THE CONDOR 
Vol. Ill 
1 16 
slight. In the nest where my birds 
were taken (on this same date) were 
one fresh egg, two fresh or addled, two 
with small embryos, three with very 
large embryos, one egg pipped, and one 
owlet; total, ten eggs. 
I thought Feb. 12 an extra early date 
but considered it influenced by dry 
shelter and plenty of food, but in the 
case of this large set the first egg must 
have been laid about March i. On the 
same date another nest held four fresh 
eggs; another held one fresh egg. On 
March 30 one nest held two eggs and 
several owlets. Individual birds certain- 
ly lay earlier annually than others, as 
does the parent? bird of these captive 
owls and the hereditary transmission 
was perhaps over-transmitted to the off- 
spring. Donald A. Cohen. 
Alameda, Cal. 
® ® 
^e$ting of Spatula clypeata. 
W HILE collecting some speci- 
mens of the Salt Marsh Song 
Sparrow (Afelospiza melodia pus- 
lllnla) on the salt marsh April 25, 1901, 
I noticed on starting out from the edge 
of the marsh a pair of ducks which 
were flying toward the waters of the 
bay. 
After working over the marsh for 
several hours I started back and when 
half way across I again saw a pair of 
ducks headed inland, but thought noth- 
ing of it until a single duck started up 
ten feet from me and 300 yards from the 
mainland. 
On going to the spot there lay a nest 
in open sight on the bare ground among 
the salt-weed. It was not over four 
inches off the ground and contained 
fourteen eggs. The nest was composed 
of dry stems of the salt-weed, lined with 
down and a few feathers from the par- 
ent bird, and measured fourteen inches 
across the top with a depth of five 
inches. 
The eggs were of a dull grayish-green 
or olive color, about two-thirds incubat- 
ed and lay well embedded in the down 
of the nest. If the female had not 
flushed I should not have found the 
nest. 
On March 28, 1886 I took a set of this 
same species, placed on the sand under 
a low bush, 150 yards back from the 
bay shore. The nest was constructed in a 
very similar manner to the one above 
described. In this case I got my head 
within three feet of the close-setting 
female before she flew, the male joining 
her before reaching the bay. The Shov- 
eller is becoming more eommon on the 
salt marshes from year to-year. 
W. Otto Emerson. 
Hayzvards, Cal. 
in iHi ’tHh 
A Visit to the Herons. 
O N THE morning of April 4, 1901 
Mr. R. Smith and the writer 
started on bieycles to visit a 
heronry about six miles from town. We 
passed the Napa State Insane Asylum 
one and one-half miles out at nine 
o’clock and reached the heronry half an 
hour later. It was found to be thickly 
populated with Great Blue Herons 
{Ardea herodias), known to their human 
neighbors familiarly as cranes. 
This heronry is situated on the sum- 
mit of an eminence known as Green- 
wood’s hill and does not at all resemble 
the dismal-like heronries I have read of 
so often. The trees are chiefly live- 
oaks and contain, in some cases, as 
many as eleven nests. We carried a 
^-inch rope about 80 feet long, a satchel 
for the eggs and a tape-line for measur- 
ing heights. After considerable difficult 
climbing we secured a number of sets of 
eggs from the rather bulky nests of 
sticks. 
In the live oaks the nests can be best 
seen from below, and from a distanee a 
tree containing several nests does not 
appear to be tenanted. The birds usu- 
ally perched near the nests and were 
easily seen. On the trip Barn Owls, 
Sparrow Hawks, Californian Wood- 
peckers and Brewer’s Blackbirds were 
especially numerous while many other 
species were represented. 
Leon Hottet.. 
Napa, Cal. 
