158 Bird- Lore A Hummingbird Experiment Our trumpet-creeper was full of blos- soms, and a Hummingbird visited them many times a day, not to their advan- tage, for when the supply of nectar ran low she would slash the tube of the flower, near the calyx, insert her bill there, and usually the flower would fall when she flew away. She would sit on a low spray for forty minutes at a time, sometimes preening her feathers, but quite as often merely enjoying life. Then she would make another dash at the flowers and feed with renewed energy. One day I painted a trumpet-flower in water-colors, on a rather stiff piece of Whatman paper. I painted it as a real flower would look if slit down on one side and spread flat, and I colored both sides. Then I cut out the flower, bent it into shape, and fastened the edges together. Inside the tube I put a small, cylindrical bottle, and tied the flower to the trumpet-creeper in an almost normal position. The little bottle I filled with sugar-and-water, not too thick. To my delight the Hummingbird visited that flower with no more hesitation than the real ones, and very soon preferred it, and I had to fill up the bottle at least twice a day. One day I tried holding the flower in my hand, at a little distance from the creeper, and the Hummingbird flew to it as fearlessly as if I were a vine. r left the painted flower on the trum- pet-creeper until a heavy rain washed off most of the color, and then I removed it. There were very small insects in the sugar-and-water, but I am sure that the Hummingbird preferred the latter, for she ate much of it. I am not sure that she ate any of the insects. The male seldom came to the trumpet- creeper, but once or twice he also fed from the painted flower. Most of his time was spent in slashing off the spurs of the nasturtiums to get at their nectar. We had hardly one perfect nasturtium flower all summer long, owing to his attacks. — Caroline G. Soule, Brooklhie, Mass. An Interesting Record While examining, recently, Audubon's manuscript journals at the home of his grand daughter, Miss Maria R. Audubon, whose volumes 'Audubon and His Journal' alone adequately present the life of the famous ornithologist, I encountered an interesting record which, through Miss Audubon's courtesy, I am permitted to publish In the latter part of March, 1837, Audubon, with his son John and friend Edward Harris, embarked from New Orleans on the revenue cutter 'Campbell' which had been placed at his service by the United States Government for a cruise along the west gulf coast to gather material for the 'Ornithological Biographies,' three volumes of which had at that time been published On April i, they anchored in the South- west Pass of the Mississippi, and in his journal recording in detail the observations of that day, measurements of specimens collected, etc., there occurs the following interesting entry; " Fidigiila histrionica. Harlequin Duck. — Saw a pair in perfect plumage. Quite a wonder." As this species had already been treated by Audubon (Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 612) the fact that he had observed it in Louis- iana does not appear to have been men- tioned by him in his works, and the record, therefore, is evidently not alone the only known instance of the occurrence of the Harlequin Duck in that State, but in the Southern United States. As the species was apparently more common in Audu- bon's time than it is now, and bred further South than it does at present, it is not im- probable that its distribution in winter was then more extended. — Frank M. Chapman, American Aluseum of A'atural History, A'eu' York Citv.
