Page:Condor11(1).djvu/34

 Jan., 1908 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 33 name an intermediate between two races even tho the types may be very different; the best that can be done is to label the specimen an intermediate, and note to which race it appears most close- ly related; and it is not unusual to find stragglers of one race on the breeding grounds of a close- ly related race in winter, as he found Vireo huttoni oberholseri and Vireo huttoni together in February and March; this is a common occurrence in the genusJunco (cf. Kaeding, CONDOg, I, 79).--H. B. KAEDING, LOS Angeles, Calif. Some Interesting Colorado Records.--The following records of species but little known to Colorado were made by Mr. J. W. Frey, of Salida, Chaffee County, Colorado, who collected quite faithfully there in the spring of 1908. Salida is situated in a wide valley on the Arkansas River, west of the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, and with the Continental Divide to the west, and the Sangre de Christo Range to the south. The altitude is a little over 7,000 feet. Wyclicorax violaceus. Yellow-crowned Night Heron. "Killed on Big Arkansas River one mile north of Salida out of a bunch of five, the only one I got and altho I hunted them never saw or heard of the other four. This one was brought to me by a boy whose father killed it that morning. I bought it from him and went hunting for the rest as soon as I could get ready." (Copy of Frey's memoranda.) The label on the specimen, which was a female, gives the date as May 1, 1908. This is the second record for Colorado, and the only one of which we have the ex- act data. W.W. Cooke, in his "Birds of Colorado," says, "The only recorded specimen is the one in Mrs. Maxwell's collection, and that is known to have been taken in Colorado, but where can- not now be learned": not as satisfactory a record as it might be, which makes the present all the more welcome. The specimen is now in the collection of Colorado College, at Colorad9 Springs, and was examined by Mr. C. E. Aiken and Mr. W. L Sclater, as well as by myself. Dolichonya: oryzivorus. Bobolink. Frey saw ten birds at Salida, May 14, 1908, and secured four, all males. This is a new locality for this species in this state. The bird seems to be very peculiarly and locally distributed in Colorado. Zonolrichia coronata. Golden-crowned Sparrow. Frey took one April 19, 1908, at Salida, which makes tbe second record for Colorado. I have the skin in my possession at the preseut time.--E)wxR) R. WXRaEN, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Correction of Errors.--Two errors in the List of the Birds of Mesa County, which appeared in the July CoN)o, have been called to my attention and I wish to correct them. Speaking of the Canyon Wren, I credited the only absolute specimen to Mr. Horace G. Smith of the State Historical Society. This record was furnished me by Mr. Smith, but the specimen it- self was taken by Mr. Will C. Ferril, of the same society, to whom the credit of the record should be given. The technical name of the Broad-tailed Hummingbird should read Selasphorus plalycercus instead of Trochilus platycercus.--RoBEaX B. ROCKWELL, Denver, Colorado. Tapeworm Epidemic among Washington Seabirds.--Pacific Beach is situated on the northwest coast of Washington, about midway between Cape Elizabeth and Gray's Harbor, and here I located for a short vacation beginning August 20, 1907. In conversation that evening with the landlord of the small hotel our talk soon drifted to birds, and he asked me to explain the occurrence of numerous birds he had found washed up on the beach during the past week. They were all either dead or dying, but what puzzled him was that they were apparently uninjured in any way. Next morning I set out at once to verify the above statements, and found matters to be even more interesting than I had expected. In a walk of about three miles along the shore I found some thirty dead or dyifig birds of the following species: Slender-billed Shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris), White-winged Scoter ( Oidemia deglandi), Surf Scoter ( Oidemia perspicillata), Cassin Auklet (Plychoramphus aleulicus), and California Murre (Uria troile californica). The shearwaters were by far the most extensive sufferers, next the White-winged Scoters, and so on down to the California Murre of which species I found only one. This was probably owing to the relative numbers of the different birds, the Murre for instance probably being a straggler from the bird rocks on the north or south. It was evident that the epidemic had only recently commenced as the birds found were all comparatively fresh and the ocean was rather plentifully dotted with sick birds, some of them so close in as to be rolled over and over in the breakers. An external examination showed the plumage to be in perfect condition with no signs of wounds, but the extieme emaciation of the birds showed the cause to be more deeply seated.' After making a skin of one of the shearwaters, an examination of the body at once showed the trouble: the intestines from end to end were packed solid with tapeworms. These worms were about three inches long. rather slender, and marked with alternate rings of white and brownish- black. There were many hundreds of the disgusting parasites in every bird, making death from