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 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-duck 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 Company. I believe this is the first authentic record of the Black-bellied Tree-duck (Dendrocygaa autumnalis) for California.--H. C. BRYAlq'r, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. The Great Gray Owl in Californla.--Up to the present time there have been but two records of Scotiaptex nebulosa for California. Newberry (Pac. R. R. Reports, v, 1857, p. 77) accredits the species rather vaguely to "the Sacramento Valley". gelding (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 County, California, killed a Great Gray Owl. 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. A.s compared with specimens of Scotiaptex 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 Ordgon.--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. H. C. Oberholser and lr. 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, m a sage and juniper flat. Nest about two feet above the ground. Female bird incubating.--ALx^rDR W^LKR, Mulino, Oregon. Pigmy Owl in San Antonio Canyon, Los Angeles County, California.---On De- cember 29, 1913, a clear cool day, while hnnting 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 ny pres- -ence. The specimen was collected and proved to be an adult male Glaucidium gnoma cali{ornicum, 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. WRIt'I' IV[. PIRCE, Claremont, California. Unusual .Plumage of the Female Linnet.-On November' 2, 1913, being desirous of obtaining specimens of the Linnet (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis) in fresh fall plum- age, I shot ten birds at random ut of two flocks, near Garnsey, Los Angeles County, Call. fornia. 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 xvas 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 though .they were unquestionably lemalea, 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 I ever before observed this condition in specimens handled.--H. S. SWARTIt, Museum of History Science and Art, Los ,qngeles, California.