May, 1919 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 123 but, as most of the evidence submitted has concerned nesting pairs of birds, it may be of interest to record the following winter observations on one species. Throughout the greater part of the San Joaquin Valley the California Shrike (Lanius ?u?ovicianus ga?be?i) is a very abundant resident and, because of its habit of perching on telephone and telegraph wires while watching for prey, it is a rather conspicuous species at all times. Some idea of the abundance of this bird may be obtained from the statement that, in driving a distance of fifteen fniles along the county roads, or even along the state highway, the count usually totaled from twenty to thirty birds. Eighteen years of observation had convinced me that certain pairs of shrikes remained mated through the fall and winter months; but I had never given the matter any serious thought until the appearance of Mr. Willard's article, which greatly stimu- lated my interest. And, as I had occasion all through the last three months of the past year to make almost daily trips by automobile between many of the towns in Stanislaus and Merced counties, it soon became my regular practice to take a mental cenlus of the Shrikes seen along the way. After making the count innumerable times I found that, with remarkably little variation, the average was one pair of birds seen for every five single individuals noted. In enumerating pairs I counted as such only birds seen perched close together or flying in company; the few doubtful cases were down as two single birds. To assume that each pair of Shrikes bring t6 maturity an average of five young each season would probably be getting very close to the actual figures. Is it not proba- ble, then, that the larger figure in the ratio of five to one represents birds of th? year which have never been mated, with, possibly, just an occasional adult which, through one agency or another, has been deprived of its mate? The observations as outlined above have firmly convinced me that, once mated,
the California Shrike spends the remainder of its life in company with the individual of
its choice.--JoH? G. TYLER, Tur]oc]?, California, February 5, 1919. Another California Record of the Bendire Thrasher.?n May 7, 1916, I collected an adult male of the Bendire Thrasher (Toxosto?na bendirei) near Victorville, Mohave Desert, California. The bird is now no. 1366, collection W. M.P. To quote Mr. Swarth: "The Bendire Thrasher is a most extraordinary take. From the date it would seem likely that it was a breeding bird, and it would be of great interest if you could actually find a nest of this species out there. As far as I can see, this specimen is precisely like others from Tucson, Arizona." I will say furtber that I have made many excursions to this locality, but after most careful search I have failed to discover any thrasher nesting there except the Leconte, and this species only rather locally.--WR?OHT M. PmRCE, Clare- mont, CaNfornia, February 8, 1919. Gray Gyrfalcon Taken in Oregon.--On November 17, 1916, while shooting d?/cks over a small seepage pond on the Hermiston, Oregon, irrigation project, Albert Humph- rey of Pendleton, Oregon, shot a large hawk as it swooped down over the water to snatch up a dead Mallard that had just been shot. Knowing my interest in birds, Humphrey brought the bird to Pendleton; but as I was out of town at the time a friend skinned and salted the specimen for me. It proved to be a Gray Gyrfalcon (Fa?co rustico?us rustico- ?us). Some time later I made it up as a study skin. So far as I can learn this is the first record of the occurrence of the species in Oregon.--STA?LEY G. JEWETT, Penc?eton, Oregon, February 11, 1919. Random Notes.--In January, 1919, Mr. Sefton brought me two females of Mergus serrator. I mounted one and made the other into a ? skin. On skinning the first one I could detect no "fishy" odor, so I sliced off the breast meat and had it cooked. It proved so savory that we cooked the other. They were equal in flavor to the average duck. The stomachs contained a mass of what appeared to be shredded grass. The big flood of January, 1916, covered most of the salt marshes near San Diego and drowned most of the Little Black Rails (Creciscus coturnicu?us). I have not been able to find one since the flood. January 30, 1919, a Marbled Godwit was brought to me for the Museum collection. On skinning it I found it was lame, with one hip considerably atrophied, so it may have been unable to go on further south.
