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July, 1915 FROM I?I]?LD AND STUDY 167, ber 8, 1914, while hunting doves near Chino, California, I shot a female Prairie Falcon that was trying to get a dove that I had flushed from the sunflowers. Later on the same day another of these beautiful falcons flew over me a little too far to shoot. On Decem- ber 9, 1914, I shot a female Prairie Falcpn from a telephone pole n4ar the beach not far from Oceanside, California. On January 9, 1915, I collected another female Prairie Fal- con near Chino, California. My attention was drawn to this bird, which was sitting in a large branching willow, by the actions of some Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus neutralis) that were sitting about in the same tree with the falcon. Several of their number kept persistently flying at the falcon, who apparently cared little for their actions, as he kat quietly until I approached the tree. Western Flycatcher (Emp/?onaz ?ifficilis ?ifficilis). On July 5, 1914, in the upper part of Bear Canyon, a branch of the West Fork of the San Gabriel, I found a nest con- taining three eggs, incubation begun, of the Western Flycatcher. Then on July 17, 1914, at Cold Brook Camp, elevation 3500 feet, in the North Fork, another branch of the West Fork of the San Gabriel, I found another nest of the Western Flycatcher containing three fresh eggs. This last nest was placed on a beam of the dance hall, where there were many people going in and out all the time. The bird did not seem to be bothered at all by the continual noise and disturbance. The late nesting dates are noteworthy. Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus mexicanus). While hunting on the ponds of the Pomona Recreation Club, near Corona, on December 13, 1914, I shot a female Vermilion Flycatcher. The bird was feeding in a willow tree that grew well out in a pond. As the species is of rather rare occurrence in this locality I thought the record worthy of note. Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens). On January 10, 1915, I shot a male Phalr;opepla, and saw another, on the Pomona Recreation Club, near Corona, California. These grounds are located in the willow bottom near the Santa Ana River. The bird was feed- ing on mistletoe berries. Several times during December I had heard the note of the Phalnopepla in this same locality, but it was not uptil the above date that I actually saw one. Since then I have heard their call several times. Then on January 23, 1915, H. White obtained another specimen in the same place. This goes further to prove that the Phainopepla winters in small numbers in favorable .localities in southern California. However, I have not met with them in the foothill and mesa regions until well along in .March. Western Winter Wren (Nannus hiemalls pacificus). I collected a female of this species on January 21, 1915, at the mouth of San Dimas Canyon, Los Angeles County, California, It is interesting to note that this is the only one that I have seen during about twenty collecting trips to the locality during this winter. Nor have I met with the bird on several other trips during this period, from the base of the foothills to 5000 feet elevation in the mountains of this IOCality.--WRIOHT M. PIERCE, Claremont, Califor- nia. California Screech ?)wl in the Humboldt Bay Region.---The lack of published state- ments regarding the occurrence of any form of Otus asio in the vicinity of Humboldt Bay, California, makes it desirable. that record be made of certain specimens recently taken in that region. Mr. Franklin J. Smith has donated two of several screech owls he has secured, one to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and one to the Los Angeles Muse- um of History, Science and Art. These are both breeding females, from the vicinity of Eureka, and are essentially alike in appearance. Detailed comparison has been made between one of these birds (Mus. VeEr. Zool. no. 25378) and series from other parts of the Pacific coast. As compared with Otus asio benditel from the San Francisco Bay region it is strikingly dark colored, and of large size (length of wing, 176 mm.). As compared with a t0potype of brewsteEl it is darker and less reddish. Size comparisons with the .latter are not possible, as the two are of different sex. Compared with an example of kennicotti from Tacoma, it is slightly larger and much less reddish. The striking feature of the two Humboldt Bay birds is that while they are of intensely dark color, there is little of reddish or rich brown in their appearance. They depart appre- ciably from the normal of benditel of the San Francisco Bay region, but do not ap- proach the more reddish hue of brewsteEl and kennicotti. For the present it seems best to class them with benditel, representing an extreme of difference from quercinus of southern California, and await the acquisition of additional material from the north- ern coast region to more definitely settle their status.--H. S. SWARTH, Museum of His- tory, Science and Art, Los Ant?eles, California.