Page:Condor3(4).djvu/11

 their own characteristic building material.

The orioles are very beneficial to the horticulturist, although they eat some early fruit such as berries, cherries etc., but no fruit man will begrudge them these if he thoroughly understands their habits. The chief food of the orioles consists of insects and injurious caterpillars, and I have often watched them while they were searching among the branches for this latter food. They are particularly fond of a small green caterpiller that destroyed the foliage of the prune trees a few years ago. The orioles are often seen in the berry patches but they are usually in search of insects as is proven by the examination of a great number of stomachs.

Notes on Some Little-known Birds of Southern California.
BY EDMUND HELLER.

Colymbus auritus. Horned Grebe. A few were seen on a small lake near Riverside in the winter of 1893. One of these was secured. None have been observed there since.

Sterna forsteri. Forster Tern. Found common at Elsinore Lake, June 2, 1896. Said to breed by a local collector. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Black Tern. Observed at Elsinore Lake, June 2, 1896. Less common than the Forster Tern, but also said to breed. Steganopus tricolor. Wilson Phalarope. One specimen obtained at Riverside in the winter of 1891. Totanus flavipes. Yellow-legs. Noted twice at Riverside during the fall migration.

Totanus raelanoleucus. Greater Yellow-legs. A common migrant at Riverside. Lophortyx gambeli. Gambel Partridge. Found fairly common in May,1896, at Warren's Wells, a small station on the Mojave Desert at the south-eastern base of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Melopelia leucoptera. White-winged Dove. While at Warren's Wells the miners told me of a white-winged dove which occured at Twenty-nine Palms, a station some thirty miles farther east. From their description I judged it to be this species. If correct future exploration should prove its presence, which would make an addition to the list of California birds. Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Bald Eagle. I was assured by a local collector, that a pair of Bald Eagles had nested for a number of years near Elsinore Lake.

Dryobates scalaris bairdi. Texas Woodpecker. Several collected at Warren's Wells on the Mojave Desert in May, 1896.

Dryobates scalaris lucasanus. Saint Lucas Woodpecker. Found common at Whitewater at the head of the Colorado Desert in May, 1896. One secured at Riverside in April,1895.

Harporhynchus bendirei. Bendire Thrasher. Found fairly common in May, 1896, at Warren's Wells, where this species was more numerous than A. lecotei, which also occured. Specimens were secured.