204 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVII 
Colymbus auritus. Horned Grebe. A pair of these birds in semi-breeding plumage 
haunted Prisoners Harbor throughout the interval of our stay. Toward the last there 
were increasing signs of mating interest. 
Chen hyperboreus hyperboreus. Lesser Snow Goose. Two winged birds are kept in 
an enclosure at the main ranch. These were obtained about a year ago, according to 
Messrs. Revell and Luchelli, from flocks which numbered thousands. 
Larus argentatus. Herring Gull. Two birds were found associating with Westerns 
and Californias at the West ranch on April 13. 
Asyndesmus lewisi. Lewis Woodpecker. A single bird haunted the roof of an old 
barn near the main ranch on April 4. He was not again seen. 
Planesticus migratorius propinquus. Western Robin. Several Robins were seen in 
a group of oak trees southeast of the main ranch, — for the last time on April 11. 
Ixoreus naevius naevius. Varied Thrush. A single bird flushed in the chaparral at 
close range on April 5, and another was sighted on the day following. 
Bombycilla cedrorum. Cedar Waxwing. A flock of about forty birds appeared on 
the 11th near our camp, and they fed upon the berries of the Christmas Holly, Hetero- 
metes arbutifolia, for a week or more thereafter. 
Vireosylva gilva swainsoni. Western Warbling Vireo. A single male was heard 
singing in the Valle Centrale on Easter Sunday, April 4. 
Dendroica mgrescens. Black-throated Gray Warbler. Two singing males just ar- 
rived from the south were picked up in a little canyon near the Sul ranch on the 19th. 
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. Yellow-headed Blackbird. Mr. Luchelli has an 
undated specimen, a male, which he took near the main ranch last year. 
Spinus pinus pinus. Pine Siskin. Several times encountered in the Monterey pine 
belt, where it probably breeds. 
Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli. Nuttall Sparrow. A certain proportion of crown 
sparrows seen at the west end of the island were of the “small black” type, unmistakable 
nuttalli. 
Passer domesticus. English Sparrow. Woe the day! I could hardly believe my 
ears, at first, when the stridor of this ancient vermin assaulted them from the peak of 
a warehouse roof at Prisoners Harbor. The single bird, a female, sighted early in the 
morning of the 18th, had, possibly, just arrived from the mainland shore 25 miles distant. 
No others were seen during our stay. — William Leon Dawson, Santa Barbara , California, 
July 30, 1915. 
A Foe of Johnson Grass. — On the afternoon of July 9, while busy digging out John- 
son grass along a line fence, I was startled by an unusual bird song, and looking up I 
beheld a male Blue Grosbeak who sang between meals as he swayed on the pendant 
ripening heads of this obnoxious grass. This was the only bird of any species that I 
have observed feeding to any considerable extent on this altogether too abundant food 
supply. One would have thought to see him work that he, too, had heard the order of 
the horticultural commissioner. If “By their fruits ye shall know them”, applies to birds 
also, then the farmer certainly ought to chalk down at least one big round credit for 
the Blue Grosbeak. — Joseph Dixon, Escondido, California. 
Fork-tailed Petrels Delayed by Storm. — The heavy windstorm of April 29 and 30 
along the California coast caught many of the northern birds migrating, and its effect 
in delaying the northward movement was very evident. 
On the evening of April 30 my son Edmund, who attends school at Monterey, brought 
me a Fork-tailed Petrel ( Oceanodroma furcata ) which was still alive. This bird had 
been procured from a flock estimated at about two hundred birds that was stranded 
along the beach between the Monterey wharf and the Del Monte bath house. The birds 
appeared lost and helpless in the 60 or 70 mile gale that was raging, and could fly only 
short distances, when they would again alight on the beach. 
Additional evidence on the effect of the storm on this species was found on May 9, 
when a dead Fork-tailed Petrel was picked up along the beach at Moss near the center 
cf the semi-circle formed by Monterey Bay, and several miles out of the migrating route 
of most pelagic species.— O. P. Silliman, Castroville, California. 
The House Finch Again. — A further instance of the Linnet ( Carpodacus mexicanus 
frontalis) occupying the nest of another bird was observed by me on May 31st last. A 
