Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli. Specimens of this subspecies, put by Mr. Howell in the hypothetical list, were taken and identified by Mr. L.E. Wyman. The subspecies seemed about equally numerous with Z. l. gambeli.
Hylocichla guttata guttata. A small dark Hermit Thrush was taken and sent to Mr. Swarth. The skin reached him in poor condition, but he writes that he believes it to be the Dwarf Hermit Thrush. This subspecies was also placed by Mr. Howell on the hypothetical list.
Telmatodytes palustris plesius. A single Marsh Wren taken at Prisoner's Harbor in the only patch of cat-tails seen on the islandd, was identified by Mr. Wyman as of this subspecies. It has not before been recorded from Santa Cruz Island.
Geothypis trichas scirpicola. A female of this subspecies of Yellowthroat was taken in the same patch of cat-tails at Prisoner's Harbor. It has not before been recorded from the island.
Sialia currucoides. Mountain Bluebirds, not before recorded from any of the Channel Islands, were observed in three different localities. A scattered flock of over twenty were hovering and feeding on the mesa near Black Point at the west end of the island. Another small flock was seen neaer the ranch house at the west end, and two birds were seen in the pines in the central part of the main valley.
Nucifraga columbiana. Clark Nutcrackers were reported in the winter of 1919-1920 from many points near the coast, but it is nevertheless surprising that they crossed the twenty-six miles of channel and reached Santa Cruz Island. The birds, called Jackdaws by the local fishermen and ranchers, attracted their attention as early as October, 1919. these men had never seen them on the island before. Scattered birds were seen by the writer throughout the pine belts in January and again in the first week of April, on a second trip to the island. It is tempting to speculate what might happen if the nomadic impulse had died out after six months and the species should become a permanent resident of the pine forests on the island, in which Crossbills and Red-breasted Nuthatches are already resident. - Ralph Hoffmann, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 4, 1920.
Perhaps the most fascinating quote by Ralph Hoffman refers to the small wetland and lagoon on Santa Cruz Island. He describes a "patch of Cat-tails" at Prisoner's Harbor. When I made my last visit to Santa Cruz Island in October of 2002, I noticed these Cat-tails, as well as willows, and a wonderful population of Yerba Mansa, or Anemopsis californica, which is a wetland indicator in the category of "obligate" according to government scientists. There was a pig dozing and perhaps sickly, in the meadow of Yerba Mansa and near the Cat-tails. The two wetland obligate-birds, Yellowthroat and Marsh Wren, found their wetland habitat, the only one on Santa Cruz Island, as accurately noted by Ralph Hoffmann. Both of these wetland birds would either perish or have to find their way back to the mainland, as the patch of Cat-tails is not large enough or permanent, probably a result of cattle ranching and other human impacts, to support these two wetland-obligate birds.
Of course, the Mountain Bird is of interest to note in that it is an upland-nesting bird, however, it depends on some wetland foraging in meadows between trees to catch insects for it young offspring in the nest. The winter of 1919-1920 must have been an El Niņo, perhaps, because the Mountain Bluebird, Clark Nutcracker, Marsh Wren, and Yellowthroat all showed up on Santa Cruz Island, as a result of cold winter rains and winds that blow out to the Channel Islands. While on San Miguel Island in October of 2002, I speculated on whether the patch of Cat-tails could support an accidental arrival of Yellowthroat. Now that I have read Ralph Hoffmann's account of a Yellowthroat on Santa Cruz, it seems much more to me than a mere speculation that a Yellowthroat may already have been seen on San Miguel by someone, perhaps I will discover it in the literature, in meeting someone in a conversation about birds, or someone will email that they found it on San Miguel. Oh yes, birds are beautiful and nature study is fun.
That fun, or curiosity, was intense in Ralph Hoffmann. The locality of authorship is Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which leads one to wonder about the residence of Ralph Hoffmann. I learned in the biographical research of Ralph Hoffmann that he was born in Stockbridge. He attended Cambridge, and then moved to Carpenteria, California, in 1920 to be a headmaster at a school. Undoubtedly, he observed the birds on Santa Cruz Island, after being lured there by seeing it from the coast of Carpenteria. He must have been visiting family and friends and seeing his roots in Stockbridge, when he corresponded his article to the editor of Condor, Joseph Grinnell, in Berkeley, California. It seems to me that Ralph Hoffmann kept his interest in nature both in California and Massachusetts. In 1940, naturalists in Massachusetts established the "Hoffmann Bird Club." It seems time to establish a chapter or affiliate in southern California. Perhaps this web page on Ralph Hoffmann as an Anthology serves as a platform from which to have a Hoffmann Bird Club in California. His authorship of a very fine field guide to the birds of California, "Birds of the Pacific States, which remained in print from the 1920s to the 1950s, even during the time of the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds, published in the 1940s, shows the importance of Ralph Hoffmann in California ornithology. The great ornithologist of California, Joseph Grinnell acknowledged Ralph Hoffmann.