July, 1910 
133 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Two Avian Stragglers within the State of Colorado. — Pelecanus occidentalis. Brown 
Pelican. While on a collecting trip for the museum of the State Historical and Natural 
History Society of Colorado, the writer chanced upon an adult mounted specimen of this 
species in the shop of a taxidermist who, upon being questioned as to its history, proffered 
the information that it was killed by P. J. Engelbrecht, at Wood’s Lake, near Thomasville, 
Colorado, in June, 1903. 
Accordingly I wrote to Mr. Engelbrecht (who is proprietor of the summer resort at the lake) 
for further particulars, and received a letter to the effect that he happened to be out fishing with a 
party when he notist a monster bird alight on a stake at the far end of the lake. He took his gun 
and rowing within shooting distance succeded in securing the specimen. This was either the 
last of June or the first of July, 1908. 
He further stated that he had been in the tourist business for ten years and that this was the 
only one of these birds he had ever seen in the locality. 
In consideration of the fact that this is the first record of the capture of this species in the 
state, Mr. Engelbrecht kindly donated the specimen to our Society. 
Bubo virginianus lagophonus. In the collection of Jonas Brothers, Taxidermists, of this city 
I secured a mounted specimen of the Great Horned Owl which is much darker than the form 
usually found in Colorado, and which the proprietors assured me was shot by a local hunter at 
Morrison, Jefferson County, Colorado, during the month of October, 1909, and brought to them in 
the flesh. 
Believing the specimen might prove to belong to one of the dark Pacific Coast forms, and as 
a collection of these birds was not accessible to me for comparison, the specimen was sent to the 
Biological Survey for examination, and it was returned labelled by II. C. O [berholser] . as 
Bubo virginianus lagophonus. 
This variety, recently described by Oberholser (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXVII, 1904, p. 185) 
is said to be closely allied to saturatus ; indeed the A. O. U. Committee on “Check List” seems 
to have regarded it as a synonym of saturatus (14tli Sup., Auk XXV, 1908, p. 392). 
In any event the bird is a new record for Colorado. Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the Biological 
Survey, in referring to the specimen writes that “ * * * it is a southern extension of the range 
of the subspecies lagophonus which belongs much farther north in the Rocky Mountains, and it 
is evident this specimen is a fall straggler.” — Horace G. Smith, Asst. Curator Colorado State 
Historical and Natural History Society. 
Gowbird in _Los Angeles County. — On May 7, 1910, at Nigger Slough, Los Angeles 
County, I found a nest of the Western Yellowthroat containing a Cowbird’s egg. As this egg 
measured but 15X18 mm., 1 suppose it to have been laid by a Dwarf Cowbird, tlio the bird itself 
was not seen. — R. M. Perez. 
The Western Martin Nesting in Los Angeles. — On June 2 and 17, 1910, Mr. G. K. Snyder 
and myself found two sets of 5 eggs each of the Western Martin {Brogue sic bis hesperia) . The 
nests were located in the residence district of Los Angeles, and both were bill on the drain 
pipes under the eaves of a school house about 40 feet above the ground. 
The birds evidently do not mind the presence of people, as the pupils of the school make a 
great deal of noise about the bilding daily. 
The first nest was composed of hay, dry grasses, waste, rags, neatly lined with green pepper 
leaves. The second nest was made of first a layer of mud, then hay and dry grasses, then a neat 
layer of green acacia leaves and a bit of white paper. 
Both times when I cut thru from the attic, the female was found on the nest. The male was 
not seen until the female was scared off, when both birds returned, twittering and flying around 
the nest. In the evening the birds are often seen percht on the telegraf wires, uttering their 
characteristic notes. — R. M. Perez. 
