22 THE CONDOR I VOL. VI Annual Outing Meeting of the Southern Division? x9o3 BY FRANK S. DAGGETT HE I9O3 'outing meeting of the Southern Division of the Cooper Ornithological Club which was held October 3I, November ? and 2, will long be remembered as one of the most successful ever held by the club. This annual gathering of the clan has taken place for many years past and has become so popular there is little danger of its being over- looked in the future. Once a year the members select a committee who in turn select a place for the gathering of the clan, and much depends upon their judgment. Twice in the history of the club it has met on Mt. Wilson, a pine-covered ridge 58oo feet high, where kinglets, chickadees, nuthatches, white-headed woodpeckers, Sierra juncos and black-throated warblers abound. Other years found the members with blankets, camped under the oaks in the upper reaches of the Arroyo Seco canyon, where jays, dotted canyon wrens and pallid wren-tits enliven the scene by day, and spotted and California screech owls by night, although, as I remember it, the members did most of the whooping. This year the committee, Howard Robertson and H. J. Lelande, made a happy hit when they selected the Salisbury ranch for a rendezvous. This ranch adjoins the sign-board s?ation of Garnsey, on the Chatsworth branch of the Southern Pacific R. R. From its edge grain fields stretch as far as the eye can see. Ordinarily an orchard district, intruding itself into grain fields, offers to the collector and observer little beyond the common run of birds, but here the whole fauna is changed by the topography of the country. The vast water shed to the north and east, culminating in the Tejunga ?Va?h which crosses the San Fernando valley in a series of strips of great width, carrying the underground flow of water, focusing at this point, forms the head of the Los Angeles river, with its low bottom-land and dense willows and clumps of cotton-wood, with the avifauna attracted by such an environment. From this point, north, for miles the wash gradually widens until it becomes a broad chaparral region, the resort of valley partridges black-ta(led gnatcatchers, cactus wrens and thrashers. It is here that stragglers like the sage thrasher and lark bunting have been taken, in years gone by, by Swarth and others. The weed- grown grain stubble affords shelter for western savanna sparrows, western meadowlarks, western vesper sparrows, Say phoebes and burrowing owls. The orchards, with more or less fallen fruit on the ground, attract a great many red-shafted flickers, house finches, and Audubon warblers. These outings are a crucial test of the members; while many plan for them months in ad- vance, it is the only tried collector and enthusiast who usually responds at roll call, but it is worthy of record that every officer of the Southern Division responded to the call of his name at the meeting held October 2?, ?9o3. Messrs. Robertson, Lelande, Swarth, Pringle and Shinn came from Los Angeles by team, through Cahuenga Pass, Judson by rail, and Richardson with blankets strapped to handle bar covered the eighteen miles from Pasadena on wheel, and Grinnell and Daggett by rig. During the three days in the field the territory was carefully investigat. ed by the different members of the party who scattered in all directions at daybreak, returning In time to relate the experiences of the day over a delicious stew made from game contributed by the hunters of the party. W.B. Judson, always lucky, made the most noteworthy find, it being an adult male of Scott oriole ([rlerus parisorum) the first specimen actually taken in Los Angeles Co., although H. S. Swarth noted a single bird many years ago. Among the other varieties was a pigeon hawk and Brewer sparrow by Daggett, and two dusky poor wills, one by Judson and one by Swarth. Grinnell and Swarth set a line of traps for mammals and secured many odd forms, such as kangaroo rats, pocket and white-footed mice and wood rats, the wily coyote refusing to be caught but did not fail to help himself to mammals already in the traps. In order to give an idea of the class of birds seen on an outing of this sort, I append a list of those noted by the different members, with notes. I. VAI, LE PARTRIDGE, Lophortya: californicus vallicolus. Plentiful in the brushy washes. The largest flock numbered about fifty. 2. MOURNING DOVE, Zenaidura macronda. In the middle of the day flocks of 3 to 40 hung about the cottonwoods. 3- TURKEY VUnTURE, Catharles aura. Half a dozen circled about on the 2rid. 4. MARSH HAWK, Ciru$ hudsonins. One noted bySwarth over grain stubble. 5. WESTERN SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, .dccipzter velo.r rufilatus. Several seeh about head of Los Angeles river. 6. WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK, tuteo borealis calurus. One seen in Eagle Rock valley. Pestered by large flock of horse finches. 7. PIGEON HAWK, Falco columbarius. Flying between cottonwoods, where large flocks of mourning doves had gathered. 8. DESERT SPARROW HAWK, Falco sparveriusphala?na. Several seen OU telegraph poles. 9. AMERICAN LO?G-EARED OwL, ?15i0 wilsonJanus. Flock of a dozen started from low juniper clump in Tejunga Wash by C. Richardson who secured two. io. SHORT-EARED OWn, ,4SiO accipitrznus. One started up from neglected grain field at edge of wash. xt. BURROWINC. OWL, Xpeotylo cunicularia hypo?a,a. In neglected grain field.
