Sep., 1901 I 
THE CONDOR 
127 
162. Polioptila caerulea obscura. Western Gnatcatcher. Common resident. 
Abundant in spring and early summer. 
163. Hylocichla aonalaschkae. Dwarf Hermit Thrush. Abundant winter resi- 
dent. 
164. Merula migratoria propinqua. Western Robin. Very abundant winter 
resident. 
165. Hesperocichla naevia. Varied Thrush. First noted March 13, 1901, when a 
number were seen in a grove of live oaks. We have never come across 
this species here before, and none of the men on the ranch were familiar 
with it. 
166. Sialia mexicana occidentalis. Western Bluebird. Abundant resident. 
167. Sialia arctica. Mountain Bluebird. Regular winter visitant. Sometimes 
very numerous. 
168. Passer domesticus. English Sparrow. Common nuisance around buildings 
This list is approximately complete as far as it goes, yet hardly a year passes 
without a new record being made of some visitant or wanderer. As neither my 
brother nor I have resided at Paicines for any length of time it is impossible to 
give correct data of arrival of migrants, and this we have made no attempt to do. 
The past three years of successive drought reduced the bird life as far as immi- 
grants were concerned to a very low ebb, and even affected many of the resident 
species. This winter however brought with it abundance of rain, and at the pres- 
ent writing the outlook for luxurious vegetation in the way of crops, grass, etc., 
could not be surpassed. The result of this will be a great plenty of food for the 
birds and it will be interesting to see whether this will at once produce a marked 
increase in the bird life over the last three seasons. 
San Gerofiimo, Cal., April 6, igoi. 
# w w 
Breeding Range of the Allen and Rufous 
Hummingbirds. 
I was glad to see an answer in the 
July Condor to my query in re- 
gard to the breeding of the Rufous 
Hummer in California. But I do not 
consider the evidence offered by Mr. 
Emerson to be unquestionable or even 
worthy of any credence whatever. For 
have I not again and again seen male 
Rufous Hummers pursuing female 
Anna, Black-chinned and even Costa 
Hummers, where the latter appeared 
in the vicinity of the temporary feed- 
ing grounds of the pugnacious Rufous? 
And is it not probable that the female 
of the Allen Hummer would be treated 
in the same way if similar opportunity 
afforded, just as Mr. Emerson’s two in- 
stances illustrate ? And then too, has 
it ever been shown that after mating 
the male of any of our hummingbirds 
has anything whatever to do with the 
female or nest? Unless otherwise 
proven it seems to me more probable 
that the nests observed were those of 
the Allen. It seems to me an almost 
impossible feat for even the keenest 
observer to distinguish the female Ru- 
fous and Allen Hummers in life, though 
the two species should present them- 
selves side by side at close range. For 
I am sure it is hard enough to identify 
the two in the hand. I am aware that 
a number of good authorities have re- 
corded the breeding of the Rufous 
Hummer in Central and Southern Cal- 
ifornia. But it will do these no injus- 
tice for some one to present fresh evi- 
dence of an unquestionable nature (if 
obtainable !); to be explicit, an incubat- 
ing female taken with the nest and 
eggs. 
The reasons for my present position 
in this regard are somewhat as follows : 
