62 



OROTTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-No. 4 



leafless beech, aud heard him warble. Imme- 

 diately before his next warbling I heard a note 

 which appeared to come from beneath the 

 Bluebird, which 1 took to be that of a Blue Jay. 

 Witii tlie intention of making a skin of the Jay I 

 approached, but before seeing him I heard the 

 same note "Kaj- — Kay" from the same place, 

 and on advancing closer the Bluebird flew 

 awav. warbling as he went. As he flew into 

 an open field I saw that he went alone, but just 

 after he reached a tree in the open I heard the 

 same Jay note from that tree followed as before 

 by a fraction of the Bluebird's song. T ostudy 

 tile matter, I stayed whei-e I was. and after 

 listening for some time, I found that after the 

 Bluebird had warbled from four to seven times, 

 the next warble would be prefaced with the 

 Jay note that had decieved me. The time taken 

 in" uttering this note was deducted from the 

 regular song, but it was made up to the usual 

 length of a Bluebird's song by adding the latter 

 part of its own song, giving the impression that 

 the bird could only take enough breath to sing 

 a certain number of seconds, and if three fifths 

 of that time were taken up by a Jay's note its 

 own song had to be cut off witli only the other 

 two fifths. 



Considering this as a case of mimicry, it puz- 

 zled me considerably why the Bluebird did not 

 give the Jay note alone, or else follow it by its 

 own complete song, and not merely by the end 

 of it. Has any other reader of the O. & O., 

 noticed the Bluebird posing as a mimic? 



The Carolina Parrot in Northern 

 Texas. 



BY E. C. DAVIS, GAINESVILLE, TEXAS. 



Some time since I was informed bj' a friend, 

 of his seeing a great many Parakeets fConurus 

 cnroUnp.nsis) in Red Eivei- County, some fifty 

 miles east of here, and that they were i-esidents, 

 breeding in lai'ge numbers. 



As this is the most northerly portion of the 

 State, I concluded he was mistaken ; so to con- 

 firm his statements, he referred me to Mr. Wat- 

 son of that count}', and to whom I wrote, ask- 

 ing the above; and in reply, I received this 

 answer : — 



Mr. E. C. Davis: 



Dear Sir, — Your letter received. In reply 

 have to say, that Mr. Kone is right, there are a 

 gi'eat many Parakeets in this section of coun- 

 try. They are exactly like the large green par- 

 rot, except smaller, have some yellow about the 



wings and head. They are very destructive to 

 orchards, aud it is almost impossible to keep 

 them away from hei'e in the fall. They roost 

 by holding on with their bills, and are vei'y 

 fond of cockle burrs. 



I am told this about their holding by their 

 bills, but we have had them in cages frequently, 

 and they eat cockle burrs, as I have tried them. 

 Yours, etc., 



S. E. Watson. 



Tills is a great surprise for me, as I had long 

 since concluded this bird a thing of the past for 

 Texas. But I am very mui-h pleased to still 

 number this species among the birds of Nortli 

 Texas. I shall make a trip myself for tlie ex- 

 press purpose of investigating this still further 

 early in the spring. 



Early Nesting of Anna's Humming- 

 bird. 



Mr. Albert M. Ingersoll, of East Oakland, 

 California, reports the finding of a nest and two 

 eggs of Anna's Hummingbird {Calypte annai) 

 on January 14th. 1887. This, it is believed, is 

 the earliest breeding of this species on record. 

 —J. P. N. 



Late Appearance of a Golden Plover 

 on Cape Cod. 



I shot a Golden Plover November 19th in an 

 old field near Provincetown, Mass. The bird 

 was in young pfumage and vei-y poor but was 

 not crijipled as it recjuired a heavy charge with 

 Xo. eight shot to drop him. I have never heard 

 of a Golden Plover being taken as late as this 

 in Massachusetts. They are seldom seen along 

 Cape Cod after the loth of October. 



J. C. Caiioon. 



Large Broad-wing Hawk. On September 

 19th, 188G a friend sent me a Broad-wing hawk, 

 which I mounted and now have in my cabinet. 

 It is an adult female in fine plumage measuring 

 as follows: — Length 23 — .")0 ; extent .50; wing 

 16. Thus showing the same measurements as 

 the Red Tail Hawk. It is the largest specimen 

 I have ever seen. 



Samuel Spicer, 



Goodrich, Mich. 



Dr. Wni. DeF. Xorthrup was at latest advices 

 in Central America and reports some excellent 

 finds in bird-life. 



