Page:Condor3(4).djvu/2

 THE CONDOR. Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club, '''A BI-MONTHLY EXPONENT OF CALIFORNIAN ORNITHOLOGY. '''

Vol.3 No.4 Santa Clara, Cal., July-August, 1901. $1.00 a Year

Breeding of Hesperocichla naevia in California. WALTER K FISHER, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CAL.

THE WRITER spent the greater part of June 1899 at various points in the heavily forested redwood belt, from Humboldt Bay to Crescent City. This belt is comparatively narrow and occupies the low hills and valleys next to the coast. It is a region of dense, luxuriant vegetation, and is a humid division of the Canadian zone. It is not strange therefore that the varied thrush ( Hesperocichla naevia) should be found breeding here. On June 11, 1899, while collecting in the still dark redwood forest along Lindsay Creek (perhaps five miles north of Vance, Mad River, Humboldt Co.) the writer was surprised suddenly by the outcries of two varied thrushes, which dashed at him from above, much after the fashion of hysterical robins. One of these birds ( No. 165248 U.S. Nat. Mus.) was promptly shot, but the male, whose bright colors rendered him conspicuous in the somber forest, slipped away at once, There can be little doubt that the nest was close at hand, for the actions of the birds plainly betokened this. A more or less hasty search failed to reveal it, however, a fact not surprising at least to those who are familiar with the region.

Again on June 28 at the mouth of Redwood Creek, Humboldt Co. (in an air-line about 25 miles north of the previous locality) a male varied thrush was seen. This bird flew into a maple with its bill full of food, but the characteristic haste of a stage-driver rendered further investigation impossible. The presence of such a bird breeding in this region only tends to emphasize the distinct boreal nature of the belt. In this same locality one finds, Bonasa umbellus sabini, Columba fasciata, Colaples cafer saluratior, Contopus borealis, Perisoreus obscurus, Melospiza melodia morphna, Anorthura hiemalis pacifica, Parus rufescens, Hylocichla ustulata, Hylocichla aonalaschkae and even other boreal forms.