98 



Notes and News. [ January 



find that mice had destroyed the nest, which I had left at the upper 

 ranch. 



The eggs were of a whitish ground color, very minutely spotted with 

 pink or pale red chiefly at the larger end where they formed an indistinct 

 band round the greatest width of the egg. 



The locality where I found this nest is about twenty-two miles west of 

 the town of Springerville, and at an altitude of about 8500 to 9000 feet 

 above sea-level, just about where the pines (_Pinus j>onderosd) end and the 

 spruces begin. This species is always to be found among the spruces 

 high up in the White Mountains in summer, but I have never been able 

 to find another nest although I have searched long and diligently several 

 seasons. — John Swinburne, St. Johns. Apache Co., Arizona. 



Myadestes townsendii Wintering in Montana. — Not having seen a 

 copy of 'The Auk' for April, 1SS9, till several months after publication, 

 the following note on Myadestes in answer to a query by Mr. Frank Bond 

 is somewhat delayed. The birds are found in Montana north at least to 

 latitude 47°, during our coldest winters. They are not at all common, 

 however, and are decidedly sluggish during cold spells. I have seen a 

 bird sit motionless for hours near the extremity of a dead pine limb, with 

 body and tail almost horizontal, the thermometer at the time scarcely 

 marking above zero Fahr. in the middle of the day. They are very silent 

 in winter, not even uttering their call notes, that I have observed, but 

 these permanent residents begin their song early in spring, long before 

 the snows have melted from the mountains, or any of their companions 

 from the south have arrived. The song is loud, varied, and Thrush-like r 

 and is uttered as they mount rapidly upward in short zigzag flights to a 

 height far above the pines. I have never observed the birds to remain 

 long at any one elevation while singing, nor have lever heard anything 

 but their call notes when perched. — R. S. Williams. Great Falls. 

 Montana. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



John G. Bell, the venerable naturalist-taxidermist, died at his home at 

 Sparkhill, Rockland County, New York,' in October, 1SS9, in the seventy- 

 eighth year of his age. A pioneer in the art of taxidermy, he was for many 

 years a leader in this auxiliary branch of zoology, and his laboratory in 

 NewYork City was well known to almost every zoologist of his day. The 

 friend and associate of Audubon, Baird, Cassin, Giraud, LeConte, he ren- 

 dered to them all valuable assistance in procuring and preparing natural 



