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 Sept., 9oo1 of the American Titlark that I could find, and nowhere could I find a description of the male bird as having the breast unspotted until finally in a volume of the Catalogue of Birds of the British Museum (Vol. X, page 597)I found a very accurate account of this plumage, with the following interesting note: "The adult bird in full grey-and- "vinous plumage, is seldom seen in col- "lections; it is figured by Swainson in the "'Fauna Boreali-Americana,'butthe only "specimen I have seen was one in the "Sclater collection from Western Mex- "ico, probably shot in full plumage just "before its departure for its breeding "haunts. All the other specimens col- "lected in northern latitudes are more "brown on the upper surface and show "more or less spitting on the breast, "which is a dull fawn-buff. It may be "surmised therefore that only very old "males gain the uniform vinous-breasted "dress, and the females in all probabil- "ity are always spotted on the breast." I hunted carefully for Titlarks for some time after I shot these birds, but only succeeded in getting one other, a female, befcre they had all left. I saw one as late as May st, but did not secure it. The first week in April, I9oo, I com- menced looking for them again, but the majority had left already, and I could only find a few scattered birds, until, on April [o, when I ran across several flocks in a field I had not yet examined. The birds stuck to this one field pretty closely, and although there were large stretches of country on all sides appar- ently exactly similar, they were found in this one field and nowhere else. I saw them there several times, the last time being April 20, when they were still quite abundant but extremely shy and difficult to approach. On April 3oth I visited the place again and searched carefully but the Titlarks were all gone, I did not see a single one. In allI secured eighteen birds, and three the year before making twenty-one all to- gether. Of these nine were males and twelve females. Of the nine males only THE CONDOR two were in the unspotted grey-and vinous plumage; all the others are more or less spotted underneath, although some are spotted very lightly; all the males are much more greyish above than the females. The twelve females are all rather heavily spotted underneath, and lack the rich vinous tints of the males. This interesting plumage of the Titlark may not be as new to many members of the Cooper Club as it is to myself, but as I believe that the latest date on which this bird has been taken in Los Angeles County heretofore was April 3, and as it is improbable that any specimens should have finished their spring moult at that time, I believed that an account of this plumage might not prove unin- teresting. It would seem besides that the old males in the most perfect plumage are quite rare and difficult to secure, at least in this localtiy. H. S. SwTm Los .4neles, Cal. The venino Grosbeak as a ret. ERHAPS ahnost every wild bird has been made a pet of at some time or other, but the Western EveningGrcsbeak is least often seen in captivity. Six years ago in August our bird was found here at Webber lake, 6,800 feet altitude, a tiny, featherless creature that had evidently gotten tip: ped out of the nest before the time had come for him to leave it. We did know what the bird was, but put him in a cage and fed him moistened crack- ers and boiled eggs, liberally sprinkled with red pepper. He seemed to thrive on this diet and became fully grown before he would eat anything .else. Finally he became fond of canary seed and now lives upon it. He eats also a great deal of fruit, prefe rri ng that grown in warm climates, such as oranges, and bananas. Green peppers are his special delight and he eats a whole one in a day, devouring it eagerly, even to the seed and core.