Page:Condor7(5).djvu/29

 144 THE CONDOR I VoL. VII discover any further trace of them. [ have never seen this species alive, but the size, general shape, coloration and the conspicuous white patch on the wing would not apply to any other than immature Calanzospiza nelanoco2ys--lark bunting--while the strange note which first at- tracted my attention agrees with Mrs. Bailey's description; viz: a soft hoo-ee, peculiarly sweet and given with a rising inflection. This is apparently the first record of this bird in Santa Barbara Co., and it is a great pity that a specimen was not obtained.--JosEPH MAILLIARD. Washington Notes.--The following notes made by my brother and myself are, as far as we can learn, the first records for these birds breeding in the state of Washington. Cinnamon Teal (Querqttedtt/a o,anoptea). On May 4, I9O4, at Kiona, Yakima County, Wash. Nest contained six fresh eggs, and was placed on the ground at a short distance from some small ponds. Two pairs of birds seen. Collected by J. H. Bowles. Northwest Coast Heron (trdea herodias tnnDtt). On April 20, i9o5, at Sumner, Pierce County, Wash. Nest contained font heavily incubated eggs. In a colony of about twenty-five pairs. Very large nest made of very small dead limbs, lined with very small twigs. Placed eighty feet up in a young fir in a large grove of same situated'quarter of a mile from a lake. So far as we can learn this is the first recorded set of this subspecies. Collected by J. H. Bowles. Cooper Hawk (.4ccipiter cooperi). During the summer of 9o4 two nests containing young were found in the vicinity of Tacoma, Pierce County, Wash., by Mr. Ed. L. Currier of Tacoma. These are the first records that have come to our knowledge, but on May 20, I9o5, another nest, containing five fresh eggs was found, placed seventy feet up in a fir tree in densely wooded low ground. Collected by C. W. and J. H. Bowles. California Cuckoo ('oco,zus anertcattts occidezlalis). On June , 9o5, in the vicinity of Tacoma, Pierce County, Wash. Nest contained two slightly incubated eggs. Nest large and well made, being constructed of coarse crab-apple twigs, and lined with moss and fir needles. Placed eight feet up in small fir ill dense mixed fir and deciduous growth. Collected by C.W. Bowles.--J. H. and C. W. BOWLES, l}ola, ash. A (2orreetion.--In referring to getophag'a picta on page 8I of May CON)O, I ascribed the first known set of eggs to Mr. Stephens's credit. I inadvertantly overlooked W. E. Bryant's record of a set collected by Mr. Herbert Brown ill the Santa Rita Mrs., June 6, 88o (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VI, 'i88, 76). Mr..Brown's set was therefore the first.--H.a S. SWarTH. Nesting of a I-Iummingbird in a Barn.--Of all the changes in nesting habits that have come under my observation none equala that of a hnmmingbird recently reported by Mr. George Luce, one of my ornithological friends residing at [laywards. .In tile summer of I9O3 he found a hummer's nest attached toa knot of a bale-rope ten feet from the roof of a barn and about thirty feet from the gronnd. When he observed it the nest contained two young about two days old. He was tinable to see the parent bird in order to identify it.--W. OTTO EMERSON, Haj,;cards, Curious Nesting Sites of Western I-Iouse Wren.--The little brown honse wren or Parkman wren (}'o'[tld_lt[l's lrdt)11 ]Slll'Hllllli) seems to t)e showing some preference for steel in this locality. In June, 9o4, a pair built their nest in a section of stove pipe eight feet long placed on rafters of a chicken house, the end of which was latticed. The nest was eight feet from the ground. One end of the pipe was filled up with small twigs, and at the other end was the nest proper. It looked as if instiller has taught them to fill up one end of the pipe to keep out weazels and rodents. When examined the nest contained six fully fledged young, as George l, uce informed me. Another nest was placed on a foundation of ten-penny nails in a grain sack, which had been hung up on the side of a ranch house within five feet of the ground in plain view of anyone passing. I saw tile mite of brown feathers flit out of a wee hole in the sack, and on looking into it found a nest of the usual wren character. A few twigs had been placed on the nails and well lined with birds' feathers, but no snake skill. Another queer situation for a wren's nest was found ill a pocket of an old velvet smoking coat hanging over the rafters of a deserted preempter's cabin. From the appearance of the coat it had been used for several nests.-- W. OTTO EMERSON, ]-fa. yz,a'd.% THF_. F_.DITOR'S 150015. SHF_.LF MANUA1,E D10RN1TOLOGIA ITALIANA. Elenco descrlttivo degli Uccelli Stazionari o di Passaggio finora osservati in Italia. DEL CONTE DoTT. 1. ARRIGNI DEGLI ODDI. Con 36 tavole e 4oi incisioni nel testo da disegni originali. Milano, i9o4, i6 mo. pp. I63 ! VIII + 908. Students of Italian birds, particularly those who have not access to the more elaborate works,