72 
'I'HK CONDOR 
Vol. Ill 
appear on the eastern slope of this 
range some days before they are seen 
here. I have heard Lutescent War- 
blers {Helniinthopliila c. hitescens) for in- 
stance two miles east of my house, but 
over the range, a couple of weeks be- 
fore hearing them here. This winter 
however has been so mild that there 
were practically no local differences in 
temperature. The buckeye trees leafed 
out on l)oth sides of the range simultane- 
ously which never happened liefore in 
my recollection. In conse([uence of 
these unusual conditions this spring 
tlie l.utescent Warblers appeared in 
numbers in this valley without liaving 
dallied on the other side of the divide, 
before March 6 1 had neither heard nor 
seen a .single s])ecimen between liere 
and San Rafael, but on the morning of 
that day they were piping away merrily 
on all sides. 
Usually they have seemed to drop in 
by twos and threes, becoming more 
numerous as spring advanced, but this 
year they came in a wave. My earliest 
record before this was on the east side 
of the range Feb. 15: San Geronimo 
March i, of the same year, 1896. It is an 
open question as to whether the move- 
ments of these birds at this time de- 
pend upon the tenqierature itself or 
upon the food supply as affected by it. 
On January 26 of this year I noticed 
near my stable a strange sparrow among 
a flock of Zonotrichias and Juncos that 
feed around the buildings all winter. 
I could not identify it at the moment, 
but went at once to the house for a 
gun. On returning 1 saw through an 
open window another strange bird 
which could be nothing else than Zono- 
trichia albicoUis. It was on a willow 
limb overhanging a bank, and too close 
to shoot even with the auxiliary, but 
fearing that it might be difficult to And 
again among the other s])ecies I aimed 
a little to one side and dropped it. Un- 
fortunately it must have been only crijr- 
])led as it utterly disappeared before I 
reached the bank down which it fell. 
d'his was an adult bird in apparently 
fine plumage. My disappointment 
was great and being needed elsewhere 
there was no time to search for the first 
stranger. However in the afternoon 
several visits were made to the stable 
and finally the capture was achieved. 
This proved to be another ZonolricJiia 
a/bico/lis in the first winter plumage and 
a new record for Marin count}’. 
Another interesting take was that of 
a specimen of Passerella which ap- 
proaches very closely to Uiaca proper, 
having the back somewhat streaked, 
the wing coverts distinctly tipped with 
whitish and the breast and lower parts 
very much lighter than in iinalaschcensis. 
I also came upon another still lighter 
and nearer i/iaca, while riding through 
some low brush. This one was not 
more than six feet from me, but escaped 
before I could back away far enough to 
shoot. I have looked for years for in- 
termediates of this sor in this localit}’, 
but never found one before. 
On Jan t6, a ^ Ruddy Horned Lark 
{Otocon's a. nibea) was taken on top of 
our range of hills in open ground and a 
$ ^\\ox‘i-o'&x<iAV>\s:\{Asioaccipitrinus) in 
some low brush close by. The latter 
seemed very much out of place among 
rocks and chapparal on to]) of the hills 
as 1 had always associated this species 
with marshes and lowlands. 
The California Thrasher, Harporhvn- 
c/ucs I'edivivus, was mentioned in my 
list as having been heard but never 
seen in this county. On Feb. 27, last I 
distinctly and unmistakably heard one 
of these birds singing his best in the 
midst of a dense mass of chemisal on a 
steep hillside about three miles from 
my house, but was as heretofore unable 
to catch a glimpse of the songster. It 
will be interesting to see whether the 
mildne.s.s of the winter will have any 
effect upon the regular spring migra- 
tions later on. 
WWW 
li. B. Moran of San Luis Obispo, well known 
as an active ornithologist, has registered at 
Stanford L'niversity, whence Tiiii Condor 
expects to hear from him. 
