Feb. 1889.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



27 



in the ti-ees by the road-side vied with the 

 meadow larks in joyful songs of praise for the 

 beautiful day. 



After a brisk walk of twenty minutes I reach- 

 ed the river, the King's^liiver it is called, and 

 finding a grassy nook in the sunliglit by the 

 bank, I rested. It was a pleasant place to be: 

 no sounds save the rippling murmur of the 

 stream and the multifarious noises of the bird 

 world. 



I fell to musing and soon was almost asleep 

 when a queer sound struck my ear; it was like 

 a fairy laugh, "Ho — ho — ho! ha, ha, ha, hal" 



"Who are you,*' I said, as I glanced around 

 me in astonishment. 



"A Dfuilriiira" answered the voice, and I 

 perceived a tiny, yellow bird skii)j)ing about 

 among the willow twigs. 



" I have just arrived from Boston," continued 

 the bird, (for such it proved to be); "they 

 used to call me Yellow Warbler, but they say I 

 am one of the Westerners now,"" and again I 

 heard that silvery, mocking laugh. This is 

 truly astounding. I thought, as I rubbed my 

 eyes. .Just then a hummingbird buzzed over 

 my head, flew around for a few seconds and 

 settled on a limb to my right. It was followed 

 by another hummer which alighted close by. 

 I had no more than noticed this when, wonder- 

 ful to relate, the two began talking: 



" I)(m"t you look at me,"" said the first comer 

 sharply, ■■ you're not what you pretend to be, 

 you're a Kufous, and you know it and you've 

 got a notch in your tail which prores it. You 

 said you behmged to an old Allen family. I'll 

 just get a divorce I"" and she Haunted out of 

 sight, while the poor pseudo-oWeH/ darted off in 

 the opposite direction. Before 1 could recover 

 from the amazement in which this last occur- 

 rence had left me I noticed a shrike, staring at 

 me curiously from a tree near by, and pretty 

 so(m he ruffled up his feathers and said, 



••Are you an ornithologist'?"' "Amateur," 

 said 1, timidly. "Oh, it's all right then, you 

 won't know me; I"m traveling iHroyH/^o, visit- 

 ing some of the excitbitoridefi. They don't speak 

 to us now, since Mr. Kidgway said we were dif- 

 ferent, .so I have to pretend I'm one of them. 

 I suppose you would call me the White-rumped, 

 the amateurs nearly all do; in fact Tve layed 

 six sets of eggs under that name, but now I'm 

 tiie California .Shrike." 



" Caw, caw I" cried a harsh voice in a cyca- 

 more behind me, "and I'm the California 

 Crow, ho, ho, ho,!" and lie fla]iped his wings 

 derisively and flew away. 



By this time I concluded it would be well to 



start for home, and I, picking up my cane, 

 hurried away through the woods, meditating 

 of the glad time when I might hope to be some- 

 thing more than an amateur myself, when I 

 might, in fact, be able to cause dissension 

 among the Western Meadow Larks or per- 

 chance divide or re-name the Blinking Burrow- 

 ing Owls. 



H. R. Taylor. 



Notes 



on the Anatomical Structure 

 of the Crowned Crane. 



In dissecting the body of a Crowned Crane, 

 kindly given to me by Mr. Frank B. Webster, I 

 was somewhat surprised to find the trachea 

 pei-fectly straight, thus differing greatly from 

 many sjjecies in the family to which the bird 

 in hand belongs. Usually the anterior por- 

 tion of the keel of the sternum is projected 

 foreward, widened and hollowed to receive a 

 fold of the trachea, which is thus bent t»n it- 

 self in being pushed into this cavity. As 

 the inferior larynx is simple, being provided 

 with two pairs f)f vocal muscles only, the ster- 

 no-trachialis, and bronchialis, this latter mus- 

 cle in most species being redviced to a mere 

 strip which is nearly functionless, and as there 

 are only a single pair of vibratory membranes, 

 the tympaniforms, the loud cries emitted by 

 the majority of Cranes is produced by the bent 

 trachea, aided of coui'se by the muscles men- 

 tioned. The Crowned Crane, therefore, with- 

 out being absolutely voiceless, could not pi-o- 

 duce the resonant cries given by many others 

 of the family. Another peculiarity observed 

 in the specimen which I have, is seen in the 

 terminal portion of the intestine, immediately 

 preceding the coeca. Here the intestine has 

 made a bend directly upon itself for at least 

 two inches, and as one of the coeca is laid di- 

 rectly across this fold and is fastened to the 

 intestine by tissues, the bend is permanent. In 

 all probability, this peculiarity, which I have 

 never seen before, is wholly individual, yet it 

 clearly points to the origin of a coecum, which 

 could have become evolved from some similar 

 accidental, partial obstruction of the course of 

 the partly digested matter in the intestine, 

 which by increasing the length of the digestive 

 surface would lie beneficial to the animal. 



C ./. Maynanl. 

 Xewtonville, Mass., Dec, 1888. 



X. B. — For a figure of this singular modifica- 

 tion see No. 2, Vol. 1, Maynard's Contributions 

 to Science. 



