California Condor. Eben McMillan 25 July 1962 Buzzard had came in and was feeding on this carcass. As I drove by the Buzzard seemed not to be overly cautious allowing me to come within 200 feet before it flew and returning to the carcass as soon as I had passed a safe distance on. I chatted with three shepherds who were tending flocks for Noriega. They knew no English but were well enough informed that they could make out my Spanish. They had seen no large birds about, but will be in the lookout from now on and inform me what they see the next time I come to their area. These three shepherds tended flocks that were not far from one another and were all visiting at one trailer house. They all were interested in knowing if I wanted to shoot the big birds and if not what was the purpose of my interest in them. I told them that the American people did not want to see any animal vanish from this land and that the purpose of the study was to see if Condor were becoming scarce and if so what were the factors involved in their disappearance and what could be done to halt their decline, if this is possible. The Basque shepherds understood even though they said that in Spain, outside of game birds, everything is shot all year around. One shepherd said birds were an important item in the diet of many Basque families. I also met a Mr. Johnson who farms about 6000 acres of dry land on the north, west end of the Antelope Valley - He told me that the strong prevailing west winds that blow here continually are a problem to agriculture. These strong, dry winds pull moisture from the ground nearly as soon as it falls. Mr. Johnson has been farming here in the Antelope Valley for 16 years,