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May, ?9ox I THE, CONDOR 7 t watched him awhile; but, pitying the poor Nuthatch lost in this land of starvation, 1; humanely secured him from further privation. Which even a tender-hearted Audubonist might not have done! to. Auriparus flaviceps. Verdin. Two specimens were obtained and three others seen, in each case keeping shyly to the cover of the thickest bushes. The only notes heard were faint atten- uated ones, like the repeated "tsip, tsip" of the female Anna Hummingbird. Vet- dins' nests were numerous wherever there were thorny bnshes, being situated from one to eight feet above the ground. There were sometimes three in a single bush. These nests are very durably constructed and must last many years, thus accounting for their abundance as compared with their builders. The walls con- sist of firmly interlaced twigs from the thorn bushes. The nests are flask shaped, resembling miniature cactus wren's nests, but fixed among the supporting branches with the opening rather more downwards than to the side, ?. Regulus calendula. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. A lone obtained. x2. Merula migratoria propinqua. Western Robin. Two individuals were flushed before sun-rise from the margin of the River. x3. Sialia mexicana occidentalis. Western Bluebird. Two flocks, of 8 and ?3 respectively, were noted flying down the valley high overhead. Some Winter Notes !:rom Marin County, Cal. BY JosF?Ptl MAILLIARD, SAN GERONIMO, CAL. HE PAST winter: has been re- markably mild for this vicinity. We have had abundance of rain but very little' cold weather. Instead of periods of frosty mornings, when the registering thermometer would show a minimum Of any where between I2 and 22 day after day, there have been but few severe frosts and then only for two or three days at a time. This mildness seems to have affected the bird life to a considerable degree. Some species which are seldom seen here in winter have been comparatively common. In my list of land birds of Marin County, (Ti?E CONX)OR II, No. 3) Thick-billed Sparrows, (Passerella i. me?arhg?ncha,) and Townsend's Solitaire, C?fyadestes townsendi) are mentioned as occurring only in very cold winters. The past winter has proved an excep- tion to this rule, as the former species was here in limited numbers and the latter was more numerous than ever be- fore noted. This state of affairs may have been occasioned more by the heavy snow-fall in the Sierras than by the mildness of the temperature in this locality. The Western Evening Grosbeak (Uoccothraustes v. montanus), seems to have been quite,common all along the coast this year and several small flocks were noted about here and in San Ra- fael. Golden-crowned Kinglets (Negu- lus s. olivaceus) have?been]very numer- ous and several specimens of each sex have been taken, whereas my last re- cord of this species in midwinter was in ?895. Heretofore observation has led me to believe that most if not all, of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets, (Regulus calen- dula) wintering here were ? ?, as I had never taken a ?, but this winter has been an exception to this rule also, as the two sexes seem to have been about equally represented. Owing to the fact that the San Gero- nimo Valley is usually much colder in winter and spring than the adjacent country on the eastern side of the corn- passing hills, many spring immigrants