12 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. VII 
maintained that condors, or “wietros” as they called them, are fairly common in 
the vicinity. We saw two condors circling above a carcass, and forthwith set out 
several steel traps around it, with hopes that almost amounted to certainty of se- 
curing one of the big birds within a day or two. But calves presumably walked 
into the traps and walked off with them before the vultures returned, if the latter 
did come back at all. The vaquero living at the Fort, declared that he often saw 
“wietros” bathe by dipping their heads into the long low watering-troughs, as the 
birds flew slowly past! 
Mourning doves were to be seen by hundreds, but valley quail were sparsely 
represented in the region. A family of six Cooper hawks were dealing relentless- 
ly with the smaller birds of the vicinity. We caught them in persuit of grosbeaks 
and linnets. A righteous satisfaction gradually grew within ourselves the while 
we “collected” the hawks one by one from day to day. We felt as if we were 
atoning for the songsters we killed ourselves. The few red-tailed hawks around 
evidently contented themselves with ground squirrels of which there was surely a 
plenteous supply. 
It is from a historical standpoint that Fort Tejon appeals to one with peculiar 
interest. During the Pacific Railway Surveys in the 50’s, that greatest western 
field naturalist of those times, John Xantus de Vesey, was located here for a time, 
and he sent to the Smithsonian Institution large collections of animals. The birds 
were many of them recorded by Baird in 1858 in Volume IX of the Pacific Rail- 
way Reports. But in July, 1856, Xantus published in the Proceedings of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a complete list of 144 species of birds 
which he had actually obtained “in the vicinity of Fort Tejon.” It is very evi- 
dent from a perusal of this article, which is merely a bare list of names, that his 
collecting had extended through the whole year, for it includes both summer and 
winter visitants and transients as well as permanent residents. Unfortunately 
Xantus failed to record the dates of capture for most if not all of his specimens; 
and also species are included which were very likely not taken within many miles 
of the Fort and whose precise locality therefore must always be in doubt. This is 
also true of other animals than birds; for example the type of a lizard ( Xcuitusia 
vigilis) is given as “Fort Tejon.” This animal is abundant in the tree yucca belt 
of the Mojave Desert. It strikes me as extremely probable that the type speci- 
men really came from there, not nearer than sixteen miles from Fort Tejon, and 
in an altogether different faunal area. Furthermore the tree yucca itself has been 
ascribed to Fort Tejon, but I am very sure it does not actually occur within sixteen 
miles; not so very far on the map, but a very long way off, faunally. Also the 
“pinyon and sage brush belt” does not include Fort Tejon as has been more re- 
cently averred, but begins at least four miles south and at a higher elevation, a 
big jump faunally. The abrupt changes in fauna and flora that take place within 
a very short distance from the coast slope and valleys towards the interior, are 
amazing, and to be comprehended must be actually seen and studied. The value 
of precise locality on labels, which was not recognized in early days, must now be 
considered of almost as much importance as the specimens themselves. 
The Xantus collection of birds from “Fort Tejon” afforded the types of several 
new species. Xantus himself described the spotted owl, Hammond flycatcher, and 
Cassin vireo; and Baird described as new the spurred towhee, thick-billed spar- 
row, and Heermann song sparrow. Besides Xantus, Fieutenant Williamson also 
collected at about the same time through ‘‘Tejon Valley.” In the 70’s H. W. 
Henshaw visited the locality, and in 1891 members of the Death Valley Expedi- 
tion passed through the region, making observations on birds which were published 
