24 
THE CONDOR 
I VOL. VI 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Unusual Nesting Site of the Cactus Wren. — A ten years’ experience with the cactus 
wren (Heleodytes b. brunneicapillus) has left a memory of fleeting glimpses and hard approaches 
that characterized the attempts to get better acquainted with this wary bird. They have a way of 
sliding out of the nest just before one gets a glimpse of it, then appearing momentarily as they 
dive out of sight behind some clump of brush or tangle of cactus. If followed persistently it be- 
comes a case of hide and seek in which the observer gets little satisfaction. I found a remarkable 
exception on June 27th this year (1903) when taking a camping trip into the San Gabriel can- 
yon. The road, which crosses the San Gabriel River wash, near Azusa, is bordered by a row of 
poles carr3'ing high power wires. The two cross arms, carrying twelve wires, are about thirty 
feet from the ground. A cactus wren had selected the lower of the arms and built a typical nest 
on the north or shady side of the pole, filling the whole space between it and the large insulat- 
or. The beginning of such a nest on the smooth arm would be possible only in a country remark- 
ably free from winds, but after completion, the insulator acted as a set screw to hold it in place. 
The road which this line of poles borders is the main travelled road to Pomona, San Bernar- 
dino and Redlands, and probably used more than any other long distance road in southern Cali- 
fornia. In some cases, for instance, a driver on a load of hay would be brought about face to face 
with this shy bird. While we haulted under the wires to investigate, the female alighted on the 
cross arm, with food in her bill for the young, which the nest contained. 
Often birds are forced to adapt themselves to new conditions by the settlement of a country, 
which may destroy their natural nesting sites, but in this case there was no apparent reason, as 
the wash for miles contained hundreds of perfect nesting places, in cactus such as is usually 
chosen bj^ the cactus wren. 
That the bird sometimes does the unusual was noted in another instance, when I found a nest 
located in an apricot tree. It was the corner tree of an orchard which projected into a large 
wash, where the cactus and brush for some distance had been cleared. — Fr.\nk S. Daggett, 
Pasadena, Cal. 
Records of the Black-throated Sparrow. — So far as published records go the black- 
throated sparrow, Atnphispiza biliueaia deseriicola, is onh' an accidental visitor to the Pacific 
slope of Los Angeles count\’. Joseph Grinnell records, in “Birds of the Pacific Slope of Los An- 
geles County,” a specimen taken in the Arroj-o Seco wash near Pasadena, Cal., April 10, 1897, 
and I learn today of an unrecorded specimen taken bj- Harrj- Swarth, in the spring of 1898 in the 
San Fernando Valle}'. 
On September 12, 1903, while camped by an irrigation ditch on the road between two olive 
orchards, near Pacoima, a station on the S. P. R. R., a mile north of the Big Tejunga Wash in 
the San Fernando valley. I noticed a small sparrow moving about among the weeds on the road- 
side. It darted into the grove as I approached, playing hide and seek behind the low spreading 
olive branches. It proved to be a young male of the year, with black throat patch still incom- 
plete. — Frank S. D.aggett, Pasadena, Cal. 
Records from the Vicinity of Watsonville, California. — The following more or less 
rare birds were taken or seen in the region about Watsonville, California, during the summer and 
autumn of 1903: 
Ayihya collaris, Oct. 19, shot; seen several times. 
Gymnogyps californianus, seen several times in mountains on north side of Pajaro Valley. 
Elanus leucurics, seen, but not shot, Oct. 23. 
Archibuteo ferrugineiis, observed quite often during fall. 
P'alco anatinn, Oct. 3, shot. 
Coccygus americanus occidentalis, observed in May and June along Pajaro River. 
Cotaptes auratus luteiis, shot Nov. 15. 
Phalcenoptilus 7 iuttalli californicns, observed Oct. 25. 
Chcetm'a vauxi, Aug. 14, shot. 
Aeronaules melanoleucus, observed in mountains on north side of valley. 
Tyrannus verticalis, June i, shot. 
Pica nuttalli, Sept. 27, shot. 
Cot'vus amei'icanus hespe^-is, Oct. 21, shot. 
Spinus pinus, quite abundant in September; many shot. 
Melospiza lincolni, abundant in September and October; many shot. 
Dendroica townsendi, common in fall; many shot. 
