1896
about one o'clock P. M., when, as I was sitting on some drift wood where the tide was coming in, I heard just over me kink, hink, hink. I had never heard this note before but I remembered Audubon's description, and truly there was the Red-breasted Nuthatch, which I had looked for in vain for twelve years, directly over me. There were two of them. The male I secured, but the female, which I badly wounded, I could not find. This species has never been taken in the maritime districts before, but has been recorded from Chester County, and my friend Mr. Ellison A. Smyth, Jr., shot one many years ago in Clarendon County. I have seen Mr. Smyth's bird and I beleive it was recorded in 'Random Notes on Natural History.'—Arthur T. Wayne, Mount Pleasant, S. C.
The Dwarf Thrush in Colorado.—A specimen of the Dwarf Thrush (Turdus aonalaschkæ) was taken October 6, 1895, at Magnolia, a small mining town some eight miles west of Boulder, Colorado. This is the first record of the species for this State. To make sure of the identifi- cation the bird was sent to Mr. Ridgway, who pronounced it a typical example of this species.—U. A. Sprague, Boulder, Col.
Food of Woodpeckers and Flycatchers.—Southern California seems well adapted to the birds of the family Picidæ. I have been at Claremont, Los Angeles County, less than two years, and have had little time to work with birds, yet I have secured the following species: Dryobates villosus harrisii, Xenopicus albolarvatus, Sphyrapicus ruber, Sphyrapicus thyroideus, Melanerpes formicivorus bairdii, Melanerpes torquatus, and Colaptes cafer. In the stomach of all these I have found insects, and often more or less bark. Melanerpes formicivorus bairdii has the habit of storing acorns in trees, presumably for future use as food. They gather the acorns and place them in holes which have been previously chiseled out by use of their bills. I have heard reliable observers state that they have frequently seen them eating these acorns during the winter months. Sphyrapicus ruber is the Sapsucker of southern California. It taps fruit trees, especially prune and apricot, and evergreens. Its mischief seems much more serious than that of its congener of the East, as trees are frequently killed by reason of its punctures, although these latter are more distant and less numerous. I never knew a tree to be killed by the Sapsuckers in Michigan. The evil in California is wrought in summer when the dry season has enfeebled the tree, and this is a possible explanation of the more serious harm to the trees of this region.
I have also been interested in the species of the family Tyrannidæ. I have taken at Claremont and the adjacent canons the following species: Tyrannus verticalis, Tyrannus vociferans, Myiarchus cinerascens, Sayornis sayi, Sayornis nigricans, Contopus borealis, Empidonax pusillus, and Empidonax difficilis. In the stomach of all these were found insects; but
