328 



General Notes. Q " t 



Auk' of April, 1891 (Vol. VIII, p. 238), Mr. F. C. Brown records the 

 capture of a specimen by Chas. H. Marsh in Telegraph Canon, ten miles 

 east of San Diego, and gives it as the first for California. It has been 

 known for some time that the species is of regular and common occurrence 

 through the eastern part of San Diego County as far as the western edge 

 of the Colorado Desert, but the region just north of the boundary and to 

 the west of the mountains has been explored but little heretofore. 



Mr. F. Stephens once told me that he felt sure that it was the song of 

 this species that he once heard at Campo, and expressed the belief that 

 the bird would be met with in time nearer the coast. 



In January, 1894, I found this Oriole wintering in the foothills just east 

 of San Quintin, Lower Californa, and feeding extensively, if not alto- 

 gether on the ripe fruit of the 'pitahaya' cactus {Cereus gunnosus). This 

 fruit is about the size and shape of a small orange, bright scarlet when 

 ripe. The flesh is similar to that of a ripe watermelon but much darker 

 with an abundance of very small dark seeds. In flavor it is not unlike 

 raspberries, but rather acid. Unless the fruit is abundant it is almost 

 impossible to find any that has not been torn open and the inside eaten 

 by the birds, — Thrashers, Mockingbirds, Orioles, Sapsuckers and all of 

 the Sparrows joining in the feast. All, except the Sparrows, were 

 frequently badly stained about the head and breast from the purple juice, 

 which also stains the entire alimentary canal.— A. W. Anthony, San 

 Diego, California. 



Taming Chipping Sparrows. — I noticed in the last number of 'The 

 Auk' (Vol. XI, p. 256) a reference to the taming of a Chipping Sparrow 

 (Sfiizella socialis). My father has always had a great fondness for birds 

 and has devoted a great deal of time to ornithology. Some four or five 

 years ago, at my home in Nelson County, Virginia, there were several 

 pairs of Chipping Sparrows building in the rose bushes around the porch 

 along the front of the house. It was the custom of my father upon leaving 

 the breakfast table every morning to put several pieces of bread in his 

 pocket with which he fed the dogs who always were waiting his appear- 

 ance. He generally threw a few crumbs on the floor of the porch for the 

 Chipping Sparrows and they soon learned to expect his coming. Setting 

 to work in a methodical way he soon had one of the little birds so tame 

 that it would perch on his hand and pick crumbs from his palm, and in a 

 short while it became so familiar as to go to any one of the household in 

 the same way. (I send with this three photographs which show the 

 bird perched on and feeding from the hand of different melnbers of the 

 family.) 



In the fall the bird left with the other migrants, but, to our surprise, 

 returned in the spring without any symptoms of shyness, evidently 

 remembering us all. It returned for three successive years, and each 

 time raised two broods of young. Last year it failed to appear, so I 

 suppose has lived out its little life. — Wirt Robinson, 1st. Lt. 4th U. S. 

 Art.-, Washington Barracks-, Washington, D. C. 



