4 THE CONDOR Vol. IV mar its snowy whiteness. However let me state that the majority are cream- colored and when sycamore down is used in the construction the nest ap- pears a rusty color. We find it always c.ompletely saddled to a branch or twig --horizontal and otherwise. and when the angie becomes extreme an odd cor- nucopia effect is produced. So in such a fairy structure of ? inches inside dia- meter. the two perfectly elliptical eggs are deposited. These I have found to average .3ox.5 ? inches. Before incuba- tion has begun they possess a decidedly pinkish tinge and it would be difibcult to say whether they look prettier before or after their contents have been ex- tracted-we will however leave such delicate question to the primary owners. I have always been interested in -the remarkable elasticity of the nests of the Anna hummingbird which allows itself to double its inside diameter by the time the young have reached their larg- est nest size. I will only add that I have found the same elasticity in T. alexandri although in not such a mark- ed degree. Such are the most notable features I have observed in the nidifica- tion of this species in several years .ac- quaintance. 0wl Notes from Southern California. FRANK STEPHENS. O N April 28, 1883, I tooka set of nine eggs from a burrow of Xpeotyto cuniculara hypo? cea near San Bernardino, and the next day anoth- er set of nine eggs from another burrow near the first one. These are the largest sets I have ever taken. [ was hunting with F. Ball January 18, 1885, in the foothills northeast of San Bernardino. About noon we were walking up a gulch when Ball fired into a bush and on walking over to it picked up Affegascopsj7ammeolus. He said it had flown from the other side of the gulch, and appeared to be carrying in its claws something like a lizard or a bird. On March 25, 1884, I took a set of ten eggs of Xlrixpralncola from a nest in an old dovecote in a barn near San Bernardino. I had found a brood of six newly hatched young in this nest during January of the same year. June 20, 1892 , I shot a male, female, and one young Syrniurn occidentale on Smith Mountain, San Diego Co., at about 5,ooo feet. The young bird was just about able to fly. I shot an adult male 2Vyctala acadica August 11, 1898, at Round Valley, San Jacinto Mrs. altitude 92oo feet. I saw some small owl fly from one pine to another and shot into the pine. This is the only owl of this species I have taken in California. In July, 1894, I heard the species in Modoc County.
