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 1(,15 THE CONDOR Vol. X1X er female was encountered the same day under precisely the same conditions, but I had no time for an extended search and a superficial examination of the nearby territory failed to reveal her mate .or the nest. The finding of this nest, together with the fact that mated pairs of birds in breed- ing condition and plumage are present throughout the summer, fully warrants the asser- tion that the Wilson Phalarope nests regularly, in small numbers, in the grassy tracts sur- rounding certain shallow overflowed areas in Fresno and Madera counties and probably in Merced County also.--Jo G. TYLER, Fresno, California, June 20, 1917. Stomach Contents of an Orego,n Ruffed Grouse.--The Oregon Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus sabini) is a rare game bird in California. So little is known of its habits in this state, or of its food, that an enumeration of the resu}ts of the.stomach ex- amination of a specimen obtained by H. S. Prescott at Requa, Del NoLte County, Califor- nia, January 14, 1916, seems worth while. Identification of the seeds and leaves was made by Miss Anna M. Lute of the United States Department of Agriculture. The crop and stomach contained: Berries and seeds of madLeila (2trbutus men=iesii); leaves of thimble berry (Rubus parvilorus); stems and leaves of dogwood (Comus); unidentified pieces of stem.--HARoL) C. BmCA:T, Berkeley, California, June 20, 1917. An Early Experiment in Keeping Hummingbirds in Captivity.--It is not generally known that one of the first experiments in keeping hummingbirds in captivity and ship- ping them to Europe was made in San Francisco, in pioneer days, by Adolphe Boucard, the well known French ornithologist and authority on the Trochilidae. Boucard reached San Francisco August 16, 1851, and remained until August 18, 1852, when he returned to France via Nicaragua and New York. In his "Travels of a Naturalist m (p. 49) he de- scribes his experiment as follows: "From March to August [1852], I.collected specimens of Natural History. Many were the species of beetles and butterflies that I collected in the suburbs of San Fran- crace. .. I also collected many species of birds, and more particularly Humming- birds. Two species were abundant, Calypte anae and Selasphorus rufus. I found many nests of these two species during the months of March and April, and at one time I had as many as sixty of them alive, all taken from the nests. I fed them with fresh flowers and small insects. Some of them lived four months. At first I had them all together in a large cage, made on purpose, but as soon as they were grown up, they began to fight so much that I was obliged to put them in separate cages. I put one pair in each, and I succeeded in keeping them alive and well for a long time. My intention was to send them alive to Europe, but even the most robust died at sea, and it was a complete failure. "Nevertheless, I think if the same experiment was repeated in Florida, New Or- leans, or New York, with Trochilus colubris there are many probabilities that they would arrive alive in Europe; but of course they could not live long there. Since 1852, I think one experiment of that sort has been made with the Columbian species, and many of them arrived safely in Paris; but they died soon after their arrival. There is more chance with the northern species." Half a century later five species of hummingbirds were successfully carried from Venezuela to England . These bircs were received by the Zoological Society of London, May 27, 1907. About 50 birds were captured of which 35 were shipped and 20 reached their destination alive. But there is a great difference between shipping hummingbirds to Europe from California via the Isthmus in 1852 and shipping them direct from Vene- zuela in 1907 with all the conveniences on modern, fast steamers, and it is not surprising that the first attempt resulted in failure.--T. S. PALfrEY, Washington, D.C., July 7, 1917. Notes From the Southern Sierras.--In company with Mr. A. W. Hanaford I spent from June 16 to June 26, 1917, at various points in the San Bernardino and Sierra Madre mountains. The following notes do not cover all the species of birds noted, but only some of the more interesting ones. Porzana carolina. Sofa Rail. One bird flushed from the pasture at the east end of Bear Lake, altitude 6760 feet, on June 18. Possibly breeding, although we did not locate a nest. Published in London in 1894; originally appeared in parts in the numbers of "The Hummingbird", III and IV, 1893-1894. JBfrd Notes. vx, 1907, p. 102.