Sept., 1918 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 193 On the morning of July 20 I was suddenly struck by the absence of song, and from that moment nothing further was heard from the Monterey Hermit Thrush save for an occasional call note, the softly whistled "kooit". One or two were later seen on the ground near my camp and were approached, as they were feeding about, to within ten feet, making identification certain beyond a doubt. Being fairly sure that their song was heard on July 19, and absolutely so as regards the 18th, I can state positively that the singing stopped abruptly on the evening of either the 18th or 19th of July in this locality, and this in spite of the fact that a few birds must have been nesting very late in the sea- son, as evidenced by a female taken on July 7 with the yolk of an egg in the oviduct. The song of the Russet-backed Thrush did not cease as abruptly as that of the other, but was continued in a desultory manner for a few days and gradually died away, becoming less and less pronounced until it ceased altogether.--JosEP? MAILLIARI), ?qan Francisco, California, August 9, 1918. A New Bird for Santa Catalina Island.--Howell in his "Birds of the Islands off the Coast o Southern California" (Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917), suggests that there has been relatively so little ornithological work done on these islands that a visit of sev- eral weeks to any one of them is almost sure to add one or two 'new migrants or winter visitants to the list. Proof of the statement is found in the fact that a stay of two days at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, disclosed the presence of a bird hitherto unrecorded for any of the islands in the Santa Barbara Channel. The bird discovered, the Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), happens to be a summer visitant instead of a migrant or winter visitant. On June 12, 1918, I was on the south side of Descanso Canyon, just back of the new St. Catherine Hotel, getting better acquainted with a Dusky Warbler, when my at- tention was directed to a bird with conspicuous white patches on the wings, flying about ?om elderberry trees in the bottom of the canyon. Closer inspection disclosed a "Silky Flycatcher," and a moment later a second bird of the same species was seen. The grace- ful flight and the flycatcher habits left no possibility of mistaking the identity of the birds. The only other striking observations were regarding the tameness of Mourning Doves which fed within a few feet of the passersby; the common presence of the Mock- ingbird, heard everywhere; and the abundance of the Raven, five being seen in flight at one time.--HA?OLO C. BRYANT, Berkeley, California, July 1, 1918. Late ?nowy Owl Dates.--I? regard tothe migrations of the Snowy Owl (Nyctea nyctea) last winter (1917-18) it may be of interest to report some late dates on which the species was observed by the writer and Mr. D. E. Brown of Seattle. These owls were seen daily at Westport, Grays Harbor, Washington, during the week of April 8 to 14, 1918. The first owl seen at this time was shown to us by Mr. H. A. Dusenbery, who stated that they had been in that vicinity all winter. The first owl collected was taken by Mr. Brown on April 9. It was a large female, qui.te fat and with a full stomach. The con- tents of the stomach consisted of duck feathers, but it was impossible to tell of which variety. Another Snowy Owl was collected by Mr. Wilmer Dusenbery on April 11. This bird, again a large female, had the entire foot, tarsus, and upper leg bone of an American Coot (Fulica americana) in its stomach. Just previous to collecting this bird, Mr. Dusenbery had shot a few sandpipers, and the o?'1 on seeing this had come over to get some. Its foot was within eighteen inches of one of the specimens when it was shot. Mr. Dusenbery said that this was of common occurrence when the owls were plentiful during the winter.--STANTON WARRURTON, JR., Tacoma, washington, May 17, 1918. The irGinia Warbler in California.?On August 1, 1917, Mr. Halsted G. White, while carrytug on field collecting for the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, se- cured a specimen of the Virginia Warbler (Verm?vora virginiae) at 9200 feet altitude near McCloud Camp, on Cottonwood Creek, east flank of White Mountains, Mono Coun- ty, California. The bird is in process of molt from juvenal to first annual plumage. There are many of the juvenal feathers still remaining about the head and on the belly, and, of course, the flight feathers belong to the juvenal plumage. The annual plumage is so nearly complete elsewhere as to exhibit plainly the characteristic markings of the species--yellow crissum, yellow rump, and Yellow patch on chest, The specimen is no. 28593, Mus. Vert. Zool. The age of this' bird, and general "geographic reasoning", makes . it seem not unlikely to my mind that this warbler, now for the first time recorded from California, occurs regularly as a breeding species on the White Mountains.--J. ?rrL, Berkeley, California, August 25, 1918.
