Mar., 1910 
A GLIMPSE OF BIRD LIFE ON THE WEST COAST OF MEXICO 
79. 
also helps to make things unpleasant, but all these things can be endured when one 
has the opportunity to meet so many birds so rare or unknown to us in California. 
These observations cover three weeks at Las Penas, three weeks at San Bias 
and five days on the Las Marietas Islands. On account of missing steamer con- 
nections at San Bias we were compelled to wait there three weeks; and as we did 
not figure on this extra time our ammunition gave out, so little or no collecting 
was done. We left Mexico just before the rainy season started, May 26. The 
natives and what few Americans we interviewed assured us that the birds were 
much more numerous in the rainy season. Specimens were taken of all birds 
mentioned in this sketch, with the exception of the following, the greater number 
by Mr. Osburn. 
Species seen, of which no specimens were secured: Cassin Auklet, Xantus 
Murrelet, Western Gull, Black-footed Albatross, Sooty Shearwater, Black-vented 
Shearwater, Least Petrel, Black Petrel, Farallone Cormorant, Brandt Cormorant, 
Blue-winged Teal, White-faced Glossy Ibis, Purple Gallinule, Long-billed Curlew, 
Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Duck Hawk, Desert Sparrow 
Hawk, Pigmy owl, Coppery-tailed Trogon, Texas Nighthawk, Brewer Blackbird, 
Cuernavaca House Finch, Painted Redstart, Western Gnatcatcher. 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
A ..Pink -Legged Tern. — On December 6, while walking along the beach, near Santa . Bar- 
bara, California, with Mr. Bradford Torrey, he called my attention to a peculiar looking tern 
just ahead of us. It was standing on the sand in company with several Royal Terns [Sterna 
maxima ), but was at once distinguishable from them by its intensely pink legs, in markt con- 
trast with the black legs of the Royal. A long examination at close range with our binocu- 
lars seemed also to show that it was a trifle smaller than the others, with if anything a rather 
more pronounced crest. 
Our inference pointed to its identification as the Elegant Tern ( Sterna elegans ), but none of 
our books offered any clew as to the pink legs.- Any information will be most sin- 
cerely appreciated. — J. II. Bowles. 
The Western Winter Wren (N annus hiemalis pacificus) in the Yosemite. — On the 18th 
of May, 1909, while in the footpath below Vernal Falls, I caught the sound of a Winter Wren’s 
voice. The bird sang for some minutes (“full of music” my pencilled note says), but the place 
was difficult, and an attempt to see him was unsuccessful. However, a sight of the bird could 
have added nothing to my assurance of his identity. 
On the 14th of June in the same place, I heard the song again, tho this time the bird 
seemed to be farther away, while the river was fuller and noisier, so that the notes came to my 
ear rather faintly, and if this had been my only hearing of them I should hardly feel justified in 
recording the bird's presence. But thirteen days later (June 27) I was again there, and after 
long silence the bird struck into song. Now he was close at hand, and presently I discovered 
him on one of the lower branches of a small maple where he sang repeatedly with my glass 
focussed upon him. I am told that there is no previous Yosemite record for this species. 
I have had an accpiaintance of many years with the New England bird, but I had met with 
the western form only once before this, — under the big redwoods at Santa Cruz. It may have 
been the effect of prejudice, but in both places I seemed to perceive that the westerner's song 
was a shade less beautiful than the easterner’s, tho the difference between the two, if there really 
is any, is certainly very slight. — Bradford Torrey. 
The Ring-neckt Duck (Manila collaris) in Colorado: A Correction. — In a paper on the 
birds of southwestern Montrose County, Colorado (Condor, XI, Jan. 1909, p. 1.1), I recorded a 
specimen of the Ring-neckt Duck as taken at Coventry, April, 1906. This bird was a female and 
turns out to be a female of the Lesser Scaup ( Manila affinis.) While the original identification 
of the specimen as a Ring-neck was made by one in whose knowledge I had confidence, yet I am my- 
self much to blame for not checking it up by reference to descriptions; and of course now regret very 
