May, 1919 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 123 
but, as most of the evidence submitted has concerned nesting pairs of birds, it may be 
of interest to record the following winter observations on one species. 
Throughout the greater part of the San Joaquin Valley the California Shrike (Lanius 
ludovicianus gambeli) is a very abundant resident and, because of its habit of perching 
on telephone and telegraph wires while watching for prey, it is a rather conspicuous 
species at all times. Some idea of the abundance of this bird may be obtained from the 
statement that, in driving a distance of fifteen miles along the county roads, or even 
along the state highway, the count usually totaled from twenty to thirty birds. 
Highteen years of observation had convinced me that certain pairs of shrikes 
remained mated through the fall and winter months; but I had never. given the matter 
any serious thought until the appearance of Mr. Willard’s article, which greatly stimu- 
lated my interest. And, as I had occasion all through the last three months of the past 
year to make almost daily trips by automobile between many of the towns in Stanislaus 
and Merced counties, it soon became my regular practice to take a mental census of the 
Shrikes seen along the way. After making the count innumerable times I found that, 
with remarkably little variation, the average was one pair of birds seen for every five 
single individuals noted. In enumerating pairs I counted as such only birds seen perched 
close together or flying in company; the few doubtful cases were down as two single 
birds. To assume that each pair of Shrikes bring to maturity an average of five young 
each season would probably be getting very close to the actual figures. Is it not proba- 
ble, then, that the larger figure in the ratio of five to one represents birds of the year 
which have never been mated, with, possibly, just an occasional adult which, through one 
agency or another, has been deprived of its mate? 
The observations as outlined above have firmly convinced me that, once mated, 
the California Shrike spends the remainder of its life in company with the individual of 
its choice.—Joun G. TYLER, Turlock, California, February 5, 1919. 
Another California Record of the Bendire Thrasher.—On May 7, 1916, I collected 
an adult male of the Bendire Thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei) near Victorville, Mohave 
_ Desert, California. The bird is now no. 1366, collection W. M. P. To quote Mr. Swarth: 
“The Bendire Thrasher is a most extraordinary take. From the date it would seem 
likely that it was a breeding bird, and it would be of great interest if you could actually 
find a nest of this species out there. As far as I can see, this specimen is precisely like 
others from Tucson, Arizona.” I will say further that I have made many excursions to 
this locality, but after most careful search I have failed to discover any thrasher nesting 
there except the Leconte, and this species only rather locally —WricuTt M. PIERCE, Clare- 
mont, California, February 8, 1919. 
Gray Gyrfalcon Taken in Oregon.—On November 17, 1916, while shooting ducks 
over a small seepage pond on the Hermiston, Oregon, irrigation project, Albert Humph- 
rey of Pendleton, Oregon, shot a large hawk as it swooped down over the water to snatch 
up a dead Mallard that had just been shot. Knowing my interest in birds, Humphrey 
brought the bird to Pendleton; but as I was out of town at the time a friend skinned and 
salted the specimen for me. It proved to be a Gray Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus rustico- 
lus). Some time later I made it up as a study skin. So far as I can learn this is the 
first record of the occurrence of the species in Oregon.—STANLEY G. JEWETT, Pendleton, 
Oregon, February 11, 1919. 
Random Notes.—In January, 1919, Mr. Sefton brought me two females of Mergus 
serrator. I mounted one and made the other into a skin. On skinning the first one I 
could detect no “fishy” odor, so I sliced off the breast meat and had it cooked. It proved 
so savory that we cooked the other. They were equal in flavor to the average duck. 
The stomachs contained a mass of what appeared to be shredded grass. 
The big flood of January, 1916, covered most of the salt marshes near San Diego 
and drowned most of the Little Black Rails (Creciscus coturniculus). I have not been 
able to find one since the flood. 
January 30, 1919, a Marbled Godwit was brought to me for the Museum collection. 
On skinning it I found it was lame, with one hip considerably atrophied, so it may have 
been unable to go on further south. 
