78 
THE CONDOR 
VoL. \T 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Wilson Snipe, Gallinago delicata (Ord.)) in the Hawaiian Islands. — A specimen of 
tliis well known game bird was brought to me at the Museum for examination and identification 
by IMr. I. Spalding of Honolulu, who secured it on March Stli 1903, while enjoying a day’s 
gunning on the windward side of the island of Oahu in the vicinity of Kailua. It was a female 
bird in splendid condition and plumage. Until the present record the status of the species in 
the Hawaiian Islands was based on the single individual recorded by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, of 
Hilo, as being secured on the Island of Hawaii, (.\uk, XVH, 1900, p. 204). Mr. Spalding assures 
me that on a previous occasion while shooting, he put up this same species but was not so fortu- 
nate as to secure it. — Wii.i.iam Alanson Bryan, Curator of 0 i tiithology, Bishop Museutn, Hon- 
olulu, //. 71 
The Albatross Dance at Sea. — About the last of March (1904), while cruising a hundred 
miles off San Diego, California, on the steamer “Albatross,” Ur. Charles H. Gilbert of Stanford 
University observed a group of about six brown gonys {Dioniedea uigripes) pair off and engage 
in their peculiar dance. The birds, of course, were resting on the surface of the water, which was 
rather rough. The writer has described this dance elsewhere (U. S. Fish Comm. Bull. 1903, p. 22; 
Auk, XXI, Jan. 1904, pp. 11-14J as it was observed at their breeding ground on the island of Lay- 
san, Hawaiian Group. At this locality Dr. Gilbert also became perfectly familiar with the per- 
formance, and at once recognized the familiar bowing and pointing of beaks in air. The second 
step, that of placing the bill under the wing, was also given. The distance was too great to de- 
tect the ridiculous groan which the birds utter at the end of each dance. 
At that date the brown gony should have been feeding young on its breeding grounds — the 
scattered islets to the westward of the main Hawaiian Group. Dr. Gilbert states that he observed 
no individuals with the white tail coverts which are characteristic of the fully adult bird. Pos- 
sibh- these birds, which linger off our coast during the breeding season, are all young. The 
writer shot several in March 1902, about five hundred miles west of San Diego, and all of these 
were immature. — Wai.TKR K. Fi.siiicr. 
Icterus bullocki as a Honey-eater. — While jweparing some skins of the Bullock oriole 
last spring (1903) I noticed that the neck feathers of several were considerably soiled by honev 
that oozed out of the bill and a shot hole in the crop. I remember that this particular male was 
running honey from its mouth when I picked it up. I had shot it to see why it was feeding so 
earnestlv from the heart of certain blossoms, as I had’ often observed them to do before, on their 
first arrival in the spring. Numerous insects are attracted b}' the sweets of the eucalyptus flow- 
ers, which afford man}- of our small birds — such as Dendroica auduboni, D. coronata, Calypte 
anna, Begulus calendula, Carpodacits ))i. frontalis, and various juncos — food throughout the 
winter. The orioles delighted in sipping blue gum honey in preference to hunting insects 
through the orchard or creek trees. During the past winter large numbers of Audubon warblers 
were continually fluttering over the eucalyptus blossoms, picking insects or drinking honey. 
IMany warblers were noted as having a black sticky substance adhering to the feathers about the 
bill. This is derived from the pollen and honey of eucalyptus flowers, combined with dirt from 
the groi^nd, where the birds feed on cold mornings, when there is no insect food moving at 
large. On several occasions Scolecophagtis cyanocephalus were seen feeding from the blue gum 
blossoms. — W. Otto Eme;r.son, Haywards, Cal. 
The Western Evening: Grosbeaks at Pescadero, San Mateo Co., Cal. — On January 
10, 1904, a flock of about forty Coccothraustcs v. inontaniis lit in a large eucalyptus tree which stands 
a few feet from the house. This is the first time I have seen these grosbeaks since April 17, 1902 
when I observed a flock of eleven. I first noted the evening grosbeak about January i , 1899, 
when I found a flock feeding upon dry maple seeds which cover the trees. I shot one bird 
which was identified In' Mr. Littlejohn of Redwood Cit}'. They W'ere rather numerous until 
the middle of April. During the winter of 1899-1900, and the following winter grosbeaks were 
very numerous, arriving in October and departing in March or April. But the next winter. 
1901-1902, they came in limited numbers, while in the succeeding winter they did not come at 
all. The grosbeaks were alwa3’s seen in flocks ranging in number from six to fifty and were 
general!}' found in the maple groves along creeks where they fed on the dry seed. — \Vii,r.i.s H. 
Jack.son, Pescadero, Cal. 
A Labor Saving- Egg Blo-wer. — For the past year or two I have used the device described 
below for blowing eggs, and w'hile not practicable for very small eggs, it can be used with care 
for any that are over an inch in length. F'or large sets of large eggs it is simply invaluable as its 
