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 78 THE CONDOR VOL. VI FROM FIELD AND STUDY Wilson Snipe, Gallinago delieata (Ord.), in the Hawaiian Islands.--A specimen of this well known game bird was brought to me at the Museum for examination and identification by Mr. I. Spalding of Honolulu, who secured it on March 8th 9o3, while enjoying a day's gunning on the windward side of the island of Oahu in the vicinity of Kailua. It was a female bird in splendid. condition and plumage. Until the present record the status of the species in the Hawaiian Islands was based on the single individual recorded by Mr. H.W. Henshaw, of Hilo, as being secured on the Island of Hawaii, (Auk, XVII, 9oo, p. 204). Mr. Spalding assures me that on a previous occasion while shooting, he put up this same species but was not so fortu- nate as to secure it.--WILLIAM ALANSON BRYAN, Curator of Onilhology, Bishop Jguseum, I-Ion- olulu, H. T. The Albatross Dance at Sea.--About the last of March (I9O4), while cruising a hundred miles off San Diego, California, on the steamer "Albatross," Dr. Charles H. Gilbert of Stanford University observed a group of about six brown gonys (Diomedea mripes) pair off and engage in their peculiar dance. The birds, of course, were resting on the surface of the water, which was rather rough. The writer has described this dance elsewhere (U.S. Fish Comm. Bull. 9o3, p. 22; Auk, XXI, Jan. I9O4, pp. H-I4) as it was observed at their breeding ground on the island of Lay- san, Hawaiian Group. At this locality Dr. Gilbert also became perfectly familiar with the per- formance, and at once recognized the familiar bowing and pointing of beaks in air. The second step, that of placing the bill under the wing, was also given. The distance was too great to de- {ect the ridiculous groan which the birds utter at the end of each dauce. At that date the brown gony should have been feeding young on its breeding grounds--the scattered islets to the westward of the main Hawaiian Group. Dr. Gilbert states that he observed no individuals with the white tail coverts which are characteristic of the fully adult bird. Pos- sibly these birds, which linger off our coast during the breeding season, are all young. The writer shot several in March I9O2, about five hundred nliles west of San Diego, and all of these were immature.--WALTER K. FISHER. Ieterus bulloeki a a I-Ioney-eater.--While preparing some skins of the Bullock oriole last spring (I9O3) I noticed that the neck feathers of several were considerably soiled by honey that oozed out of the bill and a shot hole in the crop. I remember that this particular male was running honey from its mouth when I picked it up. I had shot it to see why it was feeding so earnestly from the heart of certain blossoms, as I had often observed them to do before, on their first arrival in the spring. Numerous insects are attracted by the sweets of the eucalyptus flow- ers, which afford many of our small birds--such as Denarroica auduboni, D. coronata, Calypte anna, Regulus calendula, Carpodacus m. frontalis, and various juneos--food throughout the winter. The orioles delighted in sipping blue gum honey in preference to hunting insects through the orchard or creek trees. During tile past winter large numbers of AuduBon warblers were continually fluttering over the eucalyptus blossoms, picking insects or drinking honey. Many warblers were noted as having a black sticky substance adhering to the feathers about the bill. This isderived from tile pollen and honey of eucalyptus flowers, combined with dirt from the ground, where the birds feed on cold mornings, when there is no insect food moving at large. On several occasions Scolecophagus cyanocephalus were seen feeding from the blue gum blossoms.--W. OTTO ]MERSON, Haywards, Cal. The Western ]vening Grosbeaks at Pescadero, San Mateo Co., Cal.--On January IO, I9O 4, a flock of about forty Coccoihrausies v. manianus lit in a large eucalyptus tree which stands a few feet from the house. This is the first time I have seen these grosbeaks since April i7, I9O2 when I observed a flock of eleven. I first noted the evening grosbeak about January , i899 , when I found a flock feeding upon dry maple seeds which cover the trees. I shot one bird which was identified by Mr. Littlejohn of Redwood City. They were rather numerous until the middle of April. During the winter of 899-i9oo, and the following winter grosbeaks were very numerous, arriving in October and departing in March or April. But the next winter. 9o-i9o2, they came in limited numbers, while in tile succeeding winter they did not come at all. The grosbeaks were always seen in flocks ranging in number from six to fifty and were generally found in the maple groves along creeks where they fed on the dry seed.--WILLiS H. JACKSON, Pescadero, Cal. A Icabor Saving }3gg Iilower.--For the past year or two I tave used the device described below for blowing eggs, and while not practicable for very small eggs, it can be used with care for any that are over an inch in length. For large sets of larg eggs it is simply invaluable as its