94 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
Occurrence of the Black-bellied Tree-duck in California. — In the possession of 
Mr. Vernon Shepherd, a taxidermist of San Francisco, there is a mounted specimen of a 
Black-bellied Tree-duek taken in the Imperial Valley, southern California, in the fall of 
1912. The specimen was sent with a sack of ducks to the market near the first of the sea- 
son and was obtained from L. Scatena Companj'. 
I believe this is the first authentic record of the Black-bellied Tree-duck {Dendrocygna 
antnninalis) for California. — H. C. Bryant, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of 
California, Berkeley. 
The Great Gray Owl in California. — Up to the present time there have been but 
two records of Seotiaptex nebiUosa for California. Newberry (Pac. R. R. Reports, vi, 1857. 
p. 77) accredits the species rather vaguely to “the Sacramento Valley”. Belding (Land 
Bds. Pac. Dist., 1890, p. 50) knew of a specimen having been killed “in the hills near Chico”, 
Butte County. 
On September 26, 1913, a farm hand on the property of Mr. Chas. S. Wheeler, about 
six miles south of the town of McCloud, in Siskiyou Count}', California, killed a Great Gray 
Qwl. To be more specific, as I am informed by Mr. Wheeler, the locality is Section 28, 
Township 39 North, Range 2 West. The bird was sent to a taxidermist in San Francisco 
where it was mounted, and subsequently presented by Mr. Wheeler to the California 
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, where it is catalogued as number 24484 of the ornithological 
collection. As compared with specimens of Seotiaptex nebulosa nebulosa from Alaska and 
Canada, I can see no noteworthy peculiarities. — J. Grinnell, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 
University of California, Berkeley. , 
Nesting of the Gray Flycatcher in Oregon. — June 7, 1913, I collected a nest and 
three eggs of the Gray Flycatcher (Empidonax griseus) on the juniper flat, at the north of 
Pauline Mountains, Crook County, Oregon. The parent bird was taken with the nest, and 
identified by Mr. FI. C. Oberholser and Mr. Joseph Grinnell. The eggs were creamy white, 
and were but slightly incubated. Data reads as follows: Nest composed of small dead weed 
stems, plant down, hair, shreds of sage-brush bark and some grasses, quilted together and 
lined with wool and fine feathers. Situated in the crotch of a sage-bush, on a sage and 
juniper flat. Nest about two feet above the ground. Female bird incubating. — AtExander 
Walker, Mulino, Oregon, 
Pigmy Owl in San Antonio Canyon, Los Angeles County, California. — On De- 
cember 29. 1913, a clear cool day, while hunting squirrels in San Antonio Canyon at an 
elevation of nearly 4500 feet, near Camp Baldy, I discovered one of these little owls. It 
was sitting on a bare branch of a sycamore tree and was apparently oblivious to my pres- 
ence. The specimen was collected and proved to be an adult ■ male Glaueiditini gnonia 
ealifornicum, in rather dark plumage. I searched faithfully through the trees near where 
I found this bird but failed to discover another. This is my first observation of this inter- 
esting little fellow, during the fifteen years that I have been about these mountains. — 
Wright M. Pierce, Claremont, California, 
Unusual Plumage of the Female Linnet. — On November 2, 1913, being desirous 
of obtaining specimens of the Linnet (Carpodaetis mexieanus frontalis) in fresh fall plum- 
age, I shot ten birds at random out of two flocks, near Garnsey, Los Angeles County, Cali ■ 
forni.a. Three were males and seven females. Of the seven in the streaked, female plumage, 
two show some red markings on throat, breast and rump. The natural assumption was that 
these were older birds than the others, acquiring in their maturity a trace of the brilliant 
plumage of the male, but dissection showed that tliough they were unquestionably temales, 
they were, from the soft condition of the skulls, undoubtedly birds in first winter plumage, 
hatched some time during the previous spring or summer. Two fully adult females in the 
same series, birds of the previous year or older, show not a trace of red. I do not recall 
seeing in any of the published descriptions of the species mention of the occasional appear- 
ance of even a few red feathers in the female Linnet, nor have 1 ever before observed this 
condition in specimens handled. — H. S. Swarth, Museum of History Seienee and Art, Los 
Angeles, California. 
