May, 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
75 
few others. I may refer to them in the future, though they are not very important. 
I did a great amount of work of which its pages bear no evidence. I spent 
most of the summer and autumn of 1885 in studying the food habits of the birds in 
orchards, vineyards, grain fields, pastures, in valley and mountain. I had pre - 
viously been somewhat familiar with them but examination of bird stomachs gave 
me some surprises. I found wheat in stomachs of birds that I had not suspected 
of eating it, including Melanerpes f. bairdi and Asyndesvius torquatiis. I discov- 
ered that the former stores acorns and eats them without reference to any worm 
they may contain, thus exploding the venerable theory of its selecting acorns that 
would later on contain worms and that the anticipated grub was the sole desider- 
atum. This bird is very fond of mulberries; nevertheless it is quite harmless. I 
had often seen Scolecophagus cyanocephaliis, Sturnella yteglecta and Aphelocoma cali- 
fornica probe the ground for the kernel of wheat at the root of the young plant, 
frequently destroying it, had shot them and found their stomachs full of soft wheat 
and nothing else exeept a little soil. But I had seen these and nearly all of the 
birds feeding principally upon locusts which were very destructive throughout a 
large portion of California in 1885 and I knew that a just verdict could not be 
rendered for or against many species until an immense amount of testimony was 
taken in all sorts of localities at all times of the year. My first impulse was to 
publish notes on food of hawks, owls, and game birds, of which I had positive opin- 
ions. I was aware of the great usefulness of the hawks and owls which remain 
in California during summer — especially the red tailed hawk and burrowing owl. 
Migration. The simple fact is that the north coming migrants arrive in 
California, at least, about the same time every spring, without regard to tempera- 
ture or state of vegetation, though the latter is about a month later some seasons 
than others. My observations at San Diego during the migratory periods of 1884 
and 1885 led me to think differently, but long continued observations in central 
California have convinced me of the correctness of the above assertion. There are 
no temperatures so low as to check the spring migrants west of the Sierra Nevada. 
The Lower Sonoran life zone extends north of the 40th parallel in the inter- 
ior of California. Oranges ripen earlier at lat. 39° than at Los Angeles, lat. 34°. 
It is said of Thoreau that upon seeing a certain flower he remarked that it 
was time for a certain bird to arrive from the south. It would be impossible to 
make accurate predictions of that sort in California, and quite impossible for birds 
to make their spring arrival accord with flowering of the plants. A few examples 
will demonstrate this. Mr. Proud reported almond blossoms at Chico, February i, 
1885; Mr. Palmer reported them at Berkeley, February 6, 1895. Berkeley is nearly 
three degrees of latitude .south of Chico. March 10, 1886, vegetation was about 
ten days earlier at Gridley than at Stockton, Livermore, Niles and Hayward, all of 
which are more than three degrees south of Gridley. Here I should say that 
plants are not always earlier at Gridley than at Stockton. At Gridley leaves on 
deciduous oaks were about two inches long February 22, 1886. They were just 
perceptible at Stockton February 28, 1900. The oaks were slightly tinged with 
green at Stockton April i, 1903. Some of the birds arrived at Stockton earlier the 
cold backward spring of 1903 than in the mild early one of 1900. The martin 
{Progne s. Hesperia) came in cool, stormy weather March 7, igoT^, Empidonax trailli, 
Coniopus richardso 7 ii, Icteriav. longicauda, Zamelodia melanocephala and others came 
between April 25 and 29 against a strong cool north wind, the two last named in 
moderate force. Many grosbeaks were singing the 25th. 
During the remarkable cold winter of 1902-3 the lowest temperature at: 
