Mar., 1914 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 93 Egrets in Los Angeies County, California.BOn Thursday, September 2, 1913, about ten o'clock in the morning, while the Audubon Society was enroute to Anaheim Landing on the electric cars, we saw three large Egrets (H?rodias egrctta) in the marsh just back of Alamitos Bay. Feeding not far from these large white herons were several Great Blue Herons. When we returned in the afternoon the birds were nowhere in sight. About March 17, 1913, I saw one Egret on Wilmington Bay, at low tide. On March 23, 1913, I saw what I supposed to be the same bird, in another part of the same bay.-- HARRIET WILI, IAI?IS MYERS, Los Angeles, California. Two Birds New to Oregon.BArquatella marltires course. Aleutian Sandpiper. While climbing about over the ragged rocks on the Oregon coast about two miles north of Netarts Bay on December 31, 1912, with Mr. O. J. Murie, we flushed a small flock of waders. l?r. Murie fired into the flock killing three birds, one of which proved to be an Aleutian Sandpiper, the other two being Surf-birds (Aphriza virgata). While visiting, the same locality during March of this year (1913) I kept a careful 16okout in all suitable Iocalitie? and on the q0th was rewarded by seeing two more Aleutian Sandpipers climbing about on an almost perpendicular cliff just above the roaring surf. Both were secured and preserved as specimens. Dendroica palinarum palmarum. Palm Warbler. In September, 1913, while col- lecting birds in Catlow Valley, Harney County, at the west base of the Steins Mountains, ene of these w?/rblers was killed by Harry Telford in the willow thicket in the yard of the Home Creek Ranch. It was feeding in company with Audubon Warblers, which were es- pecially abundant at this Iocality.--ST^?zEY G. J?;wETT, Portland, Oregon. Probable Occurrence of the Harris Sparrow in' Washington.?A correspondent, Mrs. Lucy M. Ellis, of North Yakima, .Washington, under date of November 27, 1912, reports the recent occurrence of a sparrow whose characters were minutely noted and which could have been none other than an immature Harris (Zonotrichia querula.) On May 14 of this year at almost identically the same spot in the city of North Yak ima, Mrs. Ellis saw a Harris Sparrow in full regalia. In view of the reported occurrences of this bird in both California and Oregon, and in view of Mrs. Ellis's careful description, there can be no reasonable doubt of Z. querula's claim to a place in the Washington avi- fauna.--W. Lzo? D^wso?, Santa Barbara, California. Mallard Nest.ing in Tree.----On June 2, at Pauline Marsh, Lake County, Oregon, I found a Mallard nest in what I th6ught an unusual site. It was placed in a deserted crow's nest, some eight feet up in a clump of willow trees, surrounded by the marsh. The nest xvas lined with down, and contained six'well incubated eggs. Before the female returned to the nest, the crows, that with a colony of Black-crowned Night Herons were also nesting in the xvillows, descended upon the nest and ate one of the eggs. In one patch of tules at this place we found a large number of ducks' eggs, probably 150, that had been destroyed by these crows. In some cases entire nests had been rifled. The Night Herons likewise suffered much from these depredations, but we did not make an estimate of the damage.-- A?Ex^?ER W^?CER, Mulino, Orgon. Accidents to Spotted Sandpipers.----Of three specimens of Actiris macularius taken along. the rocky beach south of Redondo, California, on December 7, 1913, one had the last phalanx of middle toe of left foot gone, with claw hanging by a tendon. Another had the right leg gone at the khee, and the third had last phalanx of outer toe of right foot gone with.claw. In every case the amputation occurred at a joint, and the wound had healed in a smooth slightly enlarged knob. Can this be the work of the softrshell "side-step" crabs so abundant among these rocks? One can imagine one of these crabs catching a toe or leg in its big claw, but unable to subdue a struggling bird, which would finally twist off a toe or leg. Has anyone else noticed similar deformities?--J. EugEnE LAw, Hollywood, California. A New Record for the Pacific Slope of Southern California.----On December 12, !912, while hunting through a large weedy field near El Monte, Los Angeles County, I en- countered a flock of San Diego Song Sparrows (Melospi=a m. cooperi) and Lincoln Spar- rows (Melospiga I. lincolni) which must have numbered over a hundred individuals. Among specimens collected was a Mountain Song Sparrow (Melospi=a melodia montana). In order to make doubly sure, Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Swarth most kindly verified the identification. This would seem to constitute a new record for the Pacific slope of southern Califorfiia.-- A. B?^Z?ER, HowE?t,, Coyins, Californa.
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