184 
General Notes. 
[July 
Occurrence of a third Massachusetts specimen of the Lab- 
rador Gyrfalcon (^Falco gyrfalco obsoletus'). — A Gyrfalcon which I 
refer to variety obsoletus has just come into my possession through the 
kind offices of Mr. Charles I. Goodale, the well-known Boston taxider- 
mist. It was shot in Stowe, Mass., in 1881, and mounted by S. Jillson of 
Hudson. It is a male in a plumage agreeing closely with that described 
by Mr. Ridgway* as the fully adult condition of the male of obsoletus. 
This specimen appears to be only the third which is known to have 
occurred in Massachusetts. — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 
Instance of Semidomestication of California Quail. — While 
visiting the Tule River Agency in Tulare County, California, the agent, 
Mr. C. G. Belknap, learning of my interest in birds, related to me the 
history of a brood of California Quail ( Lopkortyx calif ornica') , which 
inhabited the near vicinity of the agency buildings. Besides being inter- 
esting, the facts narrated appear to me to contain a suggestion that may 
prove of value to all who are concerned in the domestication of Quail or 
other game birds. Briefly told the story is as follows. 
One of the agent’s hens, whose propensity for sitting had been repeat- 
edly checked with a stern hand, suddenly disappeared. After a consider- 
able interval the enterprising madam returned leading in her train — not a 
brood of chickens but a bevy of downy Quail, consisting of no fewer than 
fifteen chicks ! 
It is not difficult to surmise how she obtained possession of her trea- 
sures. The California Quail is extremely abundant in this locality, and 
while wandering about under the pangs of disappointed hopes the forlorn 
flowl doubtless alighted on a Quail’s nest, ensconced in some secluded 
and inviting nook, with the owners absent. The temptation proved too 
strong to be resisted. Returning home the mother Quail, backed by her 
liege lord, doubtless made a stout fight for her own, but found herself 
utterly unable to cope with her formidable rival and drive her from her 
newly acquired posse&sory rights ; no doubt Lopkortyx soon gave up the 
unequal contest and retired to provide for a new brood in pastures new. 
Very likely the misguided fowl supplemented the domestic treasures 
acquired in this original manner with an egg or two or her own, laid by 
the side of the stolen property as a sort of concession to outraged mater- 
nal instincts. These were forsaken, of course, on the appearance of her 
adopted nestlings. 
Curiously enough the instincts of the wild birds, though but callow, 
proved stronger than the inherited tendencies of the domestic fowl, and 
as the brood increased in size and strength their foster-mother grew more 
and more wild. When the wings of the fledgelings became strong enough 
to bear them and they were flushed from the ground, the hen made frantic 
efforts to follow them on the wing. Evidently she became not a little 
unbalanced under the strain of caring for her strangely acting progeny. 
Up to the time the nestlings were fairly able to shift for themselves the 
* This Bulletin, Vol. V, pp. 92-95. 
