6o THE CONDOR Vor,. IX 



we found them dead the next morning. The male was about with food, but there were no young 

 to be fed. He staved about most of the day, but I did not see the mother again. From all 

 appearances, she was a deliberate deserter. Can it be that some birds are as unbirdlike as some 

 people are inhuman?— William L. FinlEY, Portland, Oregon. 



Puffinus creatopus in Alameda County, California.— On July 7, 1906, I was driving 

 along the main road, home from a trip to the Santa Clara Valley, when, about three miles from 

 Irvington and sixteen miles from Haywards, at the side of the road I saw what at first glance ap- 

 peared to be a gull. It was lying directly under the telegraph wires, a strange place, I thought, 

 for a gull to be seen at this time of the svimmer and still more, so far from the bay shore, at least 

 six miles off. I was about to pass on, when the idea struck me that I had better identify the 

 species. On picking up the bird, my surprise was complete, as I recognized it to be an ocean 

 straggler, a shearwater instead of a gull. 



On arriving home and skinning the bird, I found it very poor, an adult male in moulting con- 

 dition. The only way I could account for this shearwater {Puffinus creatopus) straying so far 

 from its natural surroundings, is that we had been having, for a week preceding, unusually thick 

 fogs that had extended from the ocean inland for sixty miles or more. No fogs for many years 

 had been so heavy and lasting all thru the day. This shearwater must have lost its Vjearings in the 

 fogs along the ocean coast, which about opposite would be in the neighborhood of Pigeon Point 

 or Pescadero Beach, some fifty miles or more in a bee-line from where the bird lay. It must have 

 passed over the Coast Range into the Bav^ region, wandered about until it came down lower to 

 sight the land, and struck against the mass of telegraph wires and was killed by the contact. On 

 skinning the bird, I found a line or dent across the front of the skull. 



That oceanic birds often get lost in the fogs, if they have not the coast line to go by, is 

 thought to be a fact from recent investigation by Mr. L. M. Loomis on Monterey Bay. (See 

 Calif. Water Birds No. IV, page 308.) — W. OXTO Emerson, Hayivards, California. 



Another Record of the Alaska Water-thrush in California.— On the 29th of Sep- 

 tember 1906, I s-ecured a female specimen of Seiunts novehoracensis notabi/is near National City, 

 San Diego Count)', California. A pair of this species were feeding, with several song sparrows, 

 along the slimy mud exposed by low water in a fresh-water pond about one mile from San Diego 

 Bay. Thej^ were not at all shy and allowed me to approach within easy "auxilliary" range. 

 This wa^ at 7 .\. 'Si., and the stomach of the bird secured was filled with what looked like tiny 

 seeds. — C. B. Linton, Long- Beacli, California. 



Two New Winter Records from Tacoma, Washington. — Our little back yard here 

 in the city boasts of three small tree , namely, a cedar, a horse-chestnut and a mountain ash. 

 Nevertheless, during the winter months ni)- sj-steni of a daily food supply of crumbs, seeds, etc., 

 is alwaj'S productive of a large mixed flock of English spnrrows, rusty song sparrows, and Shufeldt 

 and Oregon juncos. These in turn often attract rarer visitors, such as western evening grosbeaks 

 and Sitka kinglets. 



During the past December I was much pleased to have my regular flock decoy in a new 

 winter record in the shape of a number of Townsend warblers {Dendroica townsendi). This is 

 the first time that I have positively identified these birds in winter, altho during past years I have 

 several times felt personally sure of their presence between the months of December and March. 

 The December records for 1906 occurred on the 4th, 13th, 15th, 21st and 29th, three being seen on 

 the 15th. 



The second new record is that of the Anthony vireo { ]'ireo huttoni obscurus). These birds 

 have several times been reported to me in winter. Mr. W. Leon Dawson, of Seattle, tells me he 

 heard it once in winter near his city. They are also reported as being heard in winter on Van- 

 couver Island. From Oregon, Mr. A. W. Anthony, of Portland, writes me that they winter near 

 there along the Cokmibia River. I , myself, have several times felt positive of having both seen 

 and heard the species around Tacoma in winter, but a vireo amid snow and ice was contrar}' to 

 my Massachusetts upbringing, so I have never made any official records of it. Indeed, in their 

 small size, color, and actions they so closely resemble the Sitka kinglet [Regnlus calendula 

 grinnelli) that a field-glass identification made in our dense fire woods might not be accepted as 

 conclusive unless a more positive record had been made. It afforded me considerable satisfaction, 

 therefore, to personally collect two specimens, a male on November 17, 1906, and a female on 

 January 26, of the present year; this, too, in spite of ten consecutive days when the thermometer 

 legistered from 10° to aS'^ above zero. In both cases the vireos were travelling with a large flock 

 of perhaps a hundred western golden-crowned kinglets and chestnut-backed chickadees. The 

 cold weather apparently had not bothered them in the least, as both were very fat and in excel- 

 lent condition. — J. H. Bowles, Tacoma, Washington. 



