Jan., 1913 NOTES ON SOME FRESNO COUNTY BIRDS 17
Lophortyx californica vallicola. Valley Quail.
The quail beg.an nestir?g early this year (1912) but for some reason not a single brood of young was seen until the fifteenth day of July, when a mother quail was observed making frantic efforts to lead an inquisitive ornithologist away from her tiny chicks, out of the_. nest but a few hours. From that date all through the following month, broods of various sizes were noted daily, and as late as the first week in September many of the young birds seen were not over half grown. There is no reason to doubt that these were all the result of second sets of eggs, but I am at a loss to account for the entire absence of young quail during May and June..
That many sets of eggs' were deposited during April and May was evidenced by the finding of several nests. On April 20 a nest was seen in a vineyard, built in a clump of pepper grass two feet from the base of a vine. There were eight- teen eggs in which incubation was probably at least begun. It was a most un- fortunate choice of location, and it is extremely unlikely that the nest survived the cross plowing of the vineyard, which probably took place soon after?vard.
Another nest, accidentally discovered on May ?2, and also holding eighteen eggs, was several inches under water. The nest was built in a tussock of wire grass just at the edge of a canal, and a sudden rise of water had completely in- undated it. The eggs when found had been soaking for some time, as they were entirely unmarked on the upper side, only that portion of the shell that rested on the nest bottom showing traces of the coloring pigment. As it is rather a difficult task to remove the coloring from a heavily incubated qua?l's egg I have assumed that this set was fresh, 'or nearly so, at the time it was abandoned. Again, on May ?6, a nest with ten fresh eggs was exposed when a young man hoeing weeds in a vineyard uprooted a thick cluster of green fox- tail grass.
While the foregoing records might seem to offer a solution to the question of why the first broods of quail failed to appear, yet it is not reasonable to con- clude that a similar disaster overtook all of the early nests, as the percentage of losses from unfortunate selection of nesting sites was probably no greater than in former years. Fortunately our quail are 'wonderfully prolific, and the number of birds found in the vineyards when the shooting season opened was not notice- ably less than in past seasofis.
-Asio wilsonJanus. Long-ear?'d Owl.
Probably on account of the absence of timber in the vicinity of Fresno, this species is seldom seen. The San Joaquin River bottom affords concealment and hunting grounds for a few individuals; but in twelve years residence in this county I had never found a nest of the Long-eared Owl until April 3 of this year. On that date I was making my way along an old slough which, on account of the slight rainfall of the previous winter, was carrying no water. In former years I had encountered there many patches of rank-growing nettles, which afforded ideal. nesting sites for numerous colonies of Tri-colored Blackbirds. Several clumps of willow bushes, with a few larger trees, were scattered along the banks, and on this particular occasion I had hopes of finding a pair of Swain- son Hawks nesting in one of the larger willows.
With a bird crank's curiosity I was peering' into all the more dense portions of the screen of foliage, when I noticed a suspicious-looking bunch of feathers sitting upright on a dead branch not far away. A second glance showed that I had found a Long-eared O?vl. I was convinced that its nest was near
