122 



Vol. XX 



FROM FIELD AND STUDY 



Are Red-headed Woodpeckers Moving West? — On June 7, 1915, the writer was sur- 

 prised to see an adult male Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) at 

 Albuquerque, New Mexico. On February 2, 1916, another was seen at Roswell. The oc- 

 currence of this species in New Mexico was considered purely accidental until on August 

 28, 1917, J. S. Ligon reported five birds observed along the railway track between Socorro 

 and Isleta. More recently Mr. Wm. Andrus saw one Red-head near Reserve, New Mexico, 

 on the Tularosa River. 



An examination of a map shows that most of these birds were seen on or near 

 transcontinental railway lines, which strongly suggests that they crossed the plains by 

 (-raveling along the lines of telegraph poles which follow the railroads. It is probably 

 not unreasonable to hope that the Red-head will some day permanently extend its range 

 westward to include New Mexico. — Aldo Leopold, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 

 21, 1918. 



Fig. 21. Specimens of Heermann Gull 



SHOWING WHITE PATCHES ON WINGS. 



A Peculiarity of Plumage in Some 

 Specimens of the Heermann Gull. — 



There are in the collection of the writer 

 five specimens of Heermann Gull (Larus 

 heermanni) in which the majority, or 

 all, of the primary coverts are white 

 (as shown in fig. 21). There is also a 

 similar specimen in the collection of L. 

 E. Wyman; and in the Museum of His- 

 tory, Science and Art, Los Angeles, is 

 a bird having two white feathers in the 

 primary coverts of one wing, the other 

 wing being normal in coloration. 



The above specimens were all 

 taken along the Los Angeles County 

 coast in winter. They are all adult 

 birds, five of them being in fall plum- 

 age with grayish head, and the other in 

 spring plumage with white head. Five 

 of the six specimens are females. The 

 comparative uniformity of marking in 

 so many specimens would seem to 

 indicate something more than a freak 

 of albinism. For this reason the case 

 seems worthy of record. — Geokge Wil- 

 lett, Los Angeles, California, March 17, 

 1918. 



Additional Records of European Widgeon in California. — The European Widgeon 

 {Mareca penelope) occasionally takes a notion to wander along our Pacific Coast as a 

 winter visitant and has been recorded in California several times, mostly quite a number 

 of years ago. The most recent one of the half-dozen records given in Grinnell's Distribu- 

 tional List (Pacific Coast Avifauna no. 11) is 1904. A still more recent occurrence is 

 that of a male taken in Merced County, by R. H. Beck on December 5, 1908, this speci- 

 men now being in the California Academy of Sciences. Also there is in the office of Drs. 

 C. H. Bell and E. Pitres, of San Francisco, a mounted bird belonging to the Zindo Gun 

 Club, of which these two gentlemen are members, which was shot at Norman, Glenn Coun- 

 ty, on December 19, 1917, by Mr. Samuel Pond, of San Francisco. This bird was most 

 courteously loaned to me, a stranger to its owners, for examination and comparison, and 

 proved to be a male European Widgeon in fine winter plumage that was complete in 

 every detail except for a tuft of feathers of the post-nuptial stage still remaining among 

 the under tail-coverts and which are in strong contrast to the remainder of the crissum. 



