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Mar., 1912 73 FROM FIELD AND STUDY , Call Note of the Female California QuaiL--In September, 1911, a stroll through the Belvedere garden was suddenly interrupted by the calling of Quail (Lophortyx c. cali- fornica), and shortly four of these birds sailed across the road, scattering within a few feet of the observer. One bird lit on the bare, horizontal trunk of a small live-oak and in such a manner as to permit the noting of every plumage detail of an adult hen. A cock soon came strut- ting along the gravelled path and, properly posing himself, gave the familiar call of "all is well." The supposed hen immediately replied in like manner, and in so doing not only assumed the call pose of the male, but also clearly showed the usual accompanying head and throat movements. The call was repeated several times, and the record is positive. A similar experience was enjoyed in the same garden a few years ago, and within thirty feet of the foregoing observation, but unfortunately the details of the record were lost in the conflagration of 1906. Were the females in question favored with individual vocal gifts or were they males in female attire ?--JoHN W. MAmL?ARD. The Winter Range of the Yakutat Song Sparrow.--In a 'report on a collection of birds from the Sitkan district, Alaska, published by the .writer. '(Bird? and Mammals o[ the 1909 ?tlexanfler ?tlaska Expedition,, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 7, 1911, pp..90, 91) Melospiza melodia caurina was mentioned as a migrant in the region. This impression was conveyed by the sudden appearance of the birds at points. where they. had been ab- sent a few days before, their presence during a period of about three weeks, and ?cheir subsequent disappearance; and I still believe that these particular birds were transients, probably from points farther south. Soon after the appearance of the paper referred to above, my companion on that trip, Mr. Allen Hasselborg, a resident of Juneau, expressed his belief to me, in a letter, that I was mistaken in my ideas, and that to his certain knowledge song sparrows remained through the winter on the beaches in the vicinity of Juneau and on the adjacenf islands. In support of his statement he has just sent me, ?as a gift to' the University. of' California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, eight song sparrows collected by himself. These were all taken on Admiralty 'Island: one at Gambier Bay, November 27, 1911, the others at Pybus Bay, one on December 9, three on December 10, and one each on December il, 19? and 23, 1911. In the accompanying letter he describes the beaches where the sparrows were found as of a'limestone formation, worn full of little caves and crevices by the action of the water, and thus providing shelters for the birds. He asserts that on all such beaches in the region, song sparrows are to be found throughout the winter; as it happened, the points visited by us early in the season of 1909 .did not possess such features, hence the absence of the birds. He writes that the sparrows were distributed singly along the beaches at intervals of about two hundred yards, were exceedingly fat, and had their stomachs filled with a mass of unrecognizable slimy matter from the beach. The eight birds collected (nos. 21292-21299, Univ. Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool.) are all examples of the Yakutat Song Sparrow (Melospi?a melodia caurina). One of them in its brown coloration is not typical, varying decidedly in the direction of ru[ina; but the longer and more slender bill, larger size, and duller browns, all go to indicate a closer relation- ship to caurina. The facts thus far accumulated make it seem probable that the breeding song spar- row of the Sitkan district, Melospi?a m. ru[ina, leaves the northern part of this region entirely in winter. Just how far north it does winter is not known. The Yakutat Song Sparrow (M. m. caurina) is shown to winter at least as far north as Juneau, and as it has recently been taken as far south as Humboldt Bay, California (see Grinnell, Com?oR x?, 1910, 174) is, of course, to be looked for at all intermediate points. Its center of abun- dance during the winter months is not known.--H. S. SW,?RTH. Unusual Nesting Date of Mourning Dove.--On December 5, 1911, while pruning an orange tree, I accidentally discovered a nest of Zenaidura rnacroura carolinensis con- taining two eggs too far advanced in incubation to save. One of the parent birds was