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I8 THE CONDOR I Vol. 11I tree. The ground was covered with leaves and the bird would hop up to one of them, nervously jerking his tail and occasionally "flirting" his wings, and select- ing a leaf he would suddenly grasp it in his beak and throw it quickly out of his way, and at once make a grab for the angle-worms underneath, sometimes almost falling over backward in his efforts to draw them out of the ground. I watched him for sometime and saw him throw some of the leaves at least fifteen inches. He was very successful, securing one or more worms from beneath every leaf he turned over, and I should like to know by what faculty he could determine be- neath which leaves the worms were hiddeu? On the 6th of October, 19oo I shot three specimens of the Willow Goldfinch from a flock of perhaps ioo birds. One of them, a young male, shows a rather odd coloration on the crown, where occurs a patch of pure white as large as a dime. Otherwise the plumage is normal. August 25 , I9oo I noticed a Roadrunner on one of the principal residence streets of Santa Clara. After "pacing" down the street a short distance it took a short cut through a fence into a flower garden where it was lost sight of. This was rather an unexpected visitor, but imagine my surprise. one morning in No- vember to see an American Coot calmly walking down the street in front of me. I lollowed closely for over ?oo yards and although the bird did not seem to be in- jured, it acted as though thoroughly "lost". The nearest water where the birds are found is three miles away. W?. L. A?rtct?so?, Santa Clara, Cal. Western Evening 6resbeak at flayward, 6al. The early morning'of December 29, 19oo , brought in a new record for this part of Alameda County (Haywards), if not for the county at large, no other records as yet having been made of the Western Even. ing Grosbeak, ( Coccothraustes v. rnontanus). The birds' loud, whistling notes first attracted my attention, as they flew into an almond tree, scenting to rest from a long flight. Seine twenty birds were in the flock and only one was shot before they were off, calling as they flew. The one collected proved to be a female in the winter plu. mage, of grayish color, showing a few yellowish-green feathers in one side of the neck. The crop was full of willow buds, showing that they had lately fed, no doubt among the creek willows below the orchard. This form of the Evening Grosbeak is found commonly every winter through the Santa Cruz Mountains of the coast range, across the bay west of Haywards. I found them common among the pines at Monterey, Cal., in the latter part of November, 1896, particularly in the early morning, or at day-break. W. O'rTo E?RSOS, Haywards, Cal., Jan. r, 19ox. Anent an Innovation. On another page will be found a 'snap-shot' of Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Be- lieving that even the ?nore staid mem- bers of our ornithological circle may enjoy seeing some of our prominent or- nithologists in moments of relaxation, Xguib has ventured to inaugurate this series. So many persons are on their good behavior at the photographer's, that we ordinarily see the 'exception' rather than the 'rule'. The original snap-shots being too valuable to trust with the engraver, this series will ap- pear redrawn with slight modifications. And lest some poor man should take us too seriously we beg to assure the world that we "josh only our friends". "SQUIB." "t?ied Pipers of Santa Barbara by Ma tin- etta Kinsell, in October Land of Sun'shine, is a good example of an extreme type of popular ornithology. It is a well written article, but of a gelatinous consistency that affords little mental pabulum. The germ of truth is about as elusive as a cork inside of a bottle. Perhaps it is not a serious attempt; we sincerely hope not. W.K.F. The H/eslern Ornilhologist, whose promising career confined itself to three issues, has we re- gret to say, sought a resting-place in the journ- alistic graveyard. Thus many creditable and deserving journals are proving steadily the futility of the So-cent "bird magazine." The leading feature of .December ]gird-Lore is a popular article on photographing White- tailed Ptarmigan (Lagsopus leucurus) in their native haunts, illustrated by six superb photo- graphs of the ptarmigan in summer and win- ter plumage by the author, Mr. E. R. Warren. The photographs are certainly among the most notable published in ornithological magazines during the year.