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2[4 THE. CONDOR Vol. XXI Telmatodytes palustris plesius. This wren as well as Thryomanes bewicl?i eremo- philus apparently are residents in the vicinity of Lone Pine, both being fairly common during my stay. A considerable number of perennial springs exist Within a radius of three miles of the village, their advent, it is said, dating from an earthquake in the early seventies. These give rise to many boggy places or "vagys", usually invaded by Johnson grass, or briers. This affords excellent covert for the Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus torqua- tus), and within the area delineated, it is abundant, although, I believe, introduced with- in comparatively recent ycars.--AVSTXN PXUL S?XTH, Rich Mountain, Arkansas, July t? , 1919. The California Jay as a Bird Killer.--The literature of western ornithology con- tains numerous references to the damage done by the California Jay in destroying the eggs and young of small birds, but most of these accounts are unsatisfactory inasmuch as the authors fail to discriminate between what they have actually seen the Jay do and what they have inferred to be the work of the species. Without doubt this Jay is an enemy and an important one of the smaller species during the nesting season; but cor- rect appraisal of the damage done can only be made after assembling numerous records of depredations definitely observed. The instance recited below, while not pertaining to a species of good repute, is offered as an example of the type of record needed with regard to all -birds affected by the Jays operations. While walking down a street in Berkeley, California, on the afternoon .of May 2, 1919, my attention was attracted to a commotion among birds in a shade tree. One or more California Linnets were flying excitedly back and forth within the foliage of the tree and calling loudly and some English Sparrows also present were chirping in re- monstrant tones. The object of their attention was a California Jay (Aphelocoma cali- fornica) which at my close approach flew out of the tree and made off carrying a young bird as he want. The Jay alighted on a large hoyizontal limb of a Monterey cypress and there, literally standing on his prey, began to peck vigorously at the latter's neck. The Jay's head moved up and down with the swift strong strokes that these birds uss when any food is "at hand". All this time the fledg- ling had emitted an almost continuous series of cries but with the progress of the Jay's attack these suddenly ceased. The Jay continued to peck at his prey and soon stray feathers and. bits of flesh began to come down from the tree. Wishing to learn the vic- tim's identity, which was not evident from the strident notes it had uttered, I threw stones at the Jay until the bird was frightened enough to drop its prey and hop up into the tree. The dead bird was a young English Sparrow (Passer domesticus)' presumably not yet out of the nest, 'as the flight feathers were not fully grown. It had been killed by the Jay pecking at its neck until the vertebrae were fractured and the spinal cord laid open and injured. The young bird is 'preserved as alcoholic specimen number 30833 at the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, exactly as it was found when released by the Jay.--TRACY I. STORER, Museum' Of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, Caliiornia, July 31, 1919. EDITORIAL NOTES AND .NEWS Members of the Cooper Ornithological We are glad to be able to present at this time the portrait of Major E. A. Goldman, recently returned to Washington from over- seas service in the United States Army. Word now comes that he has been placed in charge of the Division of Biological Investi- gation, Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, a post which he is eminently qualified to fill. Gold- man is favorably known in the west partic- ularly for the field work he has done in many of the states as well as in Lower Cali- fornia and Mexico. His important scientific contributions have been chiefly in the field of mammalogy. Club will find interest in looking over a re- cent paper bearing the title: "Notes on Mammals Collected Principally in Washing- ton and California between the Years 1853 and 1874 by .Dr. James Graham Cooper" (Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 4th ser., ?x?, 1919, pp. 69-121). The author, our fellow member Dr. Walter P. Taylor, has gathered into the pages of this contribution a large amount of biographical matter relating t6 the all-round and gifted naturalist for whom our organi- zation was named. Ornithology has seldom had to bear with so serious a loss as .that suffered in the