S3 Page 39

Collector: Grinnell - 1925
Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft.
Date: Oct. 11
Page Number: 2582
6490 Bluebird (male sign) im. 26.6g. Shot from pine.
6491 Tree Swallow (male sign) im. 16.4g. Shot as it coursed back
and forth alone above the bottom strip of Arroyo La Encantada.
6492 Cooper Hawk. (male sign) im. Shot as it flew up from
among rocks and brush with remains [saved]
of Valley Quail in its claws. Later today saw
another Cooper Hawk sweep down into a bevy
of quail which, however, apparently all escaped.
I am impressed with the great numbers and
wide adaptability of the Pigmy Nuthatches. They are on
the ground a good deal of the time, working over the litter;
or in the seed heads of Salvia carnosa, working at them
seemingly as do goldfinches. Then they work in the
needle clumps of the pines, and all around the limbs upon
which they hammer with great assiduity, leading
me on many a wild goose chase in quest of a
supposed woodpecker. Also they pound away upon
the opening cones. I often see a nuthatch fly from
one tree to another with a pine seed, relatively
huge for the bird, in its bill. A good deal of
the pounding one hears doubtless appertains to
the opening of these seeds. Truly the Pigmy Nuthatch
here is an all-round bird; it is dominant in
point of numbers, too.
I saw my first Siskins here this afternoon, three
of them feeding in salvia heads on open ground
whence they flew to a pine, where I secured one.
Heard my first Sparrow Hawk late this afternoon.