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138 Vol. XIII FROM FIELD AND STUDY Some Diving Notes on Cormorants.--On June 12, 1910, while collecting along a stretch of rocky coast line in a twenty foot skiff, with Joe Francisco, my boatman, I took some interest_ ing notes on the diving of the Brandt Cormorant (?halacrocoraa: penicillaius), and Baird Cor- morant (Phalacrocoravc pela?icus re?plendens). We were one and one-half miles southwest from Trinidad, Humboldt County, California, and about one-half mile off shore. Mr. Francisco had set a net the night before, near a blind rock and in twenty fathoms of water. We were taking in the net when a Brandt Cormorant came to the surface in its meshes, then a second one and a third. Although the Baird Cormor- ants were common everywhere on the ocean, there were none in the net.. On closely question- ing the fisherman, he informed me Brandt Cormorants were caught almost daily in from five to thirty fathoms of water, while using the deep water nets, but were never taken in over forty fathoms of water; while the Baird Cormorant, (I had taught him the difference between the two species), were often taken in as much aseighty fathoms of water. I saw several Baird Cormorants rise to the surface of the water with'pieces of kelp in their bills, in places where Joe informed me the water was over eighty fathoms deep. Brandt Cor- morants were not seen far off shore, though they were common amongst the rocks near shore. Is it a superiority in diving, or a desire to obtain a certain kind of food that prompts the Baird Cormorants to go down deeper than Brandt Cormorants, while on their feeding gronnds ?--C. I. CLAY. The Black Duck in California.--The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California is the recipient of a specimen of the Black Duck (Arias rubripes). It is evidently a female, though the sex was not recorded from dissection, and is excellently mounted. It was transmitted to the Museum by Mr. Vernon Shepherd, a taxidermist of San Francisco, who re- ceived the bird from a hunter by the name of Spooner, who shot it at Willows, Glenn County, California, February 1, 1911. The specimen is No. 17198 of the Museum's department of birds. --J. Grinnell. Golden Eagle and Dog.--The following eagle story was told to me by Mr. A. J. Nevran- mont, of the California Seed Co., San Francisco, California, and both Mr. Nevraumont and his brother-in-law, who was with him at the time, are willing to take their oaths that it is true in every detail. And I might say parenthetically that they trust me implicitly to get the details straight. And I hope I do. On Christmas day, 1909, Mr. Nevraumont and his brther-in-law took a walk in the red- wood grove near San Rafael, Marin County, California, and had with them a snmll white dog. As they were strolling along, enjoying the balmy softness of a California Christmas among the beautiful evergreen redwood trees they were startled by the sound of rushing wings, and saw that an eagle was swooping down from some point of vantage upon the white (log. As the bird descended it touched a dead branch which broke off and came down on top of it just as it struck at the little dog. The branch was so heavy and the blow from it was so great that the eagle was partially stunned, and Mr. Nevraumont managed to jump on the bird and save his dog from harm. He killed the eagle with a club, and showed it to several people. If he had known at the time that my brother and I were interested in birds he would have presented it to us, he says, but being ignorant of our especial hobby he naturally did not do so. From his description it must have been a Golden Eagle. I have seen this species on rare occasions in this county, but never in the vicinity of San Rafael.--JosEm? MAILLIARD. A Method of Tree Climbing.--Collecting a set of four Pileated Woodpecker's eggs front a stump five feet in diameter at the base; nest forty-five feet from the ground. First a rod of one-fonrth inch iron, thirteen feet long is bent as shown at a b c, Fig. 1, with loops at a, b, and c, and laid on the ground around the tree. Second, a five-eighths inch rope twenty-five feet long, shown by de, Fig. 1, wound spirally around the iron rod as shown, and with a loop at l, about six feet from end d, also laid on the ground. Third, six feet of clothes line tied around the waist (ffFig. 1.) and to the loops a andc of the iron rod. The rope end d is carried around the body and fastened to the loop I with any suitable knot' and again at h as shown in Fig. 2. The end e is also passed around the body and fastened at ,if, the knots at ? and h being made as shown in Fig. 3. As the tree becomes smaller, while being ascended, the loop o, (Fig. 3) has to be shifted from h to h' and h" etc., (Fig. 2) the slack rope being taken up at ? (Fig. 2) by pushing the part m through the loop o and pulling the end n