November, x9o2. I THE CONDOR t27 nothing. The song still resounded just beyond the next screen of foliage, and even our most seductive "squeaking" failed to lure the distrustful thrush. And then we fell under the spell of that song again and felt a sense of re- lief that we had not shot any thrushes. We even questioned whether the Com- mittee could make any ruling that would really affect that song, or the color or the wing-length of the bird. So we wandered off and shot harsh- voiced jays to make a "series" less hurt- ful to our soft consciences. The coast jays ( Cyanocittct stelleri car- bonarea) were fairly numerous though keeping down in the canyons, where 'they were most noticeable about clear- rags. Two other birds of the Santa Cruz isohumic area were also here, but only sparingly represented. These were the Point Pinos junco (funco pinosus) and the Santa Cruz chickadee (Parus barlowi). Along the upper edges of the redwood tracts, among the tan- bark oaks, lutescent warblers (Helmin- thophila celala lutescerts), pine siskins (Xpinus pinus), and California purple finches ( Carpodacus purpureus californi- cus) were common. About some tall dead trees western martins (Profine subis hesperia) and violet-green swal- lows (Tachycinela lepida) were flying. A single olive-sided fly-catcher (Conto- pus borealis) from a lofty perch uttered its two-syllabled call; while far over- head circled a pair of golden eagles ( z4 quila ch rysaetos.) We thought ourselves fortunate in meeting with several owls, those elus- ive birds of twilight. Pacific horned owls (lYubo virginianus pac(ficus) were frequently started from their day time roosts in shady groves. The one .*,hot gave evidence of a truly reprehensible trait, for under its perch was a headless screech owl (A/[egascops asio bendirei) and a young one at that. Owl-eating owls have been reported before, but we will hope that the habit is not'general. Following up a trail leading' from the woods to an open stretch of pasture land above, one of our party discovered a family of pygmy owls (Glaucidium .?norna cahfornicum). There were at least three young besides the parents, all perched in a madrone, though not all seen until they took flight. An adult was shot aad the rest scattered, flying swiftly off into the shady depths of the redwood foliage below. We sup- posed them lost to us altogether, until upon returning some hours later, we heard near the same spot a strange cry, a sort of shrill whinnying call. We stopped in silence for some minutes, peering about through the tre?s, until the note was repeated and shortly ans- wered. Finally a little owl was located perched motionless on a horizontal red- wood twig, in plain sight after one knew where to look for it. This proved to be a nearly-fledged young, and the note we had traced was evidently the juvenile food call of this species, which is known to be more or less diurnal in its habits. Besides the birds I have mentioned, many others were seen in the Little Sur country, but those above named were the most interesting to us, and best serve to indicate the avifaunal complexion of the two zones of the re- gion. The Sur River Valley looks like a miniature counterpart of the Big Ba- sin in the Santa Cruz mountains, seventy-five miles to the northward. This interesting region has only been written upon once before in a general way. In the Osprey, Volume V, Sep- tember-October t9oo, pages 6-7, occurs an article by Milton S. Ray under the caption of "Idle Hours at Idlewild or Observations in Central Monterey County." This consists of a running account in rather desultory style of the birds seen by the author during two weeks in June in the vicinity of the Little Sur River. Among the forty species mentioned by Ray are eight which our party failed to find. Three or four of these eight are unexpected,
