California Condor Eben McMillan 18 July 1963 a cool East wind blew lightly as I drove to the cholame flats at 11:00 A.M. The Cholame Rancho had branded and castrated some big calves yesterday and I wanted to see if any had died from bleeding or infection. Even though I checked the cattle carefully, no new carcasses were found of dead cattle. about 12 Buzzards were on or about the carcass of the dead heifer that I visited yesterday. This carcass was lying in mud that prevented the Buzzards from approaching closely while on the ground. They were feeding about the anus by standing on top of the carcass and reaching down to the anus and extracting substance on the inside, in this way. Only one buzzard could feed at a time. Some fighting was in evidence among the Buzzards but not including the one doing the feeding on the rear end of the cow. Instead the fighting appeared among those Buzzards awaiting their turn to feed. These would be perched on the head, neck, and backbone of the carcass. no condor came to this carcass although I spent two two hours, from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. watching. The carcasses of large bovines do not appear to suit the taste of Condor. calves and sheep are more to their liking. The excess numbers of cattle on the Cholame Rancho have already seriously depleted the range grasses. These cattle are already beginning to weaken from want of sufficient forage. Five more months remain before new grass can even be hoped for. The problem looks serious. Returning home by way of the mouth of Palo Prieta Canyon where cattle had recently cleaned all the leaves from a large patch of loco weed (Castragalus - Asymmetricus) I saw a Bull chewing up and eating the leafless stems of this loco weed. No Raven observed on Cholame Flats today. One Golden Eagle was seen circling a hillside one mile south of Kerr Grade.