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 9 8 Vo, I FP,,OM FIELD AND STUDY Colorado Notes.--Hon. James Cowie, while hunting ducks on a lake northeast of Boulder, on September 5, 9o7, saw a flock of six birds which he failed to recognize and shot one for identification, turning it over to the University of Colorado. It proved to be an immature Sabine Gull(Xerna sabinii). Altho Capt. Berthoud reported that the species was common in the early days of the settlement of the State, I only find six actual records prior to this one, all but one being from the plains near the eastern base of the mountains from Denver northward, the other being from Breckenridge, at an altitude of o,ooo feet. Whatever may have been the case as a matter of past history, the species is certainly rare enongh hereabouts in recent years. On September 4, I9o7, while passing Church's Lake a few miles north of Denver, I noted several White-winged Scoters (Oidernia defflandi) within a few feet of the train, with some other ducks and coots. After allowing time to make sure of their identity, but before I had counted them, the birds all took flight, bnt there were not less than half a dozen of the Scoters. I find but nine previous records for the State, all October and November records. The Wood Duck (Ai:r sponsa) is a rare duck in Colorado nowadays. I have heard of none re- cently except tbree killed near Boulder by Hon. James Cowie and Mr. Bert Werley about three years ago, no record haviug been made of the date. I have seen two of the specimens. There seems to be bnt one record of Syrnittrn variurn in the literature of Colorado ornithol- ogy; so I have hesitated about mentioning a note which I find in the note-books oi Denis Gale. He mentions having seen a pair in the valley near Boulder in x886, but gives no particulars and no exact date. The note was made three years afterwards, in x889, when he says he looked again for the pair which he had seen there three years before but failed to find them, Upon carefnl consideration I have concluded that his identification was probably correct, as he was qnite familiar with the owls of the region, and there is no other that he wonld be apt to mistake for this. The Spotted Owl (Syrniurn occidentale) which might be easily mistaken in the field/or the Barred Owl, is a species of the southwest, coming only into sonthem Colorado, so that the eastern species is much more likely to be found.east of the Front Range and in the northern part of the State. However, with these rare records, one never feels safe unless the circumstances nnder which the birds are seen, the opportunity for careful inspection, the condition of the light, etc., are known.--J;I;s I-IE)RSo, Museum, (/nz,ersily of Colorado, 9oulder, Colo. Notes From Colton, California.--On May x9, x9o7, I tound a Phainopepla's (Phainope- la nilens) nest containing one egg. Two days later there were no additional eggs. May 24 I noticed the female bird on the nest but did not climb the tree to see if there were any more eggs. May 3 o, or six days later, I noticed a Mourning Dove (Zenaidura rnacroura) on the nest, and upon investigation found two dove eggs resting upon a slight platform placed on the Phainopep- la's nest. I thought that this was rather rapid home changing. A nest of the Valley Partridge (Lophortyc californicus vallicola) containing fitteen eggs was fonnd June x, in an nnusual location. The bird selected a place under a small pile of eucalyptns twigs 25 feet from Pennsylvania Avenue and/our feet from OliveStreet, both being well-traveled village streets. A concrete flume was within sixteen inches of the nest and workmen walked along the flume many times daily while irrigating an orange orchard. A calf was tied to a tree at the edge of Olive Street, and it had also selected a resting place in the brush pile three feet from the bird. The calf could have put its hind feet in the nest if it had desired to do so. The calf was fed regularly by a man, woman or child. Across the street, ninety teet from the nest was a house. Several small children and a dog played around the yard and often came over to visit the calf. [They did not know about the nest, as the bird would not flush unless in danger of being stepped on.) nne xo, I visited the nest and found that the bird had departed. Two pipped eggs were in the nest and one little dead bird in the flume. Probably the others got away all right. During Artgust I had the pleasure of seeing an albino Brewer Blackbird (Scolecolbhagus cfan- ocephalus). I would say that about two-thirds of its feathers were white. About a week after I first saw the bird, I learned that it spent considerable time in company with other blackbirds on certain lawns here in Colton. The other blackbirds did not seem to treat it differently because of its white coat. A friend of mine informs me that he saw a white blackbird at San Jacinto Lake eighteen or tenty years afro. Talking abont white blackbirds sounds like discussing white lamp-black!W. C. HNN, Colton, California. Concerning a l'ew Abnormally larked Eggs.--During the last few years the writer has collected several sets of eggs which are of special interest owing to the fact that they are thickly spotted with fine brown spots, where nature's usual prescription calls for unmarked eggs.