Page:Condor3(4).djvu/15

 thorough washing and I thought "like Naaman, it must dip seven times." But no. It returned again and again until at the fifteenth it considered itself completely cleansed. Then the long, elaborate toilet had to be made.

On slowly descending through the crack in our broken bowl, I discovered a flock of Plumed Quail dusting in the dry earth below me. One was walking about, plume erect, keeping guard while the others enjoyed their bath. What beautiful birds, and how seldom we see them so low in the mountains, but here at the foot of Santiago Peak they over-lap the range of the Valley Quail. The Canyon Wren is again peering among the rocks for its dinner, and the bushes are alive with other lfathered forms. But it is the season when arbor days are past and four walls must be endured, that bird pans are placed before the window and a feed board spread with corn meal, brings all the members of the sparrow family. Townsends, the Gambel's and Golden-crowned Sparrows, California and Spurred Towbees and juncos are all here. The first rain brought a pair of Varied Thrushes. In the midst of the downpour the male was seen taking a bath in a pool near the house.

In December come flocks of Bandtailed Pigeons and juncos are more plentiful. But this, like Tennyson's song of the brook, might go on forever. But the winter sun will set and the Gambel's and Golden-crowned Sparrows open their evening concert. The Valley Quail come whirring into the trees above the arbor for a safe retreat, and the night is ushered in by the clear sweet warble of the Lark Sparrow, that in the quiet spot seems to add a benediction to these days of bird study.

Echoes From the Field.
Western Evening Grosbeak Again. On April 29 at Angwin's Hotel near Saint Helena, Cal. I saw a flock of about thirty Western Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothratstes z,. montanus.) They were observed the day following also. A Cassin's Vireo had built a nest in a walnut tree in front of the hotel. On April 20 I found a nest of the White-tailed Kite containing four eggs, incubation advanced. The nest was situated in a small live oak tree in a marsh, fourteen feet up. F.C. CLARK, Napa, Cal.

Early Nesting of the Red-bellied Hawk. On March 22, 19Ol I took a set of three finely-marked eggs of Buteo lineatus elegans from a nest in a blue-gum tree at 43 feet elevation. A set of two eggs had been taken from the same nest last year on April 15. The nest was made of small sticks and lined with willow twigs to which were attached the green leaves and blossoms. The nest also contained a few feathers from the parent bird. This, I believe is a very early nesting date for this species. NELSON CARPENTER, Escondido, Cal.

Parasites in Birds. Judging from my experience. the Valley Partridge (Lophorlyx californicus vallicola) is singularly free from parasites. I have taken the entrails from at least ten thousand of these birds which I have shot in many parts of California and Lower California without finding a worm of any kind in them. Hawks, owls and fish-eating birds are seldom free from worms. Of the latter the terns of the coast are more likely to be free from them than most other water birds, many of which are killed by worms, especially the Brown Pelican (P. calfornicus.) When preparing specimens I have often admired the wise discrimination of Moses in specifying the things that are clean and those that are unclean, though I could not see the necessity of prohibiting the eating of that which