Page:Condor15(5).djvu/18

 182 Vol. XV FROM FIELD ffND STUDY Unusual Records for California.--The fpllowing records made by the writer during the winter of 1912-13 may be of interest. ,4nhinga 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 flying, 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 fret within shooting range resulted in failure, as a sea of liquid 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. Sayornis phoebe. 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. Passerculus sandwichensis bryanti. 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 chte 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 }ater several others were seen in company with Beldiiig Sparrows on the Estero at Santa Barbara.--ALLA BROOKS. Notes and Records from Brooks County, Texas.--All the following notes are based on observations made. in the vicinity of Falfurrias, Brooks County,-Texas, situated approximately 125 miles northwest of Brownsville, Texas. The Los Olmos Creek is the only stream in the vicinity, and this cc-ntains 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. Grus mexicana. 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 squamata 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 the 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 trudeaui. Observed November 26, associated with Western Mourning Doves; also again several days later. tsio wilsonJanus. One observed March 4 perching in an oak tree growing near the Los Olmos Creek. Otus ado mccalli. Found only along the Los Olmos creek, where an adult was secured December 17, and several others seen on later dates. Colapres cafer collaris. During several years collecting on the Lower Rio Grande, I 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. Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nitidus. A Poorwill, probably of this form, was heard in the early evening of November 29. Muscivora fortcata. The first Scissor-tailed Flycatchers appeared March 23, seem- ingly a very late date for this latitude. Corvus brachyrhynchos 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 I never was