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 THE CONDOR VoL. VII maintained that condors, or "wietros" as they called them, are fairly common in the vicinity. We saw two condors circling above a carcass, and forthwith set out several steel traps around it, with hopes that almost amounted to certainty of se- curing one of the big birds within a day or two. But calves presumably walked into the traps and walked off with them before the vultures returned, if the latter did come back at all. The vaquero living at the Fort, declared that he often saw "wietros" bathe by dipping their heads into the long low watering-troughs, as the birds flew slowly past! Mourning doves were to be seen by hundreds, but valley quail were sparsely represented in the region. A family of six Cooper hawks were dealing relentless- ly with the smaller birds of the vicinity. We caught them in persuit of grosbeaks and linnets. A righteous satisfaction gradually grew within ourselves the while we "collected" the hawks one by one from day to day. We felt as if we were atoning for the songsters we killed ourselves. The few red-tailed hawks around evidently contented themselves with ground squirrels of which there was surely a plenteous supply. It is from a historical standpoint that Fort Tejon appeals to one with peculiar interest. During the Pacific Railway Surveys in the 5o's, that greatest western field naturalist of those times, John Xantus de esey, was located here f(r a time, and he sent to the Smithsonian Institution large collections of animals. The birds were many of them recorded by Baird in 858 in Volume IX of the Pacific Rail- way Reports. But in July, 856, Xantus published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a complete list of 44 species of birds which he had actually obtained "in the vicinity of Fort Tejon." It is very evi- dent from a perusal of this article, which is merely a bare list of names, that his collecting had extended through the whole year, for it includes both sunnner and winter visitants and transients as well as permanent residents. Unfortunately Xantus failed to record the dates of capture for most if not all of his specimens; and also species are included which were very likely not taken within many miles of the Fort and whose precise locality therefore must always be in doubt. This is also true of other animals than birds; for example the type of a lizard (.Yantusia viilis) is given as "Fort Tejon." This animal is abundant in the tree yucca belt of the Mojave Desert. It strikes me as extremely probable that the type speci- men really came from there, not nearer than sixteen miles from Fort Tejon, and in an altogether different faunal area. Furthermore the tree yucca itself has been ascribed to Fort Tejon, but I am very sure it does not actually occur within sixteen miles; not so very far on the map, but a very long way off, faunally. Also the "pinyon and sage brush belt" does not include Fort Tejon as has been more re- cently averted, but begins at least four miles south and at a higher elevation, a big jump faunally. The abrupt changes in fauna and flora that take place within a very short distance from the coast slope and valleys towards the interior, are amazing, and to be comprehended must be actually seen and studied. The value of precise locality on labels, which was not recognized in early days, must now be considered of ahnost as much importance as the specimens themselves. The Xantus collection of birds from "Fort Tejon" afforded the types of several new species. Xantus himself described the spotted owl, Hammond flycatcher, and Cassin vireo; and Baird described as new the spurred towhee, thick-billed spar- row, and Heermann song sparrow. Besides Xantus, Lieutenant Williamson also collected at about the same time through "Tejon Valley." In the 7o's H. W. Henshaw visited the locality, and in 1891 members of the Death Valley Expedi- tion passed through the region, making observations on birds which were published