182 
Vol. XV 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Unusual Records for California. — The following records made by the writer during 
the winter of 1912-13 may be of interest. 
Anhiuga anhinga. I had a very good view of a Darter, or Water Turkey, through 
an eight power glass on February 9, 1913, at Potholes, on the California side of the Colo- 
rado river. When first seen the bird was Hying, and looked for all the world like a small 
Goshawk with a slender stick projecting in front; the regular succession of wing beats 
and sailings was just that of a Goshawk, and when the Darter alighted on a tree it did so 
with the ease of a raptor. I watched it for half an hour through my glass about one hun- 
dred and forty yards away ; but all efforts to get within shooting range resulted in failure, as 
a sea of licpiid mud and water separated me from the tree it sat in. Herbert Brown has 
already recorded the species on the Arizona side of the Colorado ; still I would not blame 
anyone for doubting this sight identification (though I have no doubt as to its correctness 
myself), and only record it in the hopes that some one will make it a point to go to this 
swamp and collect a specimen. 
Sayoriiis phocbe. I collected a specimen of the Eastern Phoebe at Moss Beach near 
Pacific Grove on March 7, 1913. A rather notable fact was that both the other species of 
the genus — the Say and Black Phoebes — were in sight at the same time. The specimen is 
now No. 23461 in the collection of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley. 
Passcrctilns saiidiuichensis bvyanti. While collecting Marsh Sparrows at Carpinteria 
near Santa Barbara with Mr. W. Leon Dawson, the latter shot an undoubted specimen of 
the Bryant Marsh Sparrow, the others taken all being the Belding. The ckite was De- 
cember 23, 1912, and this is probably the southernmost record for the subspecies. Mr. Joseph 
Grinnell has verified the identification of this specimen which is now in my collection. A 
few days later several others were seen in company with Belding Sparrows on the 
Estero at Santa Barbara. — Allan Brooks. 
Notes and Records from Brooks County, Texas. — All the following notes are 
based on observations made in the vicinity of Falfurrias, Brooks County, Te.xas, situated 
approximately 125 miles northwest of Brownsville, Texas. The Los Olmos Creek is the 
only stream in the vicinity, and this contains water only after heavy rains; nevertheless 
it is fringed with a growth of oak, hackberry and huisache, which proved very attractive 
to numerous forms of bird life. The notes cover a period extending from November 23, 
1912, to April 10, 1913. 
Griis mcxicana. Of common occurrence during December and January; its loud 
notes were often heard when the birds themselves were invisible. Six to eight individuals 
usually constituted a flock. 
Callipepla squaiiiata castanogastris. Not as common as the Texas Bobwhite and while 
both are occasionally found in the same flock, the Chestnut-bellied Quail shuns, as a rule, 
the cultivated fields, preferring tlie low chaparral so common as we proceed westward from 
Falfurrias. Their extreme indifference, at times, to the presence of man is comparable 
in my experience only to that of the Mearns Quail, although when once flushed they do not 
take such long flights as the latter species. 
Melopelia asiatica tnideani. Observed November 26, associated with Western 
Mourning Doves; also again several days later. 
Asia wilsonianns. One observed March 4 perching m an oak tree growing near the 
Los Olmos Creek. 
Otus asio mccalli. Found only along the Los Olmos creek, wdiere an adult was secured 
December 17, and several others seen on later dates. 
Colaptcs cafer collaris. During several years collecting on the Lower Rio Grande, 1 
observed but a single Red-shafted Flicker, whereas here it proved to be a fairly com- 
mon winter visitant, certainly as numerous as the Northern Flicker, which occurs as a 
winter visitant throughout southern Texas. A Red-shafted Flicker, shot December 25, al- 
though undoubtedly a female, possessed all the sex markings of the male bird. 
Phalacnoptihis nuttalli nitidus. A Poorwill, probably of this form, was heard in the 
early evening of November 29. 
Muscivora fordcata. The first Scissor-tailed Flycatchers appeared March 23, seem- 
ingly a very late date for this latitude. 
Corviis bracliyrhynchos brachyrhynchos . No Crows were observed until March 8, when 
they appeared in numbers and were numerous during the balance of my stay. Crows are 
apparently of irregular occurrence in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where 1 nevei was 
