Page:Condor4(4).djvu/18

 94 THE CONDOR [ Vol. IV FROM FIELD AND STUDY. Iarge Set of Cactus Wren.--On April 22, 1902, I took a set of seven eggs of the cactus wren, (Heleodytes brunneicapillus). This is the largest set I have ever taken. In my experience in this section I have found the usual complement of eggs to be four, sometimes five, and often only three.--VILso2 C. HANNA, Co[toll, Vermilion l*lycatcher at lscondido.--On April 6, 9o2, I secured a male vermilion fly- catcher (Pyropalus rubineus zeicazus) in full spring plumage, and upon dissection found it physically in a breeding condition. When taken it was feeding with a flock of trieolored black- birds in a marshy piece of land near the San Luis Rey River, about ten miles inland.NoN CARPENTER, A'xcondido, Cal. Azona Goldfinch in os Angeles Connty.Mr. Howard Robedson has recently pre- sented me with a specimen of the Arizona goldfinch (ffinussaltria arizona), a male bird, taken by himself at Los Angeles on February 6, x897. This sub-species is not recorded in Grinnell's "List of Birds of the Pacific Slope of Los Angeles Co." and I have seen no record of its occurrence in this locality since that work was published, so that although its range is usually given as in- eluding southe California, it must be regarded as of very rare occurrence in Los Angeles County at Ieast.H. S. SWARTH, LOS Mnffe/es, Weste Blue Orosbeak in Northern Colorado.--While on a vidt to my place August x5-2o, x9o, Prof. A. H. Felger of DeaYer took a g3od specimen, a female, of Guiraca crulea lazu/a, which was feeding in the orchard and the only specimen obseed. There have been five or six pairs of the western blue grosbeak about the vicinity the past two weeks. I secured a few of them. They appeared to be on the nove and have been observed as mated. This variety is not uncommon in some of the southeastern portions of the state, for which reason I desire to re- cord its occurrence at this northern point.FED M. DILLE, ltona, oulder . Colo., June 8, 2. Odd Oyrations of Hummingbirds.--I would like to ask if anyone has obseed a sort of dance or gymnastic exercise of the hmumingbird similar to that which I once witnessed? It was just after sunset of a clear, bright day in San Mateo, Cal., when I noticed a male Anna humming- bird making eat circles in the air at a very rapid rate. The plane of the circle was perpendicu- lar and I should judge it was fifteen feet in diameter. He rose somewhat more slowly than he swung down again, but the whole movement reminded me of a stone whirled at the end of a very long string. Was this to impress the female or merely for the joy of motion?ANNA HEAD, gerkeley, Cal. The Rose-breasted Orosbeak in Colorado.The only record I can find for Zamelodia ludoviciana in the state is in Cooke's list; where a pair are recorded breeding at nont, Boulder Co. I now have the pleasure of recording a specimen taken in my own county (Latimer) by my cousin, L. E. Burnett, near Loveland on June x, x9o2. A pair were seen but only the male secured; this is now mounted and in his collection. He also secured on June 7 a par of we stern blue grosbeaks (Guiraca corfu/ca lazula) which is the most northern record for the state.W. L. BURNETT, bt (llins, Colo. Nesting of Pine Siskin in Santa Cruz Co, Cal.--June H, 2, A. G. Vrooman took a set of pine siskin (.$inus pitus) six niles from Santa Cruz. Eggs were four, dightly incubated. The nest was sixty feet up in a pine tree and eighteen feet out from the trunk on the end of a limb; composed of weed twigs, strips of soft bark, and moss and lined with the body hair of cattle or horses. The eggs were taken with a small dip net on the end of a fishing rod. Several other pairs of birds bred in the same grove.H. F. BMLV, .$knla C'ruz, Cl. Nightingales in California; A Query-Spending a night in a Liverpool hotel in August 887, I was informed by the landlady that a man had just sailed for America with a cage of nightingales, which were to be turned loose in "a gentleman's park" in California. Does anyone of the members of the Club know where the "park" is, and what became of the nightingales? In driving through the famed vale of Tempe and liteningto the nightingales, I could not but be struck by the similarity of the scene to our southern California canyons, and I almost fancied I was listening to our too little appreciated mockingbird. The rocks and stream looked as they