46 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XII 
Last March, the 28th, a friend brought me a live Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) . 
He had caught it out on the desert about eight miles west of Sacaton and several miles 
from water. As 1 was flat on my back suffering with erysipelas I was unable to do anything with 
the bird, and the man releast it on the bank of a small stream. 
October 29 I heard a new bird note in some cottonwoods along an irrigating ditch, and at 
once thought Chickadee! But the note was not the same and had a suggestion of Pipit about it. I 
heard it several days before the bird was seen, a short sight of him one day being sufficient to 
call him Bridled Titmouse (Baelophus wollweberi) . For two weeks I heard the notes nearly every 
day but only twice was the bird seen. November 10, the song was heard in some Baccliaris 
along a small stream and two of the birds seen. My gun was along that day and the two birds 
were secured and identification made sure. In a residence here of more than two years this is 
the first time this bird has been seen or heard, so it is not of common occurrence. 
The Red-eyed Cowbird which I recorded in The Condor for September, 1909, as Tangavius 
aeneus involucratus has been submitted to Mr. Wells W. Cooke, of the Biological Survey, who 
pronounces it Tangavius aeneus aeneus , similar to the form from Western Mexico, and an 
addition to the A. O. U. Check-List. These birds remained around Sacaton up to the middle of 
August when I left for California. On my return, September 21, 1 lookt for them, but without 
success. — M. French Oilman. 
Mortality Among Young Hummingbirds. — During the time that I was able to devote to 
field work in the spring of 1908, 1 found fourteen Hummingbirds' nests that I was able to keep 
track of. Almost all of these were near Santa Barbara, and were chiefly of the Black-chinned 
( Archilochus ale.vandri), with a few Allen (Se/asphorus alleni). Of these, five either were 
destroyed by some unknown cause, or, as in the case of two of them, the eggs were deserted. Of 
the remaining nine nests, only one brood was successfully reared. In every other case did 1 
discover the young hummers dead at an average age of four or five days. Seven of these nests 
were placed over the dry bed of a certain stream near Santa Barbara, so I am unable to judge 
whether their deaths were due only to some local cause or otherwise. The weather was good 
during this time, so the only solution that 1 can see to the problem, is that the young birds may 
have been fed on the dead insects gotten by their parents from flowers that had been sprayed 
with poison. This is only a guess of course. Has any one else discovered a large mortality 
among young hummers in the State during the past year or two ? — A. B. Howell. 
The True Home of the Spectacled Eider. — Arctonetta fischeri (Brandt' is conimonly 
treated as a "rare American bird”. Indeed the bird is rare in America, as northwestern Alaska 
just touches the outskirts of the true breeding range of this handsome bird. 
In 1905 I spent a year in northeastern Siberia, and satisfied myself that between the mouths 
of Indigirka (about 148° E. of Greenw.) and Chauna bays (about 172° E. ) Arctonetta fischeri is 
actually the commonest of all the Eiders (tho Somateria spectabilis is also numerous, and 
Heniconetta stelleri not rare). Farther east and west it becomes scarce, tho it attains to the 
mouth of the Jana, and the New Siberian Archipelago, and northwestern Alaska. — S. A. Buturlin. 
Rodgers Fulmar in Southern California. — I have two specimens of Cuhnarus rodgersi 
which 1 foil.; i dead on the sand near Sunset Beach, Orange County, March 1, 1908. Several 
others were seen at the same time in different stages of decomposition. This species is probably 
a regular migrant along our coast, well out at sea. — G. Willett. 
The Scott Oriole in Los Angeles County. — This large oriole (Icterus parisorum) 
occurs as a fairly common summer visitant to the desert on the northeast side of the San Gabriel 
mountains. June 20 to 23, 1904, I found it common in the tree-yucca belt near Fairmont, in 
Antelope Valley. The orioles were then in full song and were doubtless nesting in the imme- 
diate vicinity. The song was loud and full, better than that of the Bullock Oriole. It re- 
minded me of the best efforts of the latter bird, and yet bore a strong resemblance in its cpiality 
to the song of the Western Meadowlark. An apricot orchard near Fairmont was freely patron- 
ized by the Scott Orioles from the neighboring yuccas. Two shot there had their gullets dis- 
tended and faces smeared with apricot pulp. 
The Scott Oriole seems to occur only as a straggler on the Pacific slope of the County. We 
have so far but three records, two of occurrences in spring and one in late fall, all of male birds. 
Mr. H. S. Swartli saw one near Los Angeles on April 19, 1895. Mrs. Hilda WoodGrinnell pro- 
cured one, original number 54, now in the Grinnell collection, shot by her brother from an olive 
tree at Glendora, May 6, 1904. Mr. W. B. Judson secured a specimen on November 2, 1903, near 
the sign-board station of Garnsey iu the southern part of the San Fernando Valley. This 
specimen is now no. 4191 of the Swarth collection. 
In view of the above instances it would not be surprizing if the Scott Oriole should be found 
to occasionally remain all summer in some of the hot, Lower Sonoran washes along the southern 
base of the mountains. — J. Grinnell. 
