Mar., 1920 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 73 
about Taku Inlet, southeastern Alaska, and in particular over the sand flats between salt 
water and the “dead” glacier (Norris Glacier) a couple of miles back. They were obvi- 
ously breeding although one hasty search failed to locate either nests or young. The 
following year on May 29, 1916, on the summit of a small rock islet in a shallow glacial 
lake in front of Twin Glaciers, tributary to the lower Taku River, I found my first nest 
of the Arctic Tern, containing three eggs. The nest was in a protected place between 
small boulders and was made wholly of the lichens that are so common on the rocks and 
flats near the glaciers. On this same islet which is not more than eighty feet long and 
forty wide, were two nests of Short-billed Gull (Larus brachyrhynchus) and one of Glau- 
cous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens), and the remnants of a Scoter nest. 
Later in the day a friend and myself in a couple hours search of the bare sand 
flats in front of Norris Glacier counted over fifty nests of the Arctic Tern, almost all of 
which contained two eggs although there were three nests of three and a few incomplete 
sets of one. No incubated sets were found. None of the sets were in any especially pre- 
pared nest other than a mere depression in the sand. A few were close between rocks of 
a foot or two in diameter but the majority were not closer than a rod or more to any 
rock larger than one’s fist, or to any other landmark. 
In July, 1916, at the Situk River, near Yakutat, and in 1917 again at the Situk and 
at the Alsek River, flowing into Dry Bay, Arctic Terns were common and obviously breed- 
ing although no nests or young birds were found in the very brief time available for 
search. The fishermen on the Situk stated that the Terns were nesting on the sparsely 
covered grass flats. On the Alsek they were undoubtedly nesting on the low flats, 
scarcely more than bars, where the gulls were nesting so abundantly. 
On various occasions when about the Stikine River flats and in LeConte Bay, both 
near Wrangell, Arctic Terns have been seen and careful search will undoubtedly find 
them breeding in the vicinity. Apparently the most likely places for them in that local- 
- ity are on the small unnamed island, locally called Cony Island, on the north side of the 
Stikine Dry Pass, near the entrance to LeConte Bay, and on the low shore at the right 
hand entrance to the Bay. It is also possible that they might be nesting on the nearly 
bare rocks some distance above salt water on the left hand shore near the LeConte Gla- 
cier. The finding of Arctic Terns nesting in this vicinity would be a record about one 
hundred and fifty miles farther south than my southerly record in the Taku Inlet. 
Since preparing the above Mr. E. W. Nelson has called to my attention the article 
by Mr. Willett (Conpor, xvi, 1914, page 75) of the supposed nesting of the Arctic Tern in 
the Taku Inlet—ErRNrEstT P. WALKER, Phoenix, Arizona, January 2, 1920. 
Two Birds New to the Lower Colorado River Region.—While collecting in the 
Yuma valley on the California side of the Colorado River, during November and Decem- 
ber, 1916, I collected the two following birds, which are worthy of record: 
Lophodytes cucullatus. When crossing over a small bridge that spanned an irri- 
gation canal about three miles north of Bard, Imperial County, California, on November 
26, 1916, I flushed a duck that had been feeding in the partially drained canal. On 
shooting the bird it proved to be a Hooded Merganser. It is an adult female and is now 
number 820 of my collection. 
Toxostoma curvirostre palmeri. On December 31, when starting out in the late 
afternoon to set my line oi mouse traps, I noticed a Thrasher scratching om the shady 
side of a neighbor’s wood pile. On collecting the bird I was surprised to find it to be a 
Palmer Thrasher. This is the first occurrence of the species in California. It is an adult 
female, taken three miles north of Bard, Imperial County, California, and is number 
1020 of my collection—LavrEeNcre M. Hury, San Diego, California, January 7, 1920. 
Red Crossbills at Berkeley, California—On January 15, after several unsucccessful 
attempts to get a close view of the Crossbills which had been present in considerable 
numbers for a week, I happened upon a flock of eight or ten in an old almond orchard 
hear my house. The trees were absolutely bare, but evidently some of the nuts had fallen 
to the ground and had escaped the small boys and the Bluejays. The Crossbills picked 
the almonds from the ground, flew up into the trees and noisily pried open the shells 
with their bills. After eating the kernels they dropped to the ground again to search for 
more.—AMELIA S. ALLEN, Berkeley, California, February 6, 1920. 
