a General Notes. 319 
then repair to some convenient roost, and there remain for ten to fifteen 
minutes. The juices of the stomach dissolve the sweet coating of the 
berry and then the kernels, together with the broken husks, are d/sgorged. 
The ground under a favorite roosting place of the Cedar-birds or Robins 
is frequently nearly covered with these disgorged kernels and one can see 
the seeds rattle down as each bird gets rid of two or three at a time. 
In my back yard there is a shed under some high eucalyptus trees which 
appear to be the common rendezvous of several flocks of these birds which 
feed in the neighborhood. The pattering of the pepper seeds as they fall 
on the shed-roof is incessant all, day long, and the ground is brown with 
them. I have often watched Robins and Mockingbirds at close range, 
and I noted that during the process of disgorgement the birds for a 
moment appeared to be in distress, and after two or three spasmodic 
coughs and a side-wise jerk of the head, out would come two or three of 
the kernels. All the birds which eat the pepper-berries have the same 
habit, and with the Mockingbirds, Western Robins, Cedar-birds and 
Phainopeplas, the peppers seem to be a very important food-supply. 
Besides these birds, I have seen the Townsend’s Solitaire and Varied 
Thrush in the act of disgorging. 
It is only within the last 12 or 15 years that the pepper-trees have been 
so abundantly planted in Southern California, and the fact that the birds 
in so short a time have acquired such an unusual habit, to conform with a 
new kind of food, seems to me very significant. Possibly this habit of 
disgorgement has been a common practice wherever the character of the 
food requires it, but it was new to me. Some one can probably throw 
more light on the subject — JosEPH GRINNELL, Pasadena, Cal. 
An Unusual Song of the Red-winged Blackbird.—In the first week of 
May last, I happened on a company of Red-winged Blackbirds, in full 
play of their courting hour. The males among them were, of course, as 
tuneful and as actively engaged in the cutting of capers as is their wont, 
at such times. 
But on this occasion it was more interesting to notice that the females, 
ordinarily so very demure, were showing themselves to be not a whit the 
less animated by the spirit of the play. And very amusing indeed it was 
to watch these comedians in sober brown, but in extemporized rufts, 
putts and puckers, pirouette, bow and posture, and thus quite out-do in 
airs and graces their black-coated gallants. Their shrill whistle, the 
meantime continually vied with, or replied to, the hoarse challenges of 
their admirers, while in noisy chattering, and in teasing notes, they 
were excessively voluble. 
Whilst loitering thus entertained my ear had been attracted by repeti- 
tions of a strain which came from the dense foliage of a nearby pine. In 
meter it was the same as the coke-al-lee-e-e of the shoulder-strapped 
members of the company. It was, however, pitched in a higher key, 
wholly free from gutturals, nor did it contain any sound that could be 
