260 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
The Struggle for Existence. — On the west coast of Florida some of the hays and in- 
lets are famous spawning grounds for mullet, a fish weighing from two to ten pounds. 
They swim in large schools near the surface, and are a favorite food of the fish hawk, 
which is not an uncommon bird upon that coast. 
One day, on the shore of Sarasota Bay, I was watching a female fish hawk circling 
above a large school of mullet, swimming so close in that their protruding noses could 
be plainly seen dimpling the smooth waters of the bay. After a few unsuccessful at- 
tempts she dropped with extended talons, seized a fish, and after a distressing struggle, 
made a low rise and started toward the shore. Her labored flight indicated a heavy 
burden, and even from a distance it was evident that she had struck an unusually large 
fish. With manifest effort, she tugged at her task with the chances in her favor, when 
from a high dead stub of a tall pine, a male eagle with rapid flight descended from above 
and struck the fish hawk in the back so that she was almost capsized in the air, the 
fish being above her. With rapid heating and fluttering of the wings she righted her- 
self and with increasing effort proceeded on her way. The eagle also righted, and with 
nervous speed, again rose above his victim and after two small circles with extending 
neck and outstretched feet, he shot once more down upon his prey. This time the force 
of the impact completely overturned the hawk, who, beginning to fall, let go the fish, 
recovered her equilibrium, and made off. The eagle with the swiftness of an arrow 
struck for the falling mullet and captured it before it struck the water. As he headed 
for the shore, the first few strokes of the wing disclosed that he had a burden greater 
than he could bear, for his flight was staggering, the wing beats short and unsteady, and 
although making efforts to rise, he began slowly to lose elevation. Immediately these 
conditions became evident, he shrieked out a clear, high whistle, that would put to 
shame the most popular policeman on the heat. This cry of warning was answered 
almost instantly by a long, quivering squeak, like that of “a young pig, stuck in a 
gate”,and with a rustle as of a mighty wind, his mate bolting from the forest, swooped 
down toward her spouse. As they approached each other, the striking comparison in 
size became manifest; the wide, far-reaching wings, deeper, broader tail, larger body 
and greater weight of the female were plain to see. Renewing her warning squeal that 
seemed to he torn from her palpitating throat, she bore down toward him with firm, 
sure wing, when the male bird dropped the fish and flew away without apparent con- 
cern. The female, with a deadly grip, seized the prize, and with a confident, steady and 
jauntily sustained flight, rose lightly in the air as if to prove her worth, and bore it 
safely to the nest, now plainly visible in the high crotch of the tallest pine of the forest. 
— John J. Boyce, Berkeley, California. 
Beautiful Bunting in California. — Among recent additions to my collection oh^ 
tained from Dr. J. A. Hornung, of this city, I find what is in all probability a new record 
for California. During February, 1914, Dr. Hornung spent a few days collecting at 
Blythe, Riverside County, California, in the valley of the Colorado River, where, at 
different times he found fifteen or twenty examples of Passerina versicolor pulchra 
feeding on roadside weeds bordering a cotton field. On February 8, he shot a female, 
and on the 9th he secured a male, both in winter plumage. — Frank S. Daggett, Muse- 
um of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles, California. 
Notes from Sacaton, Arizona. — In looking over Swarth’s Distributional List of the 
Birds of Arizona I find I have three species not included therein. 
Harris Sparrow. Zonotrichia querula. A male secured March 16, 1913, from a small 
flock of Intermediate Sparrows. Identified by W. W. Cooke, and recorded by him in 
The Auk, vol. 31, July, 1914, p. 403. 
Sierra Sapsucker. Sphyrapicus varius daggetti ( S. ruber ruber of the A. O. U. 
Check-List). A female taken February 9, 1910, and a male on October 5, 1910. 
Ring-necked Duck. Aythya collaris. A male secured February 19, 1910. 
There seem to be very few records of the Dwarf Hermit Thrush {Hylocichla gut- 
tata nanus) from Arizona, but I have taken three of the birds, as follows: A female at 
Blackwater, ten miles east of Sacaton, on the Gila River, identified by Joseph Grinnell; 
a fpmale at Agua Caliente about one hundred miles down the Gila River from Sacaton; 
and a male at Sacaton, September 18, 1910. The one at Blackwater was taken March 
7, 1908, and the one at Agua Caliente, April 12, 1909. 
