July, 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
95 
do here; the trees were almost the same, — the sacred laurel being no other than our familiar bay 
tree; the plane-tree our sycamore and the arbutus our madrone. Even the odor and feeling of 
the air was like home. Why then should not the nightingale find himself at home and prosper 
in California? — Ann.a. He.’VD, Berkeley^ Cal. 
Stragglers in Eos Angeles County. — While Mr. G. F. Morconi and myself were combin- 
ing the pleasures of quail shooting with the collecting of ornithological specimens in the San Fer- 
nando Valley, on Dec. 13, 1901, we had the good fortune to secure a lark bunting. {Calatnospiza 
mclanocorys.') The bird was flushed out of a thick clump of cactus and .shot by Mr. Morcom. It 
was a young female in the streaked plumage, without a trace of black, and at first we hardly 
knew what we had secured. On Jan. 16, 1902, I secured another not two hundred yards from 
where the fir.st one was shot, and a minute or two later flushed at least three more which scattered 
in the thick brush and were lost sight of. This second specimen was a male, and probably an 
adult bird, as there were many black feathers in the wings and tail and about the head. — H. S. 
Sw.\RTH. Los .‘ingeles. Cal . 
Wren-Tit Building in a Tree. — It has always been one of my traditions, strongly corrob- 
orated b}' experience, that the family of wren-tits invariably build nests in low bushes, near the 
ground, the highest observed not having been over three and one-half feet. On the morning of 
the i8th of .\i)ril, 1902, however, I observed a wren-tit {Chavia’a f. lienshaiui') carrying materials 
for a nest. Half an hour's watch failed to locate any particular bush that seemed to be the build- 
ing site, but I noticed that the birds alway flew into a live oak tree before diving into the sur- 
rounding bushes. Close approach, and several changes of position without giving offense to the 
busy pair, finally developed the fact that they had chosen the thick outer part of a large over- 
hanging branch of this tree for the site of their nursery, and the height above ground of the nest 
was estimated at twelve feet. This morning they appeared to be nearly through with the labor 
of lining, and I presume the fairer partner will assume her maternal duties in a day or two. Un- 
fortunately it will be imjiossible, from its situation, to watch this nest for further details. If any 
of the readers of Thr Condor have discovered similar sites for nest-building appropriated by 
these birds it would be of general interest to know of such. — Jo.seph M.A.rEM.A.RD, .Santa Barbara. 
Cal., .\])ril 20, 1902. 
An Unusual Sight. — What .seemed to me a sight worthy of note was observed a few morn- 
ings ago on the outskirts of this town. man was endeavoring to burn the rather green grass on 
the golf links near the mission during the prevalence of a verv strong north wind. While walk- 
ing along the road, .some half mile from the spot, I first observed the smoke rising, and soon no- 
ticed that, on the lee side of the fire, the air was dark with what appeared to be swallows, but 
did not at the moment connect the two incidents in mv mind. Approaching from the windward 
side I ran into a small flight of white-throated .swifts [Aeronaiites melatioleiicus) accompanied by 
a few Vaux swifts [Chcetiira vauxi) and a few swallows, and being too near houses to use a large 
charge, managed to drop a couple of the Aeronautes with my 32-cal. auxiliary as they were 
bucking against the wind. The field was burning just opposite my quarters, and on close 
approach the air appeared to be actually full of swallows, cliff swallows far outnumbering the 
other varieties, darting about in the lee of the fire and following the thin smoke for at least a 
quarter of a mile. All the swallows of the neighborhood seemed to have congregated on the 
spot. Many were actually flitting through the smoke within three feet of the smouldering blaze 
where the grass was too green to burn freely, though the heat must have been considerable with- 
in such a short distance of the fire. 
The burning was not continued for any great length of time on this day, but was resumed on 
the next when the same occurrence was repeated, the only difference being that the wind being 
less strong and somewhat shifting the area of the smoke was greater and the birds consequently 
more scattered. Also on this morning a good many swifts were among the swallows, while on 
the previous day these had mostly kept to windward of the smoke. On the third day I was busy- 
putting up specimens and did not notice whether there was any fire or not, but in the afternoon 
Mr. A. P. Redington came to call on me and was much interested at having seen a repetition of 
this occurrence on the way over, it being something new in his experience. 
Neither of us was able to solve the phenomena. We could not ascertain whether the birds 
were after insects stirred up from the grass, whether they were attracted by the smoke itself, or 
whether they- mistook fine cinders for insects. The first hypothesis seemed untenable from the 
fact that there could not have been enough insects from such a small area of grass as was burning 
to amount to much in the way of food for such an assemblage of birds, while the third seems an 
insult to the birds’ intelligence on account of their persistency in following the smoke for several 
days. It really appeared as if the smoke it.self or the odor therefrom was the great attraction. — 
Jo.seph MAn.i.T.\RD, .Santa Barbara, Cal ., May 25, 1902. 
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