1 88 General Notes. [July 



range, "east to Fort Laramie," and without doubt we may add. Western 

 Kansas, their extreme eastern limit. 



At the same time and place I saw in the cottonwoods two pairs of 

 Mocking Birds {Mimus ;polyglottus) . From song and action they seemed 

 to be nesting, and I was informed by a gentleman who had resided in the 

 vicinity several years, that a pair nested and reared their young last 

 season; but they were the first "Mockers" he ever noticed there. The 

 birds are common summer residents in Eastern Kansas, but their nesting, 

 or even occurrence, at so great a height in latitude 39°, must be rare and 

 exceptional. — N. S. Goss, Topeka, Kan. 



A California Bird-wave.— In the spring of 1877 I was collecting birds 

 in the neighborhood of Campo, San Diego Co., California. This place 

 is about forty-five miles east of San Diego, and near the summit of the 

 range, which is there low — about 2500 feet altitude. On April 27 I had 

 a very good chance to observe a migration in one particular locality. The 

 place seemed to be a birds' highway. The narrow, brush-covered valley 

 had a strip of evergreen oaks running down the middle. It sloped south, 

 and a couple of miles below fell into a deep canon crossing it at right angles. 

 On each side were low mountains, contracting the valley to less than a 

 quarter of a mile in width. A strong west wind was blowing across the 

 valley. An almost constant stream of birds was passing northward along 

 the -wind-ward side of the strip of oaks, keeping close to the tops of the 

 brush. 



The weather for several days previous had been cold and stormy, but 

 was now clear and warm, and the migrants seemed disposed to make up 

 for lost time. They flew steadily along at a business gait, seldom stop- 

 ping to feed, then only hurriedly, making short stops usually of but a 

 few seconds and working north all the time. Dendrceca occidentalis 

 was perhaps the most numerous, coming by twos and threes-, and 

 even half a dozen together. The high wind made their flight very erratic, 

 and I found it impossible to shoot them on the wing. One lit on the 

 ground among some Chipping Sparrows. D. to-wnsendt also was present 

 in small numbeis. Hummers of several species wfere especially abund- 

 ant, but none stopped. Among them were some very small Hummers, 

 possibly Calyfte costce, but they appeared too small for even this species. 

 I fired several times but got none. The balance of the migrants were 

 various common birds. 



From memory I should say that a dozen to twenty birds passed each 

 minute, and at one point practically all passed over a space of less than 

 fifty yards in width. The travelling flight of the Hummers was wavy, 

 similar to that of a Woodpecker, and the flight of all the others seemed 

 to partake of the same undulatory character, although that might have 

 been caused by the high wind. — F. Stephens, San Bernardino, Califor- 

 ttia. 



