32 



Tin-: XIDIOI.OGIST. 



GENERAL NOTES OF INTEREST. 



Mr. Clark P. Streator, of the Division of Orui- 

 thologj' and Mainmalogj-, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, has just recovered at Sau Francisco suffi- 

 ciently to be about, after a five weeks' siege with 

 malarial fever. It was contracted in Mexico. Mr. ' 

 Streator has transferred his interest from ornithol,- 

 ogj- to mammalogy, which he thinks presentsya 

 wider field of research. I 



Arizona Quail have been successfully introduced 

 in California. The ranch of Mr. Sterling Perkins, 

 near Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, lias 

 lieen stocked with 350 dozens of these birds, and 

 the}' are doing finely. Mr. Walter Curtis of Fruit 

 \'ale, who has observed them, says they appear 

 nmch tamer in their new home than the California 

 Quail. The Scaled Partridge is also introduced 

 near Mt. Diablo and breeds. The Bob White has 

 been successfully introduced, instances of its 

 breeding being noted from Gilroy. 



Richard McGregor sends us this interesting note: 

 June 8, while returning home at midnight, in the 

 outskirts of Denver, Colorado, I was surprised to 

 hear a Lark Bunting [Calamospiza inelanocorys) 

 sing. It was the beautiful soaring song, so familiar 

 in May and June, at which time the females are 

 nesting. The onlj' other bird I ever heard talk 

 in his sleep was a Western Meadowlark. It was 

 in one of the little valleys of Estes Park, Colorado. 

 The evenings were wonderfully clear, last summer, 

 although moonless, and the simple song, at half 

 past nine, was the confiding good-night of Nature's 

 child. 



Says a despatch from Los Angeles: Bert Barnes 

 is a lineman in the employ^of the Sunset Tele- 

 phone Company. He was sent the other day to 

 the San Fernando Valley to make some repairs. 

 He had climbed to the top of a telegraph pole, and, 

 finishing the repairing, he started to descend, 

 when he heard a scream of unusual harshness, 

 shrill and deafening. Looking around ISIr. Barnes 

 was startled to see an Eagle of immense size 

 swooping down toward him. Dropping every- 

 thing but a hammer he prepared for a fight. The 

 Eagle darted upon him and struck at him fiercely 

 with talons and beak, the lineman wielding his 

 hammer with such effect as to finally drive the in" 

 furiatcd bird away, leaving him bleeding from the 

 claw wounds and almost exhausted. Barnes was 

 preparing to descend from his aerial battle-ground 

 when the shadow of the bird fell upon him again, 

 and looking up he saw the creature swooping 

 down for a second attack. A blow from the ham- 

 mer stunned it and it fell to the ground, where it 

 was securely bound before it recovered. He 

 brought it to this city. I'ortunately Barnes' eyes 

 escaped injury, but his face and shoulders l)tar 

 evidence of the ferocity of the bird. 



WEST COAST NOTES. 



. Brandt's and Baird's Cormorants, and also the 

 Ffeirallone Cormorant, are reported as nesting on 

 islets near Monterey. 



IC. Barlow of vSanta Clara is a "camera fiend," to 

 use his own expression, in the line of reproducing 

 scenes in bird life, and is uuusuall}^ successful. 



Mr. C. A. Keeler has written a reply seriatim to 

 Mif. J. A. Allen's criticisms in the Auk on his 

 recent work "The Evolution of Colors in Birds." 



W. O. Emerson of Hay wards,besides being an ar- 

 tist is also an amateur photographer, and has a large 

 and interesting collection of photographs, nests, 

 eggs and birds, from life. 



I'rom reports of collectors, Golden Eagle's nests 

 are (juite numerous in Santa Clara county, Cal. 

 ^-^ome are in oak trees, where the oologist might 

 least expect to find them, and within five miles of 

 San Jose. 



Mr. T. S. Palmer, formerly of Berkeley, Cal., is 

 filling an important position in Washington as 

 assistant in charge of the Division of Ornithology 

 and Mammalogy, during the absence in the field 

 of Dr. C. Harte Merriam. 



Hundreds of Cormorants are said to nest (or at 

 least nested a few j-ears ago) in trees on the banks 

 of "vShag Slough," which is on the Sacramento 

 River above Rio Vista. It is stated by hunters 

 that the banks of the trees are so whitened by 

 guano that they can be seen for a great distance, 

 while the stench arising from the vicinity of the 

 nests is overpowering. 



Richard C McGregor, who spent some time 

 collecting in California, a few years ago, has lately 

 removed from Denver to Palo Alto, Cal. He will 

 pursue his studies at the Stanford University. Mr. 

 McGregor's large collection of bird skins are 

 stored at the California Academy of Sciences and 

 he is now going over them to see if they have 

 escaped the deadly derviestes. 



Note — Send us in short notes of interest. 



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