Jan., 1914 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
41 
On November 22, 1913, the writer picked up on the beacli at Hyperion a specimen of the 
Slender-billed Shearwater (Piifftiins tennirost ris) . The bird was perfectly fresh and could 
not have drifted a great distance before being cast upon the sand. Willett mentions but 
one previous record for this species from southern California, a single specimen taken by 
A. W. Anthony near San Diego in 1896. The present specimen was much smeared over 
with oil, which seemed to have been on the feathers some time and which may have been 
a contributive factor in its demise. Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Swarth and Mr. Willett have ex- 
amined the specimen and concur in the identilication. — Loye Miller, Los A)igeles, Califor- 
nia. 
A New Record for Oregon. — Having recently acquired a small collection of skins 
taken last year in Oregon by Mr. George L. Hamlin, I find among them two of the Harris 
Sparrow, Zonotrichia qticnila. One, a male, was taken February 1, 1912, at Medford, 
Oregon ; and the other, a female, at the same place on the following day. Both are in the 
post-juvenal, or first winter, plumage. — W. Leon Dawson, Santa Barbara, California. 
Occurrence of the White-tailed Kite in Central California in 1913. — In the belief 
that even fragmentary notes concerning rare or disappearing species will prove of decided 
interest in the course of time, I offer the following notes in regard to the White-tailed 
Kite (Elanus Icncurus) , a species once numerous in west-central California. 
On August 27, 1913, at S p. m., two White-tailed Kites were seen circling over a meadow 
near a line of willows bordering the Russian River near Forestville, Sonoma County. The 
birds were not over one hundred yards from the train, from which Mrs. Grinnell and I 
obtained a most satisfactory view of them. 
On October 15, 1913, at 8:20 a. m., three White-tailed Kites tlew close over the duck- 
blind which I was occupying, on the Suisun marsh near Cygnus, Solano County. 1 saw 
individual birds twice again the same morning ; and Mr. W. W. Richards, owner of the 
duck-preserve upon which my observations were made, informed me that he frequently 
sees the same sort of bird about the marshes there. 
With no doubt whatever, the present rarity of this hawk in California is due to its 
associational preference for marshes, where its habit of flying slowly back and forth at 
a moderate height above the ground on the lookout for meadow mice and insects make 
it an easy target for the thoughtless gunner. In my experience the average sportsman 
is still unenlightened enough to shoot down any sort of "hawk” that flies his way, pro- 
vided game is not at the moment expected. 
The above records, together with those of Mr. Howuird Wright in The Condor tor 
September, 1913 (page 184), indicate that there are yet a few of these beautiful and harm- 
less birds at widely separated stations within the state. I had not myself seen the species 
previously since 1903, near Palo Alto. — J. Grinnell, California Mnscnni of Certebrate 
Zoology, Berkeley, California. 
Vermilion Flycatcher in the San Diegan District. — On October 1, 1913, while 
shooting on the Olympic Gun Club grounds, about one mile w^est of Westminster, Orange 
County, California, 1 saw six Vermilion Flycatchers (Pyrocephalus rubinus niexicanns) . 
They were all females or else immatures, as there were no red males among them. Last 
winter, however, during the duck season, about half a dozen of the birds were seen at 
different times, and among them several males in brilliant plumage. It accordingly seems 
possible that careful search in the right places might prove this species to be not quite 
so rare a winter visitant w'est of the mountains as we have heretofore believed. — W. 13. 
JuDSON, Los Angeles, California. 
A Second Nest of the Sierra Nevada Rosy Finch. — On the 21st of July, 1913, 
while climbing the North Palisade (the second in height, as it is also one of the most 
difficult of the Sierran peaks, altitude 14,254 feet) in company with a dozen other mem- 
bers of the Sierra Club, my attention was called to a Rosy Finch {Lcucostictc tcphrocotis 
(fazui'onf), flitting from point to point across the face of the rock wall. I soon traced it to 
a niche about ten feet above a narrow ledge along which our future course lay, and widen 
fronted a sheer drop of 200 feet. By dint of a little friendly boosting, the niche was 
investigated, and I found the female Rosy Finch brooding five young birds about three 
days old. The nest, which was only three feet in, was of very substantial construction , 
such as enabled it to endure momentary removal and careful replacement. Lffifortunately, 
neither time nor light nor equipment sufficed for adequate photography. The elevation of 
the nest was perhaps 13,600 feet. — W. Leon Dawson, Santa Barbara, California. 
