May, 1901 
THK CONDOR 
71 
watched him awhile; but, pitying the poor Nuthatch lost in this land of starvation, 
I humanely secured him from further privation. Which even a tender-hearted 
Audubonist might not have done! 
10. Auriparus flaviceps. Verdin. 
Two specimens were obtained and three others seen, in each case keeping 
shyly to the cover of the thickest bushes. The only notes heard were faint atten- 
uated ones, like the repeated “tsip, tsip” of the female Anna Hummingbird. Ver- 
dins’ nests were numerous wherever there were thorny bnshes, being situated 
from one to eight feet above the ground. There were sometimes three in a single 
bush. These nests are very durably constructed and must last many years, thus 
accounting for their abundance as compared with their builders. The walls con- 
sist of firmly interlaced twigs from the thorn bushes. The nests are flask shaped, 
resembling miniature cactus wren’s nests, but fixed among the supporting branches 
with the opening rather more downwards than to the side, 
11. Regulus calendula. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 
A lone ? obtained. 
12. Merula migratoria propinqua. Western Robin. 
Two individuals were flushed before sun-rise from the margin of the River. 
13. Sialia mexicana occidentalis. Western Bluebird. 
Two flocks, of 8 and 13 respectively, were noted flying down the valley high 
overhead. 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
Some Winter Notes From Marin County, Cal. 
By Joseph M.vileiard, San Geronimo, Cai.. 
T he past winter- has been re- 
markably mild for this vicinity. 
We have had abundance of rain 
but very little cold weather. Instead 
of periods of frosty mornings, when the 
registering thermometer would show a 
minimum of any where between 12° 
and 22° day after day, there have been 
but few severe frosts and then only for 
two or three days at a time. This 
mildness seems to have affected the 
bird life to a considerable degree. 
Some species which are seldom seen 
here in winter have been comparatively 
common. In my list of land birds of 
Marin County, (The Condor II, No. 3) 
Thick-billed Sparrows, {Passerella i. 
■megarhyncha,) and Townsend’s Solitaire, 
(Myadestes townsendi') are mentioned as 
occurring only in very cold winters. 
The past winter has proved an excep- 
tion to this rule, as the former species 
was here in limited numbers and the 
latter was more numerous than ever be- 
fore noted. This state of affairs may 
have been occasioned more by the 
heav}^ snow-fall in the .Sierras than by 
the niildne.ss of the temperature in this 
localitjE 
The Western Evening Grosbeak 
{Coccothratistes v. viontanus), seems to 
have been quite-conimon all along the 
coast this year and several .small flocks 
were noted about here and in San Ra- 
fael. Golden-crowned Kinglets {Regu- 
lus s. oiivaceus) have=_beenjvery numer- 
ous and several specimens of each sex 
have been taken, whereas my last re- 
cord of this species in midwinter was in 
1895. Heretofore observation has led 
me to believe that most if not all, of the 
Ruby-crowned Kinglets, {Regulus cale^i- 
dula) wintering here were 5 6 , as I 
had never taken a ? , but this winter 
has been an exception to this rule also, 
as the two sexes seem to have been 
about equally represented. 
Owing to the fact that the San Gero- 
ninio Valley is usually much colder in 
winter and spring than the adjacent 
country on the eastern side of the com- 
passing hills, many spring immigrants 
