May, 1919 | PA 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Nesting of the Wilson Snipe in California.—According to Grinnell, Bryant and 
Storer (Game Birds of California, p. 355), there is only one published record of the taking 
of the eggs of the Wilson or Jack Snipe (Gallinago delicata) in California. That record 
is of a set taken by A. Van Rossem for J. Mailliard near Tejon Pass, in the extreme 
northern part of Los Angeles County (J. Mailliard, CoNnpor, xvi, 1914, p. 261). These 
authors say, however, that Belding (MS) states that the species breeds at Webber Lake, 
that Cooper was informed that it bred at Lake Tahoe, that George Neale reports two 
small young as found at Lake Tahoe early in August, 1912, also that three young were 
found in Sierra Valley, Plumas County, September 1, 1899, and that Bryant in the first 
week in June, 1914, saw Snipe in nuptial flight at Lower Klamath Lake. The Mailliard 
record is, therefore, the only one of eggs actually taken or even seen in California. In 
view of these facts it seems worth while to put on record my recent experience with this 
bird. 
During June and July of 1918, I accompanied Dr. John Van Denburgh and Mr. 
Joseph R. Slevin on a collecting trip through northern California and southern Oregon. 
We traveled by automobile and were equipped for camping. Our collecting activities 
were confined primarily to reptiles, amphibians, and birds’ nests and eggs. 
On the night of June 1, we camped at the edge of Grasshopper Meadow which is in 
Lassen County, California. Dr. Van Denburgh has told (Conpor, xx1, 1919, p. 39) of our 
finding the Western Willet nesting in this meadow. Soon after making camp, our atten- 
tion was attracted by the noise made by a number of Jack Snipe in their nuptial flight. 
Although it was too dark to see the birds, the noise was characteristic and not to be 
mistaken. We had spread our blankets in the lee of a haystack in the edge of the marsh 
and the peculiar booming noise made by the Snipe could be heard very late in the night; 
indeed, I think I heard it throughout the night whenever I was awake. The next day 
while searching through the meadow, about twenty Jack Snipe were seen and heard 
flying about in broad circles high in air, as vividly described by Grinnell (Game Birds, 
p. 356). No nests, however, were found. 
A few days later (June 7), we camped again at this meadow, where we again saw 
several Jack Snipe performing their interesting flight, as before. This time I was more 
successful and succeeded in finding two nests. The first contained one egg, the other 
three. I took the set of three, but left the one until the next day, hoping ancther might 
be laid before we left that camp. The next morning about eight o’clock the nest was 
visited again but it still contained only one egg, which I took, as we were leaving the 
locality that morning. This nest was found by flushing the bird when only a few feet 
distant. The bird circled about a few moments, then alighted on the top of a hay-press 
derrick near by, which was at least thirty feet high. Each of these nests was in a small 
clump of fine Carex growing in water perhaps six inches deep. The nests were simple 
structures composed of short pieces of Carex, some still greenish or not altogether dead. 
The nest material, although scanty, was sufficient to support the eggs above the water. 
Two days later (June 9), while working a small wet meadow about three miles 
west of Alturas I found my third nest of the Jack Snipe. This nest contained three eggs 
and was in construction essentially like the other two, but it was in short grass on dry 
ground at the edge of a marsh. | 
All the eggs in these three sets were fresh. The single egg (measuring 1.48x1.14 
inches), and the first set of three (1.44x1.12, 1.42x1.16, and 1.37x1.13 inches) are in the 
Museum of the California Academy of Sciences; the set taken near Alturas is in the collec- 
tion of Dr. Van Denburgh.—BarToN WARREN EVERMANN, Museum, California Academy of 
Sciences, San Francisco, California, February 5, 1919. 
~ 
Records of Larus heermanni with White Primary Coverts.—Mr. George Willett 
(Condor, xx, 1918, p. 127, fig. 21) has recently described and figured aberrant specimens 
of Larus heermanni having the primary coverts of each wing white. Mr. P. A. Taverner 
(Connor, xx, 1918, p. 187) has recorded like specimens from Alert Bay, British Columbia. 
The writer observed several such birds at Redondo, California, in 1911, and one at Pa- 
