156 
THE CONDOR- 
Vol. XV 
air, Otiis osio hcndirci, our neighborhood pet, quavered a benediction and was 
duly enrolled as Number io8. 
In the following list, arranged in the order of Pacific Coast Avifauna Num- 
ber 8, I have forborne to give scientific names in order not to burden bibliography 
overmuch nor to trv needlessly the patience of our long-suffering editor. Bird- 
horizoning is, confessedly, a “popular” exercise. Its judgments are snap judg- 
ments, and so are liable to a certain percentage of error. What that percentage 
may be depends, of course, upon the observer ; upon his familiarity with field 
recognition marks, especially bird notes ; his knowledge of the locality traversed 
and its ordinary and accredited bird population ; and, most of all, upon his con- 
scientiousness and general sobriety of judgment. Given such qualifications in 
any reasonable degree, and no other fair-minded worker can afford to ignore the 
testimony of such a list or dispute the value of bird horizons. To do so (and 
some have done it) [not the editor] is to show the captious and hypercritical 
spirit which strains out gnats of subspecific inquiry and swallows camels of 
generic ignorance. 
In the following list, for example, I will guarantee the specific validity of 
every record save Arizona Hooded Oriole (bird not seen and I have not yet had 
the coveted opportunity to compare the scolding notes of cucullatiis nelsoni and 
hitUocki directly). Pied-billed Grebe (bird not zvcll seen). Red-breasted Mergan- 
ser (female, might have been the rarer americanus) , and Herring Gull (flying- 
bird, might have been a bleached example of occidental is, or a hybrid such as oc- 
curs off the Washington Coast) ; and the subspecific validity of all save Califor- 
nia ( ?) Yellow Warbler and Pileolated Warbler, both of which were recorded by 
notes only. There! That clears my conscience. How does it strike yours? To 
quote or not to quote, that is the question. Oh, by the way, we did have a gun, 
and we did “take" California Purple Finch and Forster Tern. Next! 
Western Grebe 1 
Eared Grebe 1 
Pied-billed Grebe 1 
California Brown Pelican 30 
Farallon Cormorant 40 
Brandt Cormorant 20 
Least Bittern 1 
Hyperonca Bine Heron 3 
Snowy Egret 1 
Black-crowned Night Her- 
on 8 
Red-breasted Merganser 1 
Cinnamon Teal 10 
Shoveller 40 
Pintail 1 
White-winged Scoter 20 
Surf Scoter 20 
Ruddy Duck 15 
Turkey Vulture 20 
Sparrow Hawk 1 
Western Red-tailed Hawk 1 
Valley Quail 20 
Sora Rail 1 
Coot 60 
Northern Phalarope 1 
Least Sandpiper 200 
Red-backed Sandpiper 30 
Western Sandpiper 500 
Sanderling 20 
Greater Yellowlegs 1 
Spotted Sandpiper 1 
Hudsonian Curlew 60 
Black-bellied Plover 3 
Killdeer 7 
Semipalmated Plover 20 
Snow\' Plover 60 
Ruddy Turnstone 1 
Black Turnstone 3 
Glaucous Gull 3 
Western Gull 80 
Herring Gull 1 
Bonaparte Gull 200 
Forster Tern 120 
Western Mourning Dove 12 
Belted Kingfisher 1 
California Screech Owl 1 
Pacific Horned Owl 1 
Allen Hummingbird 4 
Anna Hummingbird 10 
Black-chinned Humming- 
bird 20 
White-throated Swift 6 
Nuttall Woodpecker i 
California Woodpecker 12 
Red-shafted Flicker 6 
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2 
Western Wood Pewee 8 
Western Flycatcher 6 
Black Phoebe 1 
Cassin Kingbird 2 
Western Kingbird 4 
California Horned Lark 8 
Russet-backed Thrush 2 
Western Bluebird 1 
Pasadena Thrasher 1 
Western Mockingbird 3 
San Diego Wren 2 
Western House Wren 4 
Pallid Wren Tit 20 
Western Martin 3 
Cliff Swallow 200 
Rough-winged Swallow 2 
Bank Swallow 100 
Barn Swallow 1 
Northern Violet-green 
Swallow 4 
Cedar Waxwing 40 
Phainopepla 6 
Western Warbling Vireo 40 
Hutton Vireo 10 
Plain Titmouse 2 
Coast Bush-Tit 20 
California Jay 6 
Lutescent Warbler 4 
