August , 1897. 
Land-Birds Observed on San Clemente Island. 
i3 
been introduced on the island about ten years ago by an old 
resident named Gallager; but on account of the poor cover, and 
the abundance of foxes which killed the sitting birds in the 
spring, they had scarcely been able to hold their own. The six 
specimens taken agree in being slightly lighter than vallicola 
from Pasadena. The colony may have been obtained from the 
mainland further south, possibly San Diego, or this slight 
bleaching may be due to the effects of new food and environ¬ 
ments. If the latter is the explanation, it will be interesting to 
watch developments, in case the change is rapid enough to be 
perceptible. 
2. Zenaidura macroura —Mourning Dove. 
Mourning Doves were observed in equal numbers during both 
visits, so they are undoubtedly residents. The familiar notes 
were heard more often morning and evening, at which time the 
watering places in the canons and the trough at the windmill 
were sure to be attended by a pair or more of these graceful 
birds. A clump of scraggy cherry trees in the ravine a few rods 
north of the windmill seemed to be a regular roosting place. 
Just at dusk, every evening, the doves would arrive in pairs and 
settle in the trees until there were probably twenty or thirty. 
But they would leave in the morning by daylight, so that we 
succeeded in obtaining but a few. On June 3, I flushed a dove 
from its nest, eight feet above the bed of a ravine, on the hori¬ 
zontal branch of a cherry tree. The nest was as usual a flimsy 
platform of twigs and grass-stems, and contained a single fresh 
egg. On June 6, I took a set of two fresh eggs from a nest four 
feet above the ground on a horizontal branch of a cherry bush. 
The nest was rather bulky for a dove’s nest, having been built 
up among some transverse twigs. The eggs of this set measure: 
i.iox.84, 1.14X.86. Three specimens of the Mourning Dove 
were preserved. 
3. Haliceetus leucocephalus —Bald Eagle, 
The Bald Eagle was seen rather commonly along the shores of the 
island, but as usual, quite shy. When an eagle appeared, the 
Ospreys were generally the first to see it and give the alarm with 
their mournful whistling cries. However, according to my ob¬ 
servations, the Ospreys are not robbed of their fish so persis¬ 
tently as generally believed, the food of the eagle being mainly 
the dead fish thrown up on the beach. I found a nest of the 
