Sept., 1922 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 181 
about two and one-half miles south of Piedras Blancas, Mr. Joseph Dixon and I saw a full- 
plumaged male Harlequin Duck diving repeatedly in the rough water among the outly- 
ing rocks about 60 yards from the brink of the low bluff where we stood. Some min- 
utes later, the bird hauled up on the side of a rock facing the shore, where it sat some 
three feet above the surface of the water, preening vigorously. Its conspicuous mark- 
ings, even to the chestnut of the flanks, showed plainly. Mr. Dixon took a photograph 
of it at 50 yards range; the image, although too small for reproduction, is there with 
some detail—perfectly good, permanent “evidence” of the identity of the duck (photo 
no. 2825, Mus. Vert. Zool.). 
-On October 14, we passed the place again, and this time saw a pair of Harlequin 
Ducks in flight above the surf, one very close behind the other, the female foremost. 
There is a great extent of rough coast-line, with numerous off-shore, rocks, along 
Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties—just such territory as the Harlequins seem to 
prefer when not on the inland mountain streams to which they resort during a brief 
period of the year for nesting. These ducks may well be present there in some numbers 
and yet as a rule be beyond eye-range from shore.—J. GRINNELL, Museum of Vertebrate 
Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, June 19, 1922 
Some New Birds for Oklahoma.—In the farthest northwestern corner of the 
Oklahoma panhandle, two miles from New Mexico and eight from Colorado, I found 
several species of birds that apparently have not been previously reported from this 
state. This is a region of sand-stone mesas, covered with a sparse growth of pinyons, 
junipers (Juniperus monosperma) and scrub oaks; the elevation varies from about 4600 
feet in the valley where the town of Kenton is situated, to about 4800 feet on top of the 
surrounding mesas. ‘ 
Aphelocoma woodhousei. Woodhouse Jay. Three of these birds were seen on the 
mesas, June 1, 1922, and two the next day. No new nests were found, but we saw a 
number of old ones, mere platforms of twigs, that apparently could have belonged to 
no other bird. 
Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus. Pinyon Jay. There were three pairs of these 
noisy jays on the mesas June 1. My daughter Constance found one of their nests con- 
taining an egg and two newly hatched young; this was in a juniper eight feet from the 
ground. We saw four or five old nests in the junipers and pinyons. 
Peucaea cassini. Cassin Sparrow. We saw and heard four of these exquisite 
songsters from May 30 to June 2; they were all in alfalfa fields about Kenton. 
Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus. Canyon Towhee. Common on the sides of the mesas. 
We found three nests, one on June 1 and two on June 2; the first two each contained 
three eggs, one being in a juniper and the other in a pinyon, while the last nest was sit- 
uated in a tree cactus and contained three young. 
Psaltriparus plumbeus. Lead-colored Bush-tit. A pair of these little birds, and 
also a single individual, were seen on the mesas June 1 and 2.—MarGaretT M. NIck, Nor- 
man, Oklahoma, June 27, 1922. 
Notes from Imperial Valley— Duck Hawk (Falco peregrinus anatum). While ex- 
ploring a marsh that in proper season is a popular duck-hunting preserve, near Calipa- 
tria, I observed the following novel method of a Duck Hawk in attacking its prey. Three 
Shovellers had risen near the boat, and at a distance of perhaps seventy-five yards were 
about fifty feet above the water, when a hawk rose swiftly from concealment among 
the tules and fastened to the rear of the hindmost duck. The flapping of both attacker 
and victim carried them about fifty yards to a floating mat of tules, whence I started 
the hawk a few minutes later. Apparently the duck had not realized its danger, as 
there was no deviation in its line of flight previous to being struck. Had the hawk 
struck from above in true falcon style, the prey would have fallen into open water and 
been lost. . 
Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps flaviceps). Nests of the Verdin were numerous in 
mesquite-grown gullies in the above locality, among them many that were hardly more 
than one-third the bulk of the ordinary structure. All these small nests were unlined, 
with the cavity hardly big enough to hold more than one bird; and they were always 
