80 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XII 
much that I did not do so, for an error of this sort is very annoying in the case of a bird which is as 
rare as is the Ring-neckt Duck in Colorado, while the bird which it turned out to be is common. 
This, however, makes a publisht record for the Lesser Scaup in that portion of Colorado. As a 
slight excuse for my error I would say that my personal experience with the various ducks is 
very limited. — E. R. Warren. 
The Little Brown Crane in California. — In the August number of The Condor (XI, 1909, 
p. 129), Mr. J. Grinnell records a specimen of the Little brown Crane (Gr/is canadensis ) killed 
some ten or twelve years ago near Santa Ana, and adds, that “the present seems to be W\e. first 
definite record of the species for the State” (italics are mine). 
In fact it is not , as the late Mr. Vosnessensky procured several specimens of Grus cana- 
densis in California in the forties (a <3 ad., February 23 in Northern California, 5 ad. January 
10, St. Raphael Mission, Northern California, and juv. November, Ilerba Buena, San Francisco 
Bay) and this fact was recorded, with full measurements of these specimens, in my paper in 
The Ibis , April, 1907, pp. 364-365. — S. A. BuTURUiN. 
The Bobolink in Idaho. —Last July, near Meridian, Idaho, (ten miles from Boise), while 
driving in the country I saw several male Bobolinks ( Dolichonyx oryzivorus) in a field formerly 
given over to alfalfa. It had been plowed upand sown to wheat, making a mixt meadow-growth 
in which the birds seemed to be making themselves very much at home. Residents of Meridian 
were not aware that the bird occurred there, and I did not see it in any other locality. — H. C. Tracy. 
A Booby ( Sulasula ) on the West Coast of Mexico. — While taking our evening dip in 
the sea the evening of May 21, 1909, at San Bias, Tepic, Mexico, a “moso” brought us a Booby 
which he said he had captured alive a mile down the beach. The bird from all appearance was 
the Sitla sula and if so a very rare record for the western coast of Mexico. This was the only 
one of this species noted during two months of continual observation. — PiNGREE I. Osburn. 
The Bluebird (Sialia sialis) in Park County, Montana. — On October 24. 190S, I saw an 
adult male of this species in Cinnabar Basin, a few miles north of the Yellowstone National 
Park, Park County, Montana. The bird was in company with a male Mountain Bluebird and 
both birds were observed closely. I believe that this is the furthest west that this species has 
been recorded in Montana. — ArkTas A. Saunders. 
The Cinnamon Teal ( Querquedula cyanoptera ) Wintering at Santa Barbara.— In -Mr. 
Grinnell’s Check-List of California Birds the Cinnamon Teal is put down as a common resident 
only. It may be worth recording, therefore, that for two years, at least, a few birds have 
wintered at Santa Barbara, where I have seen them in all three of the winter months. To be 
more exact, I have the species listed on the following dates: February 20, December 5, 6, 29, 
1908; January 20, February 9, December 13, 17, 19, 24, 27, 1909; January 7, 1910. Mr. John II. 
Bowles kindly allows me to add that he saw the species here January 4, 1910, — a single bird, in 
salt water! All identifications, both mine and Mr. Bowles’, were of adult males. — 
Bradford Torrey, 
Accidental Trapping of Raptores. — On the morning of November 22, 1906, while going 
the rounds of my mammal traps I was surprised to find a Saw-whet Owl (Nyctala acadica ) 
caught in a trap set for Neotoma in a swampy river bottom. The locality, Piute Mts. California, 
was rich in small mammals, and Mr. Charles Richardson and myself had the vicinity of our 
camp well covered with traps. It was to this fact that I attribute the accident. The bird was 
caught on the side of the body, one wing being pinioned beneath the wire of the trap. The 
elevation of this valley is about 7,000 feet. 
The only other record of this kind that has come to my notice was near Los Penas, Jalisco, 
Mexico. Referring to my note book for April 23, 1909, I find the following, — “In one trap by a 
fence on the bank of the estero premier I found a large hawk of peculiar plumage. The steel 
trap was sprung, the bait taken, and the hawk was lying at the base of a tree over a yard to orie 
side.” This bird is now in the collection of Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., and at this writing is yet 
undetermined.— PiNGREE 1. Osburn. 
Singing of the Female Slate-colored Fox Sparrow. — On April 17, 1909, I was watching a 
pair of Slate-colored P'ox Sparrows in a willow thicket near Bozeman, Montana. At first 1 believed, 
from their actions, that the birds were mating, but later, when I notist that both birds sang al- 
ternately, I decided that they must be rival males. The songs were very similar in every way 
except that one was somewhat weaker than the other. I finally secured the bird with the weaker 
song and was much surprised when, on later examination, it proved to be a female. — Aretas 
A- Saunders. 
