46 TH? CONDOR [ Vol. IV the stream in the pines where I first found them, and in the sage in one portion of the valley, but I failed to find them anywhere else. Of forty specimens of ,qcanthis linaria taken between November 30 and December 23, only seven were adult males in rosy plumage. J.M. WIL- LARD, Oakland, Cal. Clangula hiemalls in lIarin County? Cal. I wish to record a specimen of the old- squaw (Clangula hiemalis, ) male hornot-shot in this county on Dec. I7, I9oi and sent to me for our collection. It is not an important record but these birds are not often taken in this locality. JOSEPH MAILLIARD, San Geronimo, Cal. An ]3xtension of the Southern Range of Perisoreus obscurtts.--While collecting near Mendocino last summer I met a trapper who described to me this species and stated that it was not rare in the forests covering the more mountainous portions of the immediate country. The substance of his description was to the effect that the bird was a jay without a crest, grayish in coloration and with a white stripe through the eye. He had observed the species in the fall at- tacking venison which had been hung up in the forest. The carnivorous habits of the genus are characteristic and this statement greatly strengthens the identification. The species is evidently resident in southern Mendocino County. We have magnanimously left it to future exploration to make this record more authentic. EDMUND HELLER, Riverside, Cal. ]3arly Nesting of the %Western Redtail.--On Feb. I4, x9o2 I collected a set of two eggs of the western redtail (Buteo borealis calurus,) These were taken from a medium-sized nest fifty- one feet up in a sycamore, and were normal iu size and markings. The hawks had secured a large piece of barley sack and with this made a lining for the nest, the eggs being covered by it. This is an early date for this locality and the eggs were fresh. Pacific horned owls are about as usual, sets of two being taken ou Feb. 2 and 8. J.B. DIXON, Escondido, Cal. A PartialAlbino.--On Feb. I9, x9o?, I shot an odd female partial albino California colored blackbird (,4gelaiusgubernator californicus) in the willows bordering the salt marshes below Haywards, Cal. The tail has four white feathers, two on each side, while the right wing has two of the primarie? white and the left wing one. Otherwise the plumage is normal. The right foot has but two toes, the middle one being gone. A few years ago an adult male redwing with its entire tail white was noted flying about the newly-sown grainfields near town. W. OTTO EMERSON, Haywards, Cal. l?lotes ?'rom About San ?'raniso.--On Dec. 28, x9ot while collectiug near San Bruno came across a flock of twenty-five Rexulus satraiSa olivaceus. They were together in a large oak and were very tame, one male aud two females being secured. While skinuing an immature Larus tShiladeliShia I found a tapeworm about six inches long in the intestines. I also found one in a male Passerella i. unalaschcensis; both taken Dec. 26, I9oi. 'On Feb. 2 and I5 I saw two Sitlacanedensis iu some fir trees in Golden Gate Park about one- half mile from the oceau, and on Dec. 27 a single specimen, all being very tame. J.R. PE?- BERTON, man Francisco. Additions to the I?ist of Paicines Birds.--Since our list was published iu THE CONDOR (III, No. 5) my brother aud I have noted the following in that locality: gadwall (An.?s streiSera), two immature males captured; hooded merganser (LoiShodytes cucullq!us), a pair shot but not re- covered; rusty song sparrow (3[elosiSiza m. guttata), one specimen taken Dec. 8. Besides these a female hybrid was taken which seems to be a cross between a mallard and a cinnamon teal. This specimen's markings, color of bill and feet correspond very closely with those of the female mallard, while its size approaches that of the cinnamon teal. Hybrids are often found and are most probably the offspring of birds that have been crippled the year before, but seldom are they of such violent crosses. JosEPH MAILLARD, man Geronimo, Cal. Birds Destroyed by Pools of Petroleum Along Railroads. The oil burning locomo- tive is now a factor in bird destruction. A helper engine having run short of water and not 2 ing enough to take her to the next tank, "headed in" on the house track where her engineer "killed" her to await being towed to a tank and while lying there she dropped a quantity of fuel oil on the track below. This amounted to probably eight or teu gallons which, after cooling off became very thick or about the cousistency of black molasses. Into this native sparrows flew (probably mistaking it for water) and were killed iu exactly the same way as a fly is killed on fly-paper. Since theu I have noticed all along the right-of-way numbers of sparrows, desert (?) horned larks, kangaroo rats and other small birds and animals dead in the oil. Nearly all the engines drop oil along the track in different quantities, and I have seen four and five sparrows in a puddle the size of a cheese box. In a large pudd!e (the one referred to above) I counted fifteen dead in one day and each succeeding day added new victims. The birds would fly into the oil as they do in water for a bath and first their feet, next their wings aud then their heads would sink into it and they would finally become entirely covered. OTTO HOLSTEIN, Blake, Cal.
