Page:CooperBull1(3).djvu/8

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44
Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club.

they frequented extensively. On one of these brush piles three were bowled over at one shot and not one recovered. This pile was about six feet high and thirty feet across, the birds being in the center when fired at. While trying to find them, a nest of seven eggs was discovered and taken, but the birds had slipped down irretrievably. They must have been having some sort of a row over this nest when shot. Another nest containing six eggs of this species was taken and one or two found which were not completed when I left.

Song Sparrows, recently identified as Melospiza fasciata graminea, were frequently heard around the vegetable garden at Laplaya and often seen. This garden was surrounded by a very thick trimmed hedge of cypress which was the abiding place of these birds. A singular feature in connection with this sparrow was the fact that although shot as soon as they appeared in this garden, there would be two or three more in a day or so, and yet none were found anywhere else in the vicinity or on the whole island, except on a small creek some seven or eight miles from Laplaya, where one or two were seen. I was especially desirous of obtaining a number of specimens of the Towhee (Pipilo maculatus———) of the island, but they were too wild and wary. Only one pair were taken.

Some species of birds that one would naturally expect to find here were absent, such as Bluebirds, Chicadees, Wren Tits, Thrashers and Brown Towhees. No Owls or Woodpeckers, excepting Flickers, were seen or heard, nor had even the oldest inhabitant any knowledge of the presence of an Owl on the island, by sight or hearing. There was evidence that the island was visited, probably in winter, by some species of Sapsucker. Hutton's ? Vireos were found in places among the live-oaks and several were taken. Their notes and habits were the same as those found on the mainland but they differed slightly from Vireo huttoni in shading and average measurements. House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis) were exceedingly numerous in some localities, but with the exception of the flocks congregated about the buildings, were rather shy. Some were nesting in the vines around the house and barns but no completed nest was found by May 1. Mearn's description of a House Finch from the Santa Barbara Islands in the Auk (XV, July, 1898) includes some specimens from Santa Cruz Island. This has been acted upon favorably by the A. O. U. Committee and designated as Carpodacus mexicanus clementis. I took a number of House Finches in different parts of the island but found absolutely nothing that could not be matched in our collection from the mainland or in that of the California Academy of Sciences. Hence, if C. m. clementis is a resident of, or even a migrant to Santa Cruz Island, it must be of rare occurence there and the C. m. frontalis which is so much in evidence must migrate in large numbers frown the mainland to breed.

Three Western Blue Grosbeaks (Guiraca cærulea lazula) were found just back of the house in some sage brush on the day before I left the island, Apr. 30, and two males were taken. They must have recently arrived but whether they were migrating through or had come to breed is a matter of conjecture. No females were seen. In the grain fields on the top of a high mesa, one side of which was washed by the sea hundreds of feet below, some small sparrows were observed, but it was impossible to capture one as they were unusually shy. They would flush at a long distance, fly into the grass on the unplowed portions and then run so that they could not be marked. They probably belonged to the Ammodramus group, though they seemed even smaller than any of this group with which I am at all familiar.

Following is a list of birds observed during my stay:— *Bald Eagle (Haliæetus leucocephalus); *Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter velox); *Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperi); *Western Redtail, (Buteo borealis calurus) *Duck Hawk (Falco peregrinus anatum); *Desert Sparrow Hawk (Falco sparverius deserticolus), *Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes cafer), *Vaux Swift (Chætura vauxii); White-throated Swift (Aeronautes melanoleucus); Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna); Allen's Hummingbird (Selas-