88 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI 
Notes from Colton, Californiana—A set of eggs of the Ash-throated Flycatcher 
(Myiarchus cinerascens cinerascens) was collected near here in May, 1918. The nest 
was in a cavity in a dead stump and was twenty-two inches below the opening. While 
I was removing the nest material I was surprised to feel more eggs under the flycatch- 
er’s nest. These were eggs of the Red-shafted Flicker and all but one had holes in them. 
Possibly the flycatchers had driven the flickers out of the cavity, pecked holes in the 
fresh flicker eggs, and had then gone on with their nest building over the ruin. 
May 7, 1918, I collected near here a nest of the Tree Swallow (Iridoprocne bicolor) 
containing three eggs of the swallow and one egg of the Western House Wren (T'vroglo- 
dytes aedon parkmani). The wren egg could not have been placed in the nest by a boy, 
as a section of the tree had to be removed before the nest could be examined. I observed 
the swallows taking feathers to the nest at least ten days before I collected ~ set. I 
did not see any wren near by. 
A set of four eges of the California Yellow Warbler (Dendroica aestiva brewsteri) 
was taken by me near San Bernardino on May 5, 1918. Elevation above sea level was 
about 1000 feet. I consider this a very early record for this species—W. C. HAnwn«, Col- 
ton, California, January 2, 1919. 
The Red-billed Tropic-bird in Californiaa—A. W. Anthony, in 1889 (Proc. Calif. 
Acad. Sci., 2d ser., 0, p. 86), predicted that Phaethon aethereus would be found to be 
“a rare visitant to the entire Pacific coast of the [Lower California] Peninsula,’ and 
Grinnell (Pac. Coast Avif., no. 11, 1915, p. 176), although relegating to the hypotheticai 
list Bryant’s record (Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., loc. cit., footnote) for Marin County, Cali- 
fornia, based on a skull, expresses the belief that “the species . . . is likely to be 
observed sooner or later north of the Mexican boundary.” 
A specimen which proves to belong to this species was taken in the San Pedro 
Channel about midway between Long Beach, California, and Catalina Island, in August, 
1916, by Captain W. H. Graves, who operates a small pleasure boat out of Long Beach. 
When interviewed by the writer in September, 1916, Captain Graves stated that 
this bird or one like it had been observed on the last previous voyage—a day or two 
before the capture—and had sailed about over the boat; that, on the day of capture, the 
bird was again “picked up” near where it had been observed before, and was shot as it 
sailed overhead; and that he did not remember ever having seen another in the several 
years he had operated in the channel. 
The bird had already been mounted by G. W. Stowe, a taxidermist of Long Beach, 
who had no further data, and it was later placed on exhibit in a glass case directly in 
front of a south window at the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, by an anonymous 
friend to whom Captain Graves had presented it. Persistent effort to procure the speci- 
men for scientific preservation failed. 
Descriptive notes taken by the writer directly from the specimen in September, 
1916, were substantially as follows. The plumage was mainly white, which predomi- 
nated on the back in the proportion of two or three to one. The occiput was mottled 
with black, which there predominated. A. narrow black band curving up from the gape 
extended through the eye and backward. Black barring extended from the occiput all 
over the back. The scapulars were black with white edges, as were also the coverts ex- 
cept on the shoulder. The primaries were black, with the inner webs of some, at least, 
white edged. The exposed secondaries were white. The rectrices were white with quills 
black, except in the extended shafts—eight or nine inches longer than the others—in 
which the quills were white. The under tail coverts were mottled with black. There 
was a creamy sheen to the uninterrupted white areas, without suggestion of pink. The 
taxidermist had painted the bill an orange red with yellowish tip, the tarsi an olive 
yellow, and the feet blackish, and had used eyes with orange irises. 
The specimen thus apparently is in normal adult plumage, and is quite like a 
large series of the Red-billed Tropic-bird in the California Academy of Sciences collec- 
tion from the Galapagos Islands. A single specimen of the Yellow-billed Tropic-bird in — 
the same collection was also examined.—J. EucrEnE Law, Los Angeles, Cation Febru- 
ary 10, 1919, 
