THE SUNNY SOUTH OÖLOGIST. | ||
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| Vol. 1, No. 2. | Gainesville, Texas, April, 1886. | Published Monthly. 50 Cents per Year. |
Notes from Southern California.
We have been having a bountifulshare of rain in this neighborhood oflate; and while we have been havingwarm drenching rains in the lowlands, there has been a steady fall ofsnow in the mountains. As a resultof the latter fact large numbersof Cedarbirds, Robins, Catbirds, etc.,have left their usual haunts (the mountains),and taken refuge in our warmorange groves and vineyards. Andnow a person cannot walk a milethrough the suburbs of the town, withoutnoticing several large flocks ofthese birds feeding contentedly by theroadside, or industriously probingamong decayed limbs, or under deadleaves for bugs and larvæ, upon whichthey delight to feed. These birds howeverdo not breed in this locality, but assoon as the warm weather sets in, theybetake themselves to the remote valleysand fastnesses, situated amongthe almost inaccessible ranges of theSierra Madre. Here all are protectedfrom the ravages of that “fell egg-destroyer,”the school-boy. Theybreed and rear their young in peace,and we see no more of them until thenext “cold spell” sets in and causesthem to again visit us, or properlyspeaking, “our warm climate,” untilthe clemency of the weather will againpermit them to return to their accustomedhaunts. Further north howeverthese birds can be found amongthe woods and forests the whole year’round.
At this season of the year we arenot alone favored with visits of theland birds, but the aquatic element isvery abundantly and variously representedamong our ponds and streams;in fact, out of a bag of twenty or thirtyducks, which a hunter may be so fortunateas to secure as a reward for aday’s sport, he can generally singleout from twelve to fifteen differentspecies, from the majestic old Mallardor “Greenhead,” to the diminutiveButterball or “Silkduck.” Quite anumber of these ducks remain withus during the breeding season; in factI have personally obtained “sets” ofeggs of the Cinnamon Teal, Baldpate,Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Godwall, Redhead,Pintail and Greenwinged Teal;besides I have heard several authenticaccounts of “sets” of some other speciesof ducks being secured by otherOologists in different portions of thiscounty. The principal or most profitablegrounds on which to successfullysearch for nests of various speciesof ducks and other waterfowl isamongst the immense “tule lands” andsloughs of a marsh called “GospelSwamp.” This is a place about sixtymiles from Los Angeles, and occupyingmany square miles of country, includingthe bogs, willow swamps, tidelands,etc. It is a veritable paradisefor ducks of all species; and duringthe sporting season I have spent somevery pleasant and well repaid time, bytrudging around its extremities, armedwith a good ten-bore “breech-loader,”with an evil intent upon the unsuspectingducks and geese. Not withstandingthe thousands and thousandsof birds annually slaughtered in theseswamps by the professional “pot” ormarket hunters, as well as the havocwrought by amateur sportsmen, stillthe numbe