR 
voL. vr 
Annual Outing Meeting of the Southern Division, 1903 
l!Y FRANK S. I)AGOf;TT 
T lir{ 1903 outing meeting of the Southern Division of the Cooper Ornithological Club 
which was held October 31, November i and 2, will long be remembered as one of the 
most successful ever held by the club. This annual gathering of the clan has taken place 
for man}' years past and has become so popular there is little danger of its being over- 
looked in the future. 
Once a year the members select a committee who in turn select a place for the gathering of 
the clan, and much depends upon their judgment. 
Twice in the history of the club it has met on Mt. Wilson, a pine-covered ridge 5800 feet 
high, where kinglets, chickadees, nuthatches, white-headed woodpeckers. Sierra j uncos and 
black-throated w'arblers abound. Other years found the members with blankets, camped under 
the oaks in the upper reaches of the .‘\rroyo Seco canyon, where jays, dotted canyon wrens and 
pallid wren-tits enliven the scene by day, and spotted and California screech owls by night, 
although, as I remember it, the members did most of the whooping. 
This year the committee, Howard Robertson and H. J. Delande, made a happy hit when they 
.selected the .Salisbury ranch for a rendezvous. This ranch adjoins the sign-board station of 
Garnsey, on the Chatsworth branch of the Southern Pacific R. R. From its edge grain fields 
stretch as far as the eye can see. Ordinarily an orchard district, intruding itself into grain fields, 
offers to the collector and observer little beyond the common run of birds, but here the whole 
fauna is changed by the tojwgraphy of the country. The vast water shed to the north and east, 
culminating in the Tejunga Wash which crosses the San Fernando valley in a series of strips 
of great width, carrying the underground flow of water, focusing at this point, forms the head of 
the Los Angeles river, with its low bottom-land and dense willows and clumps of cotton-wood, 
with the avifauna attracted by such an environment. From this point, north, for miles the wash 
gradually widens until it becomes a broad chaparral region, the resort of valley partridges 
l)lack-tailed gnatcatchers, cactus wrens and thrashers. It is here that stragglers like the sage 
thrasher and lark bunting have been taken, in years gone by, by Swarth and others. The weed- 
grown grain stubble affords shelter for western savanna sparrows, western meadowlarks, western 
vesper sparrows. Say phcebes and burrowing owls. The orchards, with more or less fallen fruit 
on the ground, attract a great many red-shafted flickers, hou.se finches, and .'\udubon warblers. 
These outings are a crucial test of the members; while many plan for them months in ad- 
vance, it is the only tried collector and enthusiast who usually responds at roll call, but it is 
worthy of record that every olficer of the Southern Division responded to the call of his name at 
the meeting held October 21, 1903. 
INIessrs. Robertson, Lelande, Swarth, Pringle and vShinn came from Los .\ngeles by team, 
through Cahuenga Pass, Judson by rail, and Richardson with blankets strapped to handle bar 
covered the eighteen miles from Pasadena on wheel, and Grinnell and Daggett by rig. 
During the three days in the field the territory was carefully investigated by the different 
members of the party who scattered in all directions at daybreak, returning in time to relate the 
experiences of the day over a delicious stew made from game contributed by the hunters of the 
party. W. B. Judson, always lucky, made the most noteworthy find, it being an adult male of 
Scott oriole {Icterus parisoruui) the first specimen actually taken in Los Angeles Co., although 
H. S. Swarth noted a single bird many years ago. Among the other varieties was a pigeon hawk 
and Brewer sparrow by Daggett, and two dusky poor wills, one by Judson and one by Swarth. 
Grinnell and .Swarth set a line of traps for mammals and secured many odd forms, such as 
kangaroo rats, jiocket and white-footed mice and wood rats, the wily coyote refusing to be caught 
but did not fail to help himself to mammals already in the traps. 
In order to give an idea of the class of birds seen on an outing of this sort, I append a list of 
those noted by the different members, with notes. 
I. Vai.i.ky Partridge, Lophortyx californicus vat/icolus. Plentiful in the brushy 
washes. The largest flock numbered about fifty. 
2. Mourning Hovh, Zenaidura macroit) a. In the middle of the day flocks of 30 to 40 
hung about the cottonwoods. 
3. Turkey Vui.Ture, Caihartcs aura. Half a dozen circled about on the 2nd. 
4. Mar.sh Hawk, Circus tiudsouius. One noted by Swarth over grain stubble. 
5. Western Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter velox rufilatiis. .Several seen about head 
of Los Angeles river. 
6. We.stern Ri£d-t.\ii,ed Hawk, Butco borealis calurus. One seen in Eagle Rock valley. 
Pestered by large flock of horse finches. 
7. Pigeon Hawk, Falco coluu/ba/'ius. Flving between cottonwoods, where large flocks of 
mourning doves had gathered. 
8. Desert Sparrow Hawk, I'a/co sparveriiis phaheua. Several seen on telegraph poles. 
9. Amp:rican LonG-Earp;i) Owe, Asia ivilsouianus. Flock of a dozen started from low 
juniper clump in Tejunga Wash by C. Richardson who secured two. 
10. Short-eared Owe, Asia accipitriuus. One started up from neglected grain field at 
edge of wash. 
II. Burrowing Owe, Speotyto cuu.icularia hypoycca. In neglected grain field. 
