Jil/ //(■// /I A\k /cV. 1 I 



least, cheerfully seeking out their daily rations in the bark crevices. 

 The certain knowledge of convenient and comfortable cavities close at 

 hand probably contributed not a little to their ease and contentment of 

 mind. Now and then I startled a solitary Song Sparrow from its retreat 

 under the overhanging bank or the roots of a tree, but the most curious 

 experience of all was the sight of a Broad-winged Hawk at close quar- 

 ters. With half-spread tail and wings it was clinging to the south side 

 of a pile of cord wood. Discovering my presence in a moment, it flapped 

 to the ground and brushing past me, sprang lightly in the air, turning 

 when but a dozen feet away and repassing me without special hurry or 

 alarm, came to the ground in the meadow a hundred yards beyond ; from 

 which 1 again flushed it to a sheltered hill-side, where I left it, sincerely 

 hoping that "the man with a gun" would not see it while it was in the 

 exhausted condition resultant from the hard battle with the fierce gusts 

 of wind. A pair of Spotted Sandpipers startled from the swamp grass in 

 which they were hiding,, ran screaming to a safer refuge, appearing more 

 afraid of me than the hawk, passing the latter at close range. The wind 

 finally drove me home without birds or fish, but not without a certain 

 pleasure of a morning well spent. 



P^R.WK L. Burns, Bfrzcvn, Pa. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



So.MK Winter Birds ok S.\n Mku'ei. Co., Xew^ Mexico. — The follow- 

 ing are some of the winter birds observed during five weeks in Las 

 Vegas, with several trips up the mountains to El Parvenir and Harvey's, 

 at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. 



House Finch. — One of the commonest species, taking the place of the 

 English Sparrow, which is conspicuously absent. 



Desert and Ruddy Horned L.\rks. — These two species are abundant 

 on the mesas and plains, the latter species predominating. They congre- 

 gate in large flocks during the winter months. 



Mexican Raven. — Very abundant in the mountains, in immense flocks. 

 Can be found feeding on the sides of mountains among the Pinons and in 

 cornfields. 



Golden Eagle. — Common in the mountains near Anton Chico. thirty 

 miles from here. They breed there quite commonly. I secured a fine 

 photo of a live bird nine months old captured by a farmer from its nest 

 in a cave in the mountains. 



