Nov. 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



133 



hopper Woodpeckers, from their well- 

 known habit of congregating in open fields, 

 where grasshoppers abound, before the 

 autumn migration. I once saw two female 

 Flickers, each of them trying to gain the 

 attentions of a male, who seemed com- 

 pletely overwhelmed by such an outpour- 

 ing of caresses. If he attempted to notice 

 one, the other immediately interfered. I 

 watched them for an hour, and left them 

 with their interesting and ludicrous cere- 

 mony still progressing. — C. 0. T. 



Californian Thrasher. 

 {Harporhynchus redivivus). 



I see by Mr. Denton's article on the 

 above Thrasher he mentions that I have 

 not found it on the eastern side of the bay. 

 I have since then added it to my record 

 list of Birds taken here in the last four 

 years. The specimen taken was a female, 

 caught in a quail trap, set in some thick 

 brush in one of the many gullies near the 

 town. This is the first instance of its be- 

 ing found here. J. G. Cooper told me he 

 had observed them the past season — July, 

 I believe — about eight or ten miles from 

 here, where a belt of chaparral runs along 

 the canyon's side. This is a favorite home 

 of this Thrasher and it no doubt breeds 

 there. I found them quite common in the 

 Santa Cruz mountains; altitude, 3,000 

 feet. My first experience with this fine 

 singer was there in October, 1883 ; also 

 at the same time this year. I heard a call 

 note, rather low but very clear, one after- 

 noon near camp, and not being familiar 

 with it, I took out my gun to see what I 

 could get out of a wild coffee bush, where 

 the notes seemed to come. I gave the call 

 note as near as I could three or four times 

 and pretty soon I heard it coming near to 

 the road. The bird flew to the low fence, 

 where I shot it, and found it to be a male. 

 The crop was full of berries, which these 

 birds seemed to like, as I found them every 

 morning there while at camp in this part 



of. the mountains. A great variety of 

 birds feed on this bush and the alderberry 

 trees at this time of the year. 



One afternoon, while watching some 

 Chickadees {P. rufescens neglectus), I no- 

 ticed a number of holes in the dead leaves, 

 as though made by a large, blunt stick. I 

 could not for some time make out what it 

 was ; but on hearing one of the Califor- 

 nian Thrashers in the thick bushes, I came 

 to the conclusion it must be this bird's 

 work. I went a short distance, giving the 

 call note, and as I stopped, one of the 

 Thrashers hopped out from under the 

 bushes and began to scratch with its long 

 curved bill under the dry leaves. It 

 seemed to make no use of its feet in its 

 hunting after worms and insects among 

 the leaves. All the work was done by the 

 bill, which seemed to be made especially 

 for the piu-pose. Mr. Denton has not 

 seen it back from the coast range, he says. 

 L. Belding, List of the Birds of Central 

 California (U. S. National Museum Pro 

 ceedings, Vol. I), found it breeding at 

 Murphy's, Calaveras County, latitude, 38 07 , 

 altitude, about 2,400 feet ; situated at 

 the line of junction of the chaparral 

 belt and pine region, about 150 miles east 

 of here. It is a resident of Marysville, 

 Yuba County, altitude about 150 feet, and 

 is found rarely at Stockton. At Newcas- 

 tle, Placer County, it breeds, and is called 

 by the miners California Mocker. I found 

 it three miles back of Sonoma, north of 

 here fifty miles ; altitude, 300 feet. It is 

 not uncommon through San Diego County 

 to the Vulcan Mountains, eighty miles 

 from the coast ; altitude, some 5,000 feet. 

 I heard it singing there March 9, 1884. 

 No doubt it breeds on the mountains. — 

 W. O. Emerson. 



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