Page:Condor16(4).djvu/25

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July, 1914 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 183 about thirty trees were examined for possible nests and that only 55 minutes was spen? in the examination of the above nests, a process which involved the carrying abou? and placing of a very large and cumbersome ladder.--G. K. SNYDER, LOS Angeles, Cali- fornia. White-throated Sparrow in Oregon.--On April 27, 1913, I shot a male White-throated 'Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicolli?) at Mulino, Clackamas County, Oregon. This is appar- ently the first record for western Oregon and the second for the state.--ALEX. WALKER, Mulino, Oregon. The Lewis Woodpecker Nesting in Alameda County, Califor/?ia.--On June 12, 1914, I found a nest and pair of Lewis Woodpeckers (Asyndesmus lewisi) between Pleasanton and Niles,,A1Hmeda County. I was attracted to the nest by the female bird which began calling when I came in sight. She had in her bill what looked like a large black beetle. The male did not come around for about ten minutes, but when he did come, the .two did not make much further noise The nest was located in a solitary sycamore tree about forty feet above the ground in a dead limb. This tree was in the creek bottom within a thousand yards of the Grant Gravel Company's plant.--L. P. BOLANDER, Oakland, California. The English Sparrow as Occurring in Northwestern Montana.--I should like to make one addition to my list of birds of northwestern Montana, published in the last CONDOR. Through my habit of omitting the English Sparrow from most of my bird notes, I find that I neglected to mention it in the'manuscript. Not wishing to convey the impression that any county in Montana is free from this bird, I hereby supply the proper information, as follows. Passer domesticus. English Sparrow. Abundant in all towns along the railroads in both Teton and Lewis and Clark counties. Small flocks also occurred in Choteau, Bynum and Augusta before these towns had railroad connections. Railroads have been built to all of these towns very recently (1913), and it is probable that the species will greatly increase in the near future.--A?ETAS A. SAUNDERS, West Haven, Connecti- cut. Eye-color of Juncos: a Corr?ction.--I find the birds I called Junco phoeonotus dot- salis, on page 116 of the May CONDOR, are Junco phoeonotus caniceps. We only had the 1910 Check.List, and Bailey's Hand-Book, with us in the field, and could not decide which sl?bspecies the brown-eyed bird was, eventually deciding on dorsalis largely on account of the range as given in the Check-List. Ridgway's Manual, however, proves all my birds to be caniceps, which he rightly gives full specific rank.--ALLAN BROOKS, Okandgan Landing, B.C. Early Arrival of the Ash-throated Fl;catcher in the San Diegan Dlstrlct.--The ob- servation of an Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) in Los Angel?s, Cali- fornia, on March 15, 1914, affords what is pr0bably the earliest date of arrival of the species in this region. The bird was seen in a pepper-tree bordering the sidewalk, in the southwestern part of the city, on Normandie, near Santa Barbara Avenue.--H. S. SWARTH, Museum of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles, California. Unusual Abundance of the Glaucous-winged Gull on the Coast of Southern Califor- nia.--During the winter of 1913-14 the Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) was unusualy plentiful along the coast of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. Although, during ordinary winters, immature birds of the species are rather frequently seen along our coast, adults are usually so far from plentiful as to call for at least a second glance from the bird observer. During the past winter, however, both adults and immatures were abundant at least as far south as San Diego Bay, where I noted many individuals March 13, 1914. On several occasions during the winter months I found the species numerous in San Pedro Bay and along the government breakwater at that place.--G. WILLETT, LOS Angeles, California. The Eastern Sea Brant in California,?On January 30, 1914, there was added to 'the list of the game birds of the state a new species, for on that date there was secured near Bird Island on Arcata Bay, Humboldt County, a specimen of the Eastern Sea Brant, Branta bernicla glaucogastra. This goose, an adult male, was shot from a flock of Black Sea Brant (Branta nigricans) by West Dean of Eureka. A splendidly made study skin of this bird was prepared by Mr. Franklin J. Smith ,of Eureka; and the owner, Mr. Otto Feudner of Oakland, California, generously donated it to the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology where it bears the number 24588.--H. C. BRYANT, University of California, Berkeley, California.