384 General Notes. [;^^"l^ 



geon (Mareca petielope) was shot bj C. H. Mears, February 16, 1904, on 

 the Pasadena Duck Club preserves at Bixbj, Los Angeles County, Cali- 

 fornia. The specimen is now owned by Joseph Welsh of Pasadena, who 

 kindly turned it over to me for examination and permitted the present 

 record. The bird is in full plumage, and closely resembles the usual 

 male Baldpate in all respects except the head and neck, which are almost 

 uniform chestnut in color. The top of the head, from base of upper 

 mandible to occiput, is plain white, slightly rusty anteriorly. The throat 

 is largely' blackish, while minute arrowheads of black dot the cheeks and 

 loral regions. Back of the eye the chestnut ground color is overlaid by 

 numerous flecks of metallic green. This bird was a novelty to local 

 sportsmen, who at first took it for a hybrid of some sort. "Redhead X 

 Baldpate" was suggested. — Joseph Grinnell, Pasadetta, Cal. 



On the Evanescent Ground-tint of Woodcock's Eggs. — My dog stood 

 a Woodcock ( P/n7o/ie/a minor) on its nest, containing four perfectly fresh 

 eggs, April loth 'of this year. The peculiarity of these eggs was their 

 very dark coloration, the ground tint being slightly- darker even than the 

 dead oak leaves that surrounded and composed the nest. On comparing 

 the eggs the next day with the series in the U. S. National Museum, in 

 conjunction with Dr. Ralph, we could find no eggs that were anywhere 

 near as dark ; in fact, they were darker even than the darkest eggs of 

 Gallinago deltcata, and we were congratulating ourselves on adding an 

 unique set to the collection, when after a week's duration, in moth-proof 

 museum cases, one egg faded out to the usual Woodcock ground tint, fol- 

 lowed in a day or so by the other eggs. Now 1 would like to ask the 

 readers of ' The Auk' if freshly laid eggs of the Woodcock are alwaj'S so 

 dark, fading out during incubation or without it.'' — J. H. Riley, IVas/ting-- 

 i07t, D. C. 



How an Abnormal Growth of Bill was Caused. — The articles by Mr. 

 B. S. Bowdish and Mr. P. A. Taverner in the last two numbers of ' The 

 Auk' on abnormal bills call to mind an incident that happened several 

 years ago and resulted in a somewhat similar growth. 



A young friend of mine took an acquaintance to visit a Flicker's (Co- 

 laftes auratiis) nest which he had discovered. The nestlings were then 

 only two or three days old. The boy put his hand into the nesting cavity 

 and lifted out one of the young birds by the bill. In so doing he some- 

 how twisted the mandibles. On another visit to the nest the young birds 

 were found to be well feathered and almost ready to shift for themselves. 

 The injured bill had grown in the twisted shape and the mandibles were 

 now crossed very similar to those of the Crossbill [Loxia curvirosira 

 minor). The bird was otherwise in as good condition as the others, but 

 of course the parents were still feeding them, and the specimen was not 

 seen after leaving the nest. — Chreswell J. Hunt, Philadelphia, Pa. 



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