174 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XI 
beds of tales and cat-tails furnish it abundant cover, so that its being seen on any given visit 
was largely a matter of accident. — Bradford Torrky, Santa Barbara , California. 
Notes from Placer County. — I note a query you make in the last Condor regarding the 
nesting of the Western Martin ( Progne subis hesperia). The only places I have met them in this 
county — nesting — were at the pottery in Lincoln and at the Court House at Auburn. There 
appear to be but a few pairs at each place. I was told that from three to eight pairs nested at 
Lincoln for about twenty years, but succeeding years do not see them increasing in numbers, 
altho the nests were not disturbed. 
Mr. Ray’s “correspondence” (Condor XI, page 141) is all right, but does not affect us here; 
but we have the dove. Hunters have been slaughtering the doves for two weeks and still I know 
of several nests today (August 1) on my place which contain young birds. A large number of doves 
here lay their first set of eggs on the ground in grain fields, and many are destroyed by cats and 
more by the mowing machine. Frequently the dove will remain on the nest until the knives 
kill her. The dove seems to hold its own in numbers, but it seems a pity to begin killing so 
early — at least. Each year the various gun clubs make a bigger spread over their first dove 
shoot. — Ernest Adams, Clipper Gap , California. 
The Ruddy Turnstone at Santa Barbara. — On the 26th of July, 1909, while watching the 
motions of a Black Turnstone on the beach at Santa Barbara. I suddenly found my glass rest- 
ing on two Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres morinella) the first that I had ever seen on the 
Pacific Coast. They were turning over pieces of seaweed, in company with their black relative, 
— seeming to have no color prejudice, —and allowed me every opportunity to admire their patch- 
work costume and the bright deep orange-red color of their legs. And by the bye, I could wish 
that there were a law requiring all makers of ornithological manuals and hand-books to include 
this point — the color of legs and feet in live specimens — in their technical discription of at least 
all water birds. It is too often omitted— for lack of knowledge presumably. But it should be 
the duty of such authorities to have knowledge. — Bradford Torrey, Santa Barbara, California. 
Notes on the Nesting of the Bank Swallow. — In answer to the query of our Editor in 
the last issue of the Condor as to nesting data on the Bank Swallow ( Riparia riparia ), I submit 
the following notes from personal observation. 
A small colony was nesting in the bluffs near the long wharf, Port Los Angeles, during May 
and June, 1907. Three pairs were nesting in a bank near a drain ditch about one-fourth mile 
from Hansen’s old slaughterhouse, Los Angeles, in May, 1907. A large colony was nesting on 
Dead Man's Island, and in the banks near the lumber yards at San Pedro in April, May, and 
Tune, 1908 and 1909. A colony was nesting along the coast near Huntington Beach; observed 
Tune 13, 1908, and May 28, 1909. — D. I. Shepardson, Los Angeles, California. 
The Sage Thrasher at San Diego. — On the 3d of February, 1908, I was surprised to find a 
Sage Thrasher ( Oroscoptes montanus) in the most frequented corner of the large city park at San 
Diego. It remained there till February 16, and I know not how much longer, as that was my 
last day in the city. I lookt for it daily, and only five times failed to find it, — and then only 
for lack of patience, I have no doubt. My only previous acquaintance with the species was on 
the desert at Tucson, Arizona, where it was wintering in good numbers. — Bradford Torrey, 
Santa Barbara, California. 
Sparrow Hawk Nesting in a Bird Box. — It is a common experience of the western ornith- 
ologist to find birds of desert or otherwise treeless regions, resorting to all sorts of expediences 
for nesting sites. 
The resourceful Flicker is responsible for some unusual records and we expect something of 
him in this line. I was, however, surprised this summer by a Sparrow Hawk ( Falco sparverius ) 
who occupied, with his family, a pigeon box on the west end of a cow barn in a very populous 
barn yard in Modesto, California. Another box, but a few feet away, housed a family of pigeons 
at the same time. 
Hudson, in his “Naturalist in La Plata,” discusses the ability that non-predatory birds dis- 
play in discriminating between Falconidae dangerous to themselves and those that are either 
unable or indisposed to do them harm. We have here, possibly, a case of discrimination on the 
part of the pigeon and of resourcefulness on the part of the Sparrow Hawk. — Loye Holmes 
Miller, Los Angeles, California. 
