^•gqA 11 ] General Notes. 85 



about one o'clock p. M., when, as I was sitting on some drift wood where 

 the tide was coming in, I heard just over me kink, hink, hink. I had 

 never heard this note before but I remembered Audubon's description, 

 and truly there was the Red-breasted Nuthatch, which I had looked for 

 in vain for twelve years, directly over me. There were two of them. 

 The male I secured, but the female, which I badly wounded, I could not 

 find. This species has never been taken in the maritime districts before, 

 but has been recorded from Chester County, and my friend Mr. Ellison 

 A. Smyth, Jr., shot one many years ago in Clarendon County. I have 

 seen Mr. Smyth's bird and I beleive it was recorded in 'Random Notes 

 on Natural History.' — Arthur T. Wayne, Mount Pleasant, S. C. 



The Dwarf Thrush in Colorado. — A specimen of the Dwarf Thrush 

 CTurdus aonalasckkce) was taken October 6, 1895, at Magnolia, a small 

 mining town some eight miles west of Boulder, Colorado. This is the 

 first record of the species for this State. To make sure of the identifi- 

 cation the bird was sent to Mr. Ridgway, who pronounced it a typical 

 example of this species. — {' . A. Sprague, Boulder, Col. 



Food of Woodpeckers and Flycatchers. — Southern California seems 

 well adapted to the birds of the family Picidae. I have been at Claremont, 

 Los Angeles County, less than two years, and have had little time to 

 work with birds, yet I have secured the following species: Dryobates 

 villosus harrisii, Xenopicus albolarvatus, Sphyrapicus ruber. Sphyrapicus 

 tkyroideus, Melanerpes formicivorus bairdii, Melanerpes torquatus, and 

 Colaptes cafer. In the stomach of all these 1 have found insects, and 

 often more or less bark. Melanerpes formicivorus bairdii has the habit 

 of storing acorns in trees, presumably for future use as food. They 

 gather the acorns and place them in holes which have been previously 

 chiseled out by use of their bills. I have heard reliable observers state 

 that they have frequently seen them eating these acorns during the 

 winter months. Spi/yrapieus ruber is the Sapsucker of southern Cali- 

 fornia. It taps fruit trees, especially prune and apricot, and evergreens. 

 Its mischief seems much more serious than that of its congener of the 

 East, as trees are frequently killed by reason of its punctures, although 

 these latter are more distant and less numerous. I never knew a tree to 

 be killed by the Sapsuckers in Michigan. The evil in California is 

 wrought in summer when the dry season has enfeebled the tree, and this 

 is a possible explanation of the more serious harm to the trees of this 

 region. 



I have also been interested in the species of the family Tyrannidae. I 

 have taken at Claremont and the adjacent canons the following species: 

 Tyrannus verticalis, Tyrannus vociferans, Myiarckus cinerascens, Sayor- 

 nis sayi, Sayornis nigricans, Contopus borealis, Empidonax pusillus, and 

 Empidonax dijjicilis. In the stomach of all these were found insects; but 



