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 THE CONDOR VoL X company with a large flock of Oregon Juncos (Junco hyemalis oreganus). I shot one of the sparrows which proved to be a male of the year, thus making certain of the record. On January 15, the remaining bird, also ayoung of the year, was still in the same weed patch, from which we can confidently assume thatit will remain there all the remainder of the winter. On the same date I took an adult female Northern Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus tuber noolkensis) that had the upper mandible two and a half inches long and curving far over to the right. She was very fat and experienced no difficulty whatever in securing her food as I watched her for some time. This she did by using her long upper mandible much as we do a nut pick, digging the insect life to the surface out of deep crevices in the bark, and then picking it up by turning her head completely over on one side. January 22: Collected a fine adult male Nuttall Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys -nullalii), which is my only record for this sparrow in winter.--J. H. BowES, Tacoma, lI/ashinglon. Some Birds of Aria Capa Island.--On the 4th of September, 1903, I was landed from a yacht onto Aria Capa Island, which lies east of Santa Cruz Island, California, and separated from it by about five miles of open ocean. Aria Capa is rapidly decreasing in size and one can easily foresee its complete dissolution at no very distant time. The action of the waves has already cut thru it at several points. My stay on the Island was limited to less than an hour; but be- sides that I was permitfed to coast along nearly the whole length of the island in a small boat. There is but scanty vegetation on this Island. I saw a few insects, signs of mice (Peromyscus), and one species of lizard (Ula). Besides the usnal seabirds of the region I saw the following: One Bald Eagle (Haliceelus leucocephalus) flying; one pair of Mexican Ravens (Corvus coraa: sinualus); several Rock Wrens (Salpincles obsolelus), these being noted on the highest declivities of the Island; several spotted Sandpipers (4. clilis macularia) along the surf; several Wandering Tattlers (Heleraclilis incanus) on partly submerged rocks; one flock of five or six Black Turnstones (lrenaria melanocephala); one pair, with three two-thirds grown young, of the Black Oystercatcher (Hcemalopus bachmani) on a point of rocks jutting into the surf; and one Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) flying along the surf.--J. GRInnELl, Pasadena, California. The Condor in the San Joaquin Valley.--In Part II of the Life History of the California Condor, published in the January-February, 1908, number of your magazine, the range of the California Condor (Gymno[yps californianus) is given as being confined mainly to the southern California coast region. They were formerly not uncommon in the southern part of the San Joa- quin Valley. During the years 1872 to 1879 I saw condors, or vultures, as they were usually called, soaring over the valley, then a vast range for cattle and sheep. Generally there were not more than two to be seen, but on one ocasion I saw three or four. They were seen occasionally during all of the years mentioned. I never observed one with anything in its talons. In the summer 'of 1879 I saw three condors and about a dozen buzzards about the carcass of a dead sheep between Tule River and Deer Creek, in Tulare County. I drove by slowly' at a distance of about fifty yards. The three condors and one buzzard were eating the carcass when I drew near and the other buzzards were a few paces back, as if waiting their turn. I have heard of the condor since in the southwestern part of the San Joaquin Valley, which is still a cattle and sheep range, and do not doubt that they are occasiclnally to be seen there, where carrion is abundant at certain seasons of the year. In conversation with Orlando Barton, who has lived for several years in the northwestern part of Kern County, on the eastern slope of the Coast Range, he informed me that he has often seen the condor there. One large bird in particular he saw many times during a period of two years. He often saw it sitting on a large rock within sight of his house and on an abandoned oil derrick in Sunflower Valley. On one occasion he passed within about seventy yards of it when sitting on a boulder. It rose to its full length, and he estimated it to be four and a half feet high. He picked up a feather twenty-one and a fourth inches in length which fell from oneof its wings. He saw it several times feeding on dead lambs. He has not seen this or any other condor since 1906. In conversation recently with W. F. Dean, of Three Rivers, this (Tulare) county, he stated that several years ago, during a dry season, when there were many sheep dying, he saw eight or ten condors in one day in Yokol Valley, 15 to 20 miles east of Visalia. He did not see more than four together. He mentioned the killing of two condors by parties living in the foothills (Sierra Nevada) of Tulare county. He observed two or three of the large birds eating a dead sheep, and surrounded by buzzards at a respectful distance. Mr. Dean has seen no condors in the Sierra foothills for four or five years.---GEoRGE W. SwR, Visalia, California.