340 General Notes. [3 He 
the crack of a gigantic whip, only deeper, mellower and more voluminous. 
These evolutions were continued for fully ten minutes, when the vast 
flock began to settle into the evergreens for the night somewhat after the 
manner of Chimney Swifts dropping into a chimney. Then something, 
perhaps a hawk or a squirrel, would disturb them after nearly all the birds 
had secured a perch, and with a roar that was really awe-inspiring the 
whole flock would again take flight, circle over the trees for a few moments 
and again alight. This performance was repeated perhaps half a dozen 
times by all or a part of the flock until, just at dusk, they settled into the 
trees to rise no more that night. But they kept up an incessant chatter 
resembling the sound made by a locomotive in the distance blowing off 
steam, and it was long after dark, before this sound wholly died out. 
People interested in bird study came long distances to witness this sight. 
It is possible this flock of Starlings may have been the cause of the 
Purple Grackle remaining here all winter. The weather was mild down to 
February 1. They did not seem to suffer for food until then. They 
associated with the Starlings until well into February, when they seemed 
inclined to flock by themselves. February, with its snow and low tem- 
peratures, alternating with warmer conditions, was rather hard on them, 
but a great deal of food was put out for them by people of the town, and 
they weathered the month out pretty well. Indeed, they seemed to suffer 
more from the bad weather which prevailed after the usual date of their 
arrival here from the south than they did prior to that time. 
William R. Mercer, Jr., who resides at ‘ Aldie,’ informed me that in 
the middle of January, following a snowstorm, he found thirty dead Purple 
Grackles and two or three dead Starlings at the roosting place. He esti- 
mated the total dead Purple Grackles there for the entire winter at about 
40. The excrement from the roosting flock was in such quantity that it 
was hauled away in carts and was sufficient to fertilize a considerable 
area of ground.— Gro. MacRrynotps, Doylestown, Pa. 
Evening Grosbeak at Birdsboro, Pa.—I would like to report the 
presence of a male Evening Grosbeak on the Brooke Estate, Birdsboro, 
Berks Co., Pa., on April 15, 1917. On April 22, accompanied by a party 
of students, I again saw what was apparently the same bird at the same 
place— G. Henry MENGEL, Reading, Pa. 
The San Lucas Sparrow (Passerculus rostratus guttatus) in California. 
— Among some sparrows collected by the writer and sent to the U. 8. 
National Museum are nineteen skins of this subspecies, a form not hitherto 
recorded from California. One male was obtained at Anaheim Landing, 
Orange County, Oct. 5, 1916, and eighteen skins, of both sexes, were col- 
lected at Sunset Beach, Orange County, between November 18, 1916, 
and January 31, 1917. A few examples of true P. r. rostratus were col- 
lected with them. The birds were identified by Mr. H. C. Oberholser.— 
EpWwARrp J. Brown, Los Angeles, Cal. , 
