46 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. IV 
the stream in the pines where I first foun l them, and in the sage in one portion of the valley, 
but I failed to find them anywhere else. Of forty specimens of Acanthis linaria taken between 
November 30 and December 23, only seven were adult males in rosy plumage. J. M. Wii.- 
i..\RD, Oakland, Cal. 
Clang-ula hiemalis in Marin County, Cal. I wish to record a specimen of the old- 
squaw hiemalis,) male hornot-shot in this county on Dec. 17, 1901 and sent to me for our 
collection. It is not an important record but these binLs are not often taken in this locality. 
Joseph Maileiard, San Ceronitno, Cal. 
An Extension of the Southern Range of Perisoreus obscurus.— While collecting near 
Mendocino last summer I met a trapper who described to me this species and stated that it was 
not rare in the forests covering the more mountainous portions of the immediate country. The 
substance of his description was to the effect that the bird was a jay without a crest, grayish in 
coloration and with a white stripe through the eye. He had observed the species iu the fall at- 
tacking venison which had been hung up in the forest. The carnivorous habits of the genus are 
characteristic and this statement greatly strengthens the identification. The species is evidently 
resident iri southern Mendocino County. We have magnanimously left it to future exploration 
to make this record more authentic. Kdmund Heeler, Riverside, Cal. 
Early Nesting of the Western Redtail. — On Feb. 14, 1902 I collecteda set of two eggs of 
the western redtail {Buleo borealis calurus.) These were taken from a medium-sized nest fifty- 
one feet uj) in a sycamore, and were normal in size and markings. The hawks had secured a 
large piece of barley sack and with this made a lining for the nest, the eggs being covered by 
it. This is an early date for this locality and the eggs were fresh. Pacific horned owls are about 
as usual, sets of two being taken on Feb. 2 and 8. J. B. Dixon, Escondido, Cal. 
A Partial Albino. — t)n Feb. 19, 1902, I shot an odd female partial albino California bi- 
colored blackbird in the willows bordering the salt marshes 
below Haywards, Cal. The tail has four white feathers, two on each side, while the right wing 
has two of the primaries white and the left wing one. Otherwise the plumage is normal. The 
right foot has but two toes, the middle one being gone. A few years ago an adult male redwing 
with its entire tail white was noted flying about the newly-sown grainfields near town. .W. Otto 
F,merson, Haywards, Cal. 
Notes Erom About San Francisco. — On Dec. 28, 1901 while collecting near San Bruno I 
came across a flock of twenty-five Kegulns satrapa ohvaceus. They were together in a large oak 
and were very tame, one male and two females being secured. 
While skinning an immature Lams Philadelphia I found a tapeworm about six inches long 
in the intestines. I also found one in a male Passerella i. unalaschcensis', both taken Dec. 26, 1901. 
On P'eb. 2 and 15 I saw two Siita canade/isis in some fir trees in Golden Gate Park about one- 
half mile from the ocean, and on Dec, 27 a single specimen, all being very tame. J. R. Pem- 
berton, SaJi Francisco. 
Additions to the Eist of Paicines Birds. — Since our list was published in The Condor 
(III, No. 5) my brother and I have noted the following in that locality: gadwall {Anas strepera), 
two immature males captured; hooded merganser [Lophodytes cucuUatiis), a pair shot but not re- 
covered: rusty song sparrow {Melospiza m. guttata), one specimen taken Dec. 8. Besides these a 
female hybrid was taken which seems to be a cross between a mallard and a cinnamon teal. 
This specimen’s markings, color of bill and feet correspond very closely with those of the female 
mallard, while its size approaches that of the cinnamon teal. Hybrids are often found and are 
most probably the offspring of birds that have been crippled the year before, but seldom are they 
of such violent crosses. Joseph Maieeard, San Gcronimo, Cal. 
Birds Destroyed by Pools of Petroleum Along Railroads. The oil burning locomo- 
tive is now a factor in bird destruction. A helper engine having run short of water and not 2 
ing enough to take her to the next tank, “headed in” on the house track where her engineer 
“killed" her to await being towed to a tank and while lying there she dropped a ([uantit}- of fuel 
oil on the track below. This amounted to probably eight or ten gallons which, after cooling off 
became very thick or about the consistency of black molasses. Into this native sparrows flew 
(probably mistaking it for water) and were killed in e.xactly the same wa}^ as a fly is killed on 
fly-paper. Since then I have noticed all along the right-of-way numbers of sparrows, desert (?) 
horned larks, kangaroo rats and other small birds and animals dead in the oil. Nearly all the 
engines drop oil along the track in different quantities, and I have seen four and five sparrows in 
a puddle the size of a cheese box. In a large puddle (the one referred to above) I counted fifteen 
dead in one day and each succeeding day added new victims. The birds would fly into the oil 
as they do in water for a bath and first their feet, next their wings and then their heads would 
sink into it and they woidd finally become entirely covered. Otto Hol.sTEIN, Blake, Cal. 
