[Illustration: CALIFORNIA CONDOR
Now Living in the New York Zoological Park.]

On order to obtain the best and also the most conservative information
regarding this species, I appealed to the Curator of the Museum of
Vertebrate Zoology, of the University of California. Although written in
the mountain wilds, I promptly received the valuable contribution that
appears below. As a clear, precise and conservative survey of an
important species, it is really a model document.

* * * * *

THE STATUS OF THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR IN 1912 _By Joseph Grinnell_

"To my knowledge, the California Condor has been definitely observed
within the past five years in the following California counties: Los
Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Kern, and
Tulare. In parts of Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern
counties the species is still fairly common, for a large bird, probably
equal in numbers to the golden eagle in those regions that are suited to
it. By suitable country I mean cattle-raising, mountainous territory,
of which there are still vast areas, and which are not likely to be put
to any other use for a very long time, if ever, on account of the lack
of water.

"While in Kern County last April, I was informed by a reliable man who
lives near the Tejon Rancho that he had counted twenty-five condors in a
single day, since January 1 of the present year. These were on the Tejon
Rancho, which is an enormous cattle range covering parts of the