Vol. XI1I"| r . , ,r . 



1896 ireneral Notes. ^_|_y 



The Western Martin and the California Cuckoo at Escondido, Calif. 

 — On June 11, 1S96, three or tour pairs of black, swallow-like birds 

 •were seen flying swiftly about, and were seen to alight occasionally 

 upon the eaves of the college building of that place. On June 12 I was 

 fortunate enough to secure an adult female, which proved to be Pro^ne 

 sn/>i.< hesferia. This bird had a soft-shelled egg in her oviduct. 



August 20, while out hunting for a Road-runner, 1 saw a bird that 

 was new to me. It seemed very tame and had a long tail, similar to a 

 Dove, but the flight was quite slow and resembled that of a Sparrow Hawk. 

 It proved to be a fine male Coccyzits americanus occidental/'* and meas- 

 ured as follows: Length, about 12.50 inches; wing, 7.00; tail, 6.00; lull 

 1.00. Iris hazel. This specimen was taken among sumac bushes on a 

 foothill. On Aug. 22 another bird ot the same species was noted. — I. 

 Maurice Hatch, Escondido, Calif. 



Bird Notes from Toronto, Canada. — Somateria spectabilis. King 

 Eidek. — Nov. iS, 1S95, I took an adult male of this species in the most 

 perfect mature plumage I have ever seen. The bird was alone and very 

 wild. Immature birds of this species are not uncommon late in the 

 autumn on Lake Ontario, but adult birds are extremely rare. 



Porzana noveboracensis. Yellow Rail. — Sept. 12, 1S94, I took a 

 female in the marshes east of Toronto, and a male at the same place, Sept. 

 4, 1S95 ; also a specimen on Oct. 3, and still another on Oct. 15, of the 

 same year. 



I have never succeeded in finding this species in the spring, nor in 

 summer before the month of August. 



Cistothorus stellaris. Short-billed Marsh Wren. — On August 29, 

 1891, I found and secured an adult female of this species in an old field 

 north of Toronto, the bird was a long distance from any marsh or water. 

 On June 7> I §95' I captured an adult male in a wet meadow east of 

 Toronto. There were no rushes near this place but the grass was very 

 rank. — C. W. Nash, Toronto, Canada. 



Iridescence of Feathers, as explained by an Old Author. — The modern 

 theory that the play of colors seen in some feathers is due to the 

 action of minute irregularities on the surface of the barbs and bar- 

 bules, composing the vane, which, like a multitude of small prisms, 

 split up the light into differently colored rays, was proposed more than 

 two hundred years ago. 



In 1666, Robert Boyle, the chief instigator and one of the most active 

 members of the Royal Societv. published a book on 'The Causes of 

 Colors' ' in which he treats the subject chiefly from a chemical and 



1 Experiments | and | Considerations | Touching | Colours | . . . . (Three 

 lines). The | Beginning | Of An | Experimental History | Of | Colours. || By 

 the Honourable Robert Boyle, | Fellow of the Royal Society. | ■ • • (Motto) 

 London, | Printed for Henry Herringman at the | Anchor in the Lower walk 

 of the New | Exchange. MDCLXIV. 



