A New Bird for Santa Catalina Island
A New Bird for Santa Catalina Island
Howell in his “Birds of the Islands off the < Coast of Southern California” (Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917-18) suggests that there has been relativeIy so little ornithological work done on these islands that a visit of Severa1 weeks to any one of them is almost sure to add one or two new migrants or winter visitants to the list. Proof of the statement is found in the fact that a stay of two days at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, disclosed the presence of a bird hitherto unrecorded for any of the islands in the Santa Barbara Channel. The bird discovered, the Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), happens to be a summer visitant instead of a migrant or winter visitant. On June 12,1918, I was on the south side of Descanso Canyon, just back of the new St. Catherine Hotel, getting better acquainted with a Dusky Warbler, when my attention was directed to a bird with conspicuous white patches on the wings, flying about some elderberry trees in the bottom of the canyon. Closer inspection disclosed a “Silky Flycatcher,” and a moment later a second bird of the same species was seen. The graceful flight and the flycatcher habits left no possibility of mistaking the identity of the birds. The only other striking observations were regarding the tameness of Mourning Doves which fed within a few feet of the passersby; the common presence of the Mockingbird, heard everywhere; and the abundance of the Raven, five being seen in flight at one time.
H. C. Bryant
Berkeley, California, July 1, 1918
