Jan., 1916 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
35 
White-winged Scoter in Klamath County, Oregon. — On November 11, 1915, a duck 
hunter who had been hunting down the river below town brought in a White-winged 
Scoter ( Oidemia deglandi) which I skinned and saved. I doubt very much if this bird 
has ever been recorded from this locality before. My brother claims to have killed one 
several years ago while hunting ducks down the river. These are the only ones I have 
ever heard of being taken in this locality. — Harry Telford, Klamath Falls, Oregon. 
Marbled Godwit in Colorado. — There are not many definite records of Limosa fedoa 
in Colorado. A specimen in the State University Museum, taken northeast of Boulder 
by James Cowie, September 18, 1915, adds this species to the Boulder County list. — 
Junius Henderson, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. 
The Pigeon Guillemot Nesting in San Francisco. — Having read with interest Mr. 
Joseph Mailliard’s record of the Scaup Duck breeding within the confines of San Fran- 
cisco (Condor, vol. xvii, p. 235) and which, by the way, I should like to confirm, having 
observed, in early July of 1913, a female Aythya affinis, with three young, swimming 
about Stowe Lake, the following may also he worthy of note. 
During the summer of 1911, my attention was called by a friend, to a species of 
“duck” nesting in an inaccessible cleft on the high, rocky bluffs that border the ocean 
at the entrance to the Golden Gate. Investigation disclosed the fact that a pair of 
Pigeon Guillemots ( Cepphus columha), had tenanted the cavity, and were, at that date, 
the first of July, busily engaged in carrying food to their young. 
About June 1 of the following year, 1912, Mr. H. W. Carriger and the writer, having 
noted several birds in the vicinity, proceeded with aid of a rope to examine the nesting 
locality of the previous year. The cranny, a very deep and well adapted site, proved, 
however, to be unoccupied. 
Some five days later, on June 5, the writer returned alone, and in climbing around 
a precipitous promontory, flushed a Guillemot from a cave near the water’s edge. The 
nest contained a set of two eggs, almost fresh, which are now in my collection. Further 
search disclosed the occupancy of another hole above an unscalable ledge, and still 
another pair apparently breeding on a small detached island, the last, however, being 
unestablished. 
Since then, close watch has been kept, but for some reason, probably the disturbing 
of their secluded homes and the collecting of two specimens, the birds have entirely 
absented themselves from this locality, and during the past three years, have never 
again been seen. — George W. Schussler, San Francisco, California. 
The Coloration of Eggs. — Several inquiries have appeared lately in the various 
ornithological journals as to the time and manner in which the pigments are deposited 
upon the egg-shell. What is perhaps the most thorough treatise upon this subject will 
be found in Chapter xii of “A History of Birds”, by W. P. Pycraft. The text is much too 
long to he quoted here in its entirety, but perhaps the following extract may be of value 
to those who have not access to the above-named volume. Mr. Pycraft says: 
“We may assume that . . . this pigment is deposited by the walls of the oviduct, 
and it would seem that in many cases this deposition takes place in two different re- 
gions of the duct, first on the formation of the earlier layers of the shell, where little 
more than a slight staining is effected, and later when the shell is nearly complete; in 
most cases there is no coloration until the egg has passed some way down the oviduct. 
It would then appear that the ground colour is first deposited, and after this the pecu- 
liar markings of the particular egg. When these are formed while the egg is at rest a 
sharply defined spot is the result; but it commonly happens that the deposit of pigment 
takes place while the egg is in motion, smears and blotches being the result; and it 
would further appear that the egg in its passage rotates, inasmuch as these streaks and 
lines show a decided spiral arrangement. These various evidences of the process of 
coloration can be well seen in eggs of many birds of prey, as well as those of . . . the 
Guillemots, for example.” — D. I. Shepardson, Los Angeles, California. 
A Record of the Forbush Sparrow in the State of Washington. — So far as I have 
been able to ascertain there is no definite record of this form ( Melospiza lincolni striata) 
as occurring in Washington. It is of interest, therefore, to state that I had the good 
fortune to collect a typical female of this subspecies near Tacoma on November 11, 
1915. The bird was identified for me through the kindness of Mr. Joseph Grinnell. I 
feel positive that there was at least one other in the same locality, a large field grown 
over with thistles and other weeds, but they were so shy that it was only by a lucky 
chance that I secured the one here recorded.— J. Hooper Bowles, Tacoma, Washington. 
