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.--How^RD W. WRmi?, Stan{ord University, California. ?lesting ?1ote$ from San Oiego County.--On March 27, 1913, a pair of Pacific Horned Owls were found nesting about two miles do?vn the Sweetwater River from Dehesa 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 Rad-bellied Hawks set out in pur- 'suit. One continued to chase the old owl, while the other hawk returned and robbed the nest of one of the young owls. This was torn to pieces and eaten in a hearby tree. The day before I had'robbed the Redzbellied Hawk's nest of three eggs. This was located about a quarter of a mile up the 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 s(>me fruit in a nearby orchard, I was snrprised to hear 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 sittiv. g. On August 4 I t9ok the nest and 3 eggs, the latter varying considerably in incubation. This is the best marl/ed set I have ever seen. Artgust 7, 1913, at Lemon Grove, a neighbor called my attention to a nest of Western Mockingbird nc?t over twelve feet .from his kitchen door and right over the sidewalk. [t was in a cypress tree ten feet above the ground and contained four fresh eggs which I took. 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 week in July I saw them feeding young; but I think a pet eat caught this brood.--L^?J?;?c?; M. H?J?;, San Diego, California. Dry Season ?1ote$.?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 are 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 what insect life there may be there. Farallon Cormorants (PhaIacrocorax auritus albociliatus) and White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythro- rhynchos) cruise about in a restless manner, endeavoring to "fill up their beak with food for a week" in the most unpro?nising 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 lower banks in the spring time, and the carp, min- nows, etc., spread out into the submerged lowlands to spawn. The result of this is that as the waters recede in summertime tl?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- ?ng above the surface. The fishes are so numerous that they may be said to actually swarm. 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 Septel.?ber 19. 19i3, to be exact, to see three California Brown Pelicans (PeIecanus caliio?nicus) 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 exclusiv. ely. The birds were so near that there was no possible chance of making a ntistake 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 rule ponds or overflow lands for them to nest in. The Bicolored' Blackbird (?tgelaius phoenicens calffornicus) did breed to some extent in the dry weeds and small willows, but were not at all numerous at nesting time.--Jos?;eI? M^?I^m), Rancho Dos Rios, Stanislaus County, California. ?1ote on the Guadalupe Garacava.--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
