Sept., 1909 
NOTES ON SOME BIRDS OF KERN COUNTY 
169 
exclusively to bird work. But from the fact that this part of the country is a new 
field for the ornithologist, my notes altho incomplete will I trust be of interest. 
We were about twenty-five miles northeast of Bakersfield, in Kern County, in a 
rocky little gulch of the Long Tom mining camp. This is in a chain of foothills 
known as the Poso Range, which is the dividing line between a vast expanse of 
barren buttes and mesas, and the big timber country of the Green Horn Range, 
a part of the Sierras. About the mine the country is rolling and barren except for 
numerous outcropping granite ledges. But to the north of us, with the increasing 
altitude, which is about 500 feet along the range, a scant growth of scrub oak 
commences to relieve the monotony of the country. Occasionally a spring would 
give nature a chance to decorate the dry surroundings with a clump of willows, and 
in such places a variety of birds would be found nesting. 
In one instance when I was on my way to the Granite Station post office, a six 
mile walk from Long Tom, I made an unusual discovery. It was a hot day in 
August, about 110 in the shade, and visions of a tall cold glass had already com- 
menced to make that desert thirst seem unbearable, when the quarrelsome chatter of 
several Kingbirds compelled me to change my course in the direction of a clump 
of willows standing alone in a little piece of desert country and shading a small herd 
of cattle. The cattle, a bunch of wild two-year-olds, stampeded in a body at my 
approach, causing considerable excitement among the bird residents. These 
proved to be of more than one variety. In the five trees, three of which were 
willows and two cottonwoods, I counted fourteen nests. Seven were of different 
species. The Kingbirds’ I noticed first in the top branches of one of the cotton- 
woods; three families were in evidence, one brood still in the nest. A California 
Cuckoo next attracted my attention to one of the willows; and I found a nest belong- 
ing to this species, with the remains of a dead young one and some egg shells. It 
seemed probable that the bird seen was one of the parents, as the contents were of 
recent date. Evidently the mate had met death in some manner, with the result 
that the nest was deserted. The nest was six feet from the ground, placed on a 
large branch about five feet from the body of the tree. Several dead limbs and 
surrounding twigs gave it a sheltered appearance. In this same willow, where a 
mass of old leaves and dead branches had collected between the center limbs, was a 
nest of young Towhees. In the cottonwood with the Kingbirds were two Doves’ 
nests, one with half-feathered young; and a Lark Sparrow's nest also contained 
young. In the remaining willows were two nests of the Bullock Oriole with the 
young about the trees, and three Doves’ nests. And last but not least, in the 
center of the other cottonwood was a big black bunch that proved to be an old nest 
of a Red-tailed Hawk; and when I started up to investigate, out flopt a Barn Owl, 
which awkwardly circled into the air and laboriously flew in the direction of a dead 
oak far away on the range above. It was evidently just a good roosting place, for 
nothing denoting the presence of an owl family was seen. 
Of course, such an unusual nesting occurrence was infrequent. Only in one 
other case did I find as many nests together. Two cottonwoods standing by the 
well at Long Tom contained sixteen nests, of which eleven were Bullock Oriole’s; 
one Lark Sparrow’s; two Kingbirds’ with young; one Dove’s nest and one House 
Finch with young. More than half of the Orioles’ had been occupied that year 
and three contained young in July. 
I found the Rufous-crowned Sparrow to be quite plentiful along the range, 
inhabiting the wild gooseberry thickets in the canyons and in such patches growing 
among the rock piles on the hills. On several occasions I noticed young birds 
with their parents, and recently occupied nests in the vicinity possibly belonged to 
this species. The birds were not uncommon, and owing to the bareness of the 
