438 '/ Notes. I.iuiv 



Birds of the Headwaters of the Gila River, New Mexico: Further 

 Records.-- 1 desire to add three more species to the list published in Vol. 

 W1Y. Auk. p. 327. All oi these three species were taken at the G. s 

 Ranch, on Sapillo Creek, N. Mexico and arc as follows: — 



Astur atricapillus striatulus. Western Goshawk.- One (o*) shot 

 Oct. 7. L912. 



Archibuteo ferruginous. Ferruginous Rough-leg.— One (o*) 

 shot Oct. 14. L912. 



Calcarius ornatus. Chsstnut-collarsd Longspur. — A moderate 

 sized tliH'k lingered in the grain stubble from Oct. 13, to (at least 1 Oct. 

 21, 1912. — W. 11. Bsrgtold, Denver, Colo. 



Double Bird Tragedy.- - About eight o'clock May 6, 1913, painters 



working on a forcing house on the grounds of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station at Geneva, N. Y.. were startled by the headlong 

 flight past them oi two birds. One was evidently frantic with terror from 

 pursuit, the other conscious oi nothing but its prey, for both birds rushed 

 heedlessly past the men and after a flight oi live or six rods more, dashed 

 headlong into the plate-glass window of the residence of the Station 

 Direct or. who, with his family, was away from home. The glass was not 

 broken but the birds were both instantly killed, either by the shock or by 

 breaking their necks. The concussion was heard by the forcing-house man 

 at his work and he, with the painters, went to the place and picked up the 

 birds. These were later identified by Mr. B. B. Fulton. Assistant Ento- 

 mologist oi the Station, as a Hermit Thrush and a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and 

 the identification was later confirmed by the writer. The thrush is mi- 

 gratory here, the hawk resident but not abundant. — V. EL ll.u.i., Geneva, 

 N. V. 



Msop as a Bird Observer. — Under the title oi " Two ornithological 

 fables from Louisiana ** there appeared a note in ' The Auk ' for April. 

 1913, p. 282, by W. 1.. McAtee, wherein two tales or fables relating to bin! 

 life were recited. 



The first of these, concerning an alleged interesting fish-catching habit of 

 Mycteria atnericana, is beyond the writer's power to verify. If the story, 

 or at least the substance oi it. be true, the easiest explanation at hand is 

 that given by Mr. McAtee, i. e., that the scales allure small fishes in search 

 of iood and that these, rising to the surface in great numbers to nibble at 

 the bait, are devoured by the Ibises. 



The second tale, however, is oi course to be relegated to the realm oi 

 myth and is as old as /Esop. As it is very beautiful and oi great ethical 

 importance in the proper education oi good boys and girls, besides being 

 of interest owing to its great antiquity, it deserves to be quoted in the 

 original. The Latin is taken from an edition entitled " Aesopi Fabulat 

 Graeco-Latinae," &c, Eton, IS07. 11. p. -o. and is a model oi brevity: 



" Formica sitiens descendit in fontem, ac tracta a fluxu, suffocabatur. 



