56 
Editorial. 
" but rapidly increased its lead over its small nest mate. At every visit of 
" the jtai'ent bird with food, its capacious gullet could be seen violently 
" waving aloft and almost completely hiding the feeble little mouth of the 
" Warbler, whose owner was doing its best in a dumb appeal for food 
" However, the young Warbler did manage to get an occasional portion, 
"and I had .strong hojjcs that it might reach inatin'ity I photogi-aphed 
" the birds on July IHth, at ;5-8() p.m., that was the last I saw of the poor 
" little Warbler at 5 ji.m. the Cowbird was in sole and triumj)hant 
" possession of the nest." 
The writer could not trace what had become of the 
Warbler, but draws the conclusion, that it became more feeble and 
Wcis crushed to death l)y the Cowljird's K'ross boily, and that the 
parents carried the corpse some distance — a most careful search 
over a large area beneath the nest failed to reveal any sign of the 
missinfj; bird. It would thus appear that it had neither fallen from 
the nest nor been ejected i)y the Cowl)ird. 
"The Cowbird now had things all his own way, and there being no 
"one to dispute his right to all the food, he grew with amazing rapidity. 
" The dainty little cup of a nest, nevei' built to accommodate such a mon- 
" ster, was soon completely forced out of shape. His body then protruded 
" beyond the lower rim of the nest and the ground underneath became 
" littered with dropy>ings, quite baffling the cleanly, sanitary instincts of 
" the Warblers." 
The above interesting notes supply much food for thought 
and should prove of much assistance to some of our members, 
more than one of whom, are going to make the attempt to breed 
some species of Cowbird during the coming season It would 
appear that in a state of nature, a species smaller than itself is 
usually chosen as a foster parent for its young ; this appears to be 
the case with many parasitical sjiecies. 
The Californian Woodpecker: From a piece of stray 
paper, from what periodical or date I do not know, the following 
extract will doubtless interest many : — 
" While mining in the Sierra range of California, a correspondent 
" had a favourable op))ortunity to observe the peculiar habits of the Cali- 
" fornian Woodpecker with regard to storing his future supply of food 
"where it will be s;ife against the destructive effects of the elements and 
" the depredations of other animals. Early in the Autunni of 1850 he 
" noticed a Red-headed Woodpecker busy from daylight to dark digging 
" holes in the bark of a pine-tree near his cabin. At his first leisure he 
" visited the tree, expecting to find the bark infested with worms ; to his 
" surprise however, he found it studded with acorns, but they were not 
" p 'otruding from the holes. The holes ran in regular lines round the 
■' tree, beginning about four feet above the roots and extending to the 
