228 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
date the birds were seen about five miles from Santa Barbara. This would indicate that 
this species is quite a common late summer transient through these waters. — Howard W. 
Wright, Stanford University, California. 
Nesting Notes from San Diego County. — On March 27, 1913, a pair of Pacific Horned 
Owls were found nesting about two miles down the Sweetwater River from Dchesa and 
upon rapping upon the tree the female was flushed. The three young were rather large and 
partly feathered. As the old bird left the nest a pair of Red-bellied Hawks set out in pur- 
suit. One continued to chase the old owd, while the other hawk returned and robbed the 
nest of one of the young owls. This w'as torn to pieces and eaten in a nearby tree. The 
day before I had robbed the Red-bellied Hawk’s nest of three eggs. This was located about 
a quarter of a mile up tlie river. On returning to the locality a week later there was only 
one young owl left. 
On July 21, 1913, at Lemon Grove, while picking some fruit in a nearby orchard, I was 
surprised to liear the “purt, purt” of an Arizona Hooded Oriole in an adjoining palm tree. 
I was still more surprised on finding a partially completed nest swung to the underside of a 
lower leaf of the same palm. July 30 the nest contained one egg, with the female sitting. 
On August 4 I took the nest and 3 eggs, the latter varying considerably in incubation. This 
is the best marked set I have ever seen. 
August 7, 1913, at Lemon Grove, a neighbor called my attention to a nest of Western 
Mockingbird not over twelve feet from his kitchen door and right over the sidewalk. It 
was in a cypress tree ten feet above the ground and contained four fresh eggs which I look. 
This was the fourth laying of this year known to me. The first, of four eggs too far 
advanced to blow', was handed to me by the same man April 9. It was taken from an 
ornamental pine tree near the front door. The middle of May I saw the old birds feeding- 
young, and again the second w'eek in July I saw them feeding young; but I think a pet cat 
caught this brood. — Laurence M. Huey, San Diego, California. 
Dry Season Notes. — In this year of unusual drought the fish-eating birds are having a 
lean time of it in the interior and are often hard pushed to make a living. Wild ducks arc 
to be seen frequenting shallow, alkaline ponds that they would turn up their noses at in or- 
dinary years, and dabbling in the foul mud for w'hat insect life there may be there. Farallon 
Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus albociliatus) and White Pelicans (Pelecaniis crythro- 
rhynchos) cruise about in a restless manner, endeavoring to “fill up their beak with food for 
a week” in the most unpromising places ; while the herons scatter far and wide in hopes of 
picking up a stray minnow' or frog here and there. 
Ordinarily our rivers overflow' their low'er banks in the spring time, and the carp, min- 
now's, etc., spread out into the submerged lowlands to spawn. The result of this is that as 
the waters recede in summertime th'e young fish collect in the small sloughs and depres- 
sions. The areas of the water surfaces shrink from day to day until finally there are left 
only small, evil-smelling pools so shallow that one can see the backs of the small fry stick- 
ing' above the surface. The fishes are so numerous that they may be said to actually sw'arm. 
During this period the heron families grow fat in such spots, with no exertion whatever ! 
But this year there has been no overflow, and those fish that spawned did so only in deep 
water; so the poor herons have to get out and “hustle” for a living, taking a chance at 
catching a few stray fish that are foolish enough to come into the shallow water near the 
banks of the rivers. 
I was much astonished a few days ago, on September 19, 1913, to be exact, to see three 
California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanits calif oniicns) come sailing over our house and light 
on the lake a few yards away. This is the first time I have ever seen this species in the in- 
terior, as it seems to stick to the seacoast almost exclusively. The birds were so near that 
there was no possible chance of making a mistake as to their identity. 
Where the water-loving species of blackbirds nested this year I do not know, but cer- 
tainly they have not been with us in their usual numbers, doubtless because there were no 
tule ponds or overflow lands for them to nest in. The Bicolored Blackbird (Agelahis 
phoeniceus calif ornicus) did breed to some extent in the dry weeds and small willows, but 
were not at all numerous at nesting time. — Joseph Mairliard, Rancho Dos Rios, Stamslans 
County, California. 
Note on the Guadalupe Caracara.— -During the past summer Captain Charles E. 
Davis, of Los Angeles, has made several trips to Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower 
California, for the purpose of taking moving pictures of the sea elephants found around the 
island, and also to "capture alive some of the younger animals. In a conversation with the 
