JAN„ 1902. I 
THE CONDOR 
21 
of one another, a flour sack proves very 
useful. Placing the heaviest and most 
compact in the bottom after wrapping, 
and the lighter ones on top, they ar- 
rived on board in fine shape. 
The canteen is necessary on all the 
islands, only two or three having fresh 
water. While the temperature is not 
nearly so hot as on the mainland, one 
often gets warmed up, especially if 
carrying tortoise. We struck a side- 
hill on Abingdon 1,400 feet up, that re- 
minded me of the Coast Range in Cali- 
fornia. It was covered with heavy 
ferns and a cold fog was blowing from 
the ocean so strongly that we were glad 
BECK COLLECTING IN THE GALAPAGOS- 
to get down 500 feet to a valley where 
the sun was shining, birds singing and 
8-inch centipedes crawling. 
One good thing about collecting in 
the Galapagos is the absence of ven- 
emous snakes, the one or two species 
found being rare and inoffensive so far 
as we could see. Some of the smaller 
islands will equal the famous Farallones 
for sea bird collecting I think, particu- 
larly Hood Island where albatross, fri- 
gate birds, gulls, terns, tropic birds 
boobies and shearwaters all nest within 
less than a quarter of a mile of one an- 
other. 
A Day on the West Fork of the Sna 
Gabriel. 
D uring my trip to the West Fork 
of the San Gabriel, in early June 
of 1900, I was fortunate enough 
to see my first California pygmy owl. 
I began looking around for a cavity, 
when seeing a woodpecker’s nest, 
which did not have the appearance of 
being excavated this season, I had al- 
most reached the tree and was about to 
rap, when something blocked the en- 
trance. I then rapped on the tree and 
the bird left the nest flying to an oak 
on the side of the canyon. As soon as 
I saw it fly I was positive it was a bird I 
had not seen before. As it left the nest 
it made a peculiar noise and its flight 
was jerky. 
I then sat down about 200 feet 
from the nest and waited for an oppor- 
tunity to get a better view of the bird. 
After waiting fully twenty minutes, the 
bird flew from the oak to a sycamore 
near the one containing the nest. On 
approaching the tree I could see the 
bird looking down at me, and was soon 
in position to get a fairly good view of 
it. Not wishing to shoot it before find- 
ing out what the nest contained, I took 
a description of the bird, which I 
thought was a California pygmy owl, 
but was not positive on account of its 
long tail. So after completing my notes, 
I ascended to the nest which was about 
twenty feet from the ground and began 
cutting into the tree on the opposite 
side to the entrance, as it placed one in 
a better position to work. 
I was considerably over an hour in 
making a hole, when I heard the squeal 
of young, but kept on chopping until 
having made the hole large enough for 
my hand, I pulled out four young, 
one at the time; which I think must 
have been about two weeks old. I was 
very much disappointed in not finding 
at least an addled egg. 
H. J. Ueland. 
Los Angeles, Cal. 
