56 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



sible for the abnormal plumage; but al- 

 though I have examined since then several 

 more or less perfect albinos I have never 

 yet found any tape worms or parasites. 



In plumage the specimen is almost en- 

 tirely pure white, a few dirty-looking spots 

 on the wings, back and head show the 

 brown color of aissalis, and the lower 

 abdomen, flanks and crissum are clear 

 warm buff; the throat also is pale buff. 



A short time since I saw a very fine Cal- 

 ifornia Thrasher in the collection of Chas. 

 H. Marsh of this city, which was about 

 half white, and was told by Mr. Marsh of a 

 pure white Towhee that he has several 

 times seen near his rancli at Delzura. 



A. \V. Anthony. 



San Diego, Cal. 



Cooper Ornithological Club. 



MEETING December 8, at the resi- 

 dence of H. C. Ward, in Alameda. 

 In a communication, Mr. W. Otto 

 Emerson stated that a copy of the 

 valuable, illustrated work of Daniel Giraud 

 IClliott on "Little Known N. A. Birds" 

 had been secured by the State Library at 

 Sacramento. 



The following gentlemen were elected to 

 membership: Walter E. Bryant of Oakland, 



A. W. Antliony of San Diego, F. Stephens 

 of Witch Creek, J. W. Mailliard of San 

 Francisco, F. H. Holmes of Berryessa, F. 



B. Jewett of Lamanda, F. W. Koch of Ber- 

 keley, O. W. Howard of Los Angeles, Ed- 

 mund Heller of Riverside, and W. R Flint 

 of Oakland. In the November report Mr. 

 H. Ward Carriger was erroneously credited 

 with having been elected, instead of Mr. 

 Walter B. vSampson of Stockton. 



Two amendments and two new articles 

 to the constitution were adopted. The 

 election of officers for the ensuing term will 

 take place at the January meeting, at San 

 Jose. 



An Annex to the Club has been organ- 

 ized, the princi]«il place of meeting being at 

 Pasadena. It is intended for tlie benefit of 

 Southern Californian members. The fol- 

 lowing officers of the Annex were elected: 

 president, Ralph Arnold; vice-president, 

 Jos. Grinnell; secretary-treasurer, H. A. 

 Gaylord. It was decided to begin a club 

 collection of specimens, for which space has 

 been secured in the Throop Polytechnic 



Institute. At the meeting on December 17 

 papers treating of the Woodpeckers of Cali- 

 fornia were read and discussed. 



Two interesting papers, "On the Nesting 

 of the Dotted Canon Wren" and "Notes on 

 the Blue-fronted Jay," were read by R. H. 

 Beck, and will be printed entire, later, as 

 will a paper by F. I. Atherton on the Barn 

 Owl. A paper by W. B. Judson described 

 some 



BIRDS NESTING AT BEAR VALLEY, 



San Bernardino county, in June. A colony 

 of White-throated Swifts were breeding 

 (June 5) in inaccessible cliffs at Mill Creek 

 Canon. Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted 

 S.ipsucker, Thuri)er's Junco, Hammond's 

 P'lycatcher, California Pygmy Owl, Pygmj' 

 Nuthatch, Western Tanager, White-headed 

 Woodpecker, Violet-green Swallow, were 

 among the birds found breeding, man}' with 

 young. Two large flocks of young Clarke's 

 Nutcrackers were seen. At Pine Lake 

 American Eared Grebes were found breed- 

 ing in great numbers. The men at the lake 

 had just collected a barrel of the eggs. 96 

 dozen, for eating purposes. The lake is 

 about four miles long and one mile wide, 

 covered at the east end by water grass. 

 When the Grebe colony was first entered the 

 noise was deafening. Acres of water grass 

 could be seen covered with nests. In the 

 nearest nests eggs could be seen, and far- 

 ther off the Grebes could be seen pulling 

 the water grass over their eggs, while still 

 farther off they were seen on their nests. 

 The nests were so thick that it was almost 

 impossible to row the boat without upset- 

 ting nests, which were all floating — com- 

 posed of water grass and raised about two 

 inches out of the water, with a small hol- 

 low in the top to keep the eggs from roll- 

 ing out. The number of eggs found was 

 3 to 5, although a few sets of 6 and two sets 

 of 7 were taken. 



H. R. Taylor presented the following 

 note on 



CARNIVOROUS COOTS. 



While Duck hunting along the sloughs 

 in the vicinity of Goose Lake, Kern county, 

 I had an experience with the American 

 Coot {Fulica avicricarui), which from the 

 literature at hand I find un])recedented, I 

 had shot a Shoveller, and as he dropped in 

 the water I left him for a little while, float- 

 ing. Returning in a few minutes I found 

 that a Coot, numbers of them being about, 

 had almost denuded the breast of the Duck 



