and in full song (during 1896 and 1897 I saw none). Nest building begins during the second half of April. I have found its five to eight eggs from May 9 to June 6 (1890).

Cistothorus palustris paludicola. Tule Wren.

The tule wren breeds in the marshes south of San José, but not very abundantly.

Parus inornatus. Plain Tit.

It can hardly be said that this tit is common at Los Gatos even in winter, though it is seen much more frequently then than during the breeding season. At Palo Alto, and probably in the oak region throughout the valley, it is a very common resident. It has, perhaps, a greater variety of notes than any other of our birds. Its eggs, usually, are seven, and are to be found in April. Occasionally, the nests are built in bird boxes.

Parus rufescens neglectus. California Chickadee.

In the coniferous woods southeast of Saratoga this chickadee is a very common resident and undoubtedly breeds. Straggling flocks occur irregularly near Los Gatos during nearly the whole year, but never are common.

Chamaa fasciata. Wren Tit.

This is a very common resident of the chaparral belt, where its curiously rattlelike call may be heard almost constantly. Its song is a series of beautifully clear whistled notes delivered at constantly lessening intervals, so that it has much the cadence of an ivory ball dropped on a slab of stone. Nest building begins about the middle of April (April 12, 1890) and fresh eggs may be found until late in June (June 20, 1889). Three to five eggs are laid, most frequently four.

Psaltriparus minimus californicus.

California Bush Tit.

This is a very common resident. Nest building sometimes begins as early as the middle of February, but usually not until a month later. The nests vary in length from six and one-half inches to more than a foot. Their construction occupies the birds from one to three weeks (extremes are April 5-11; March 16-April 10), depending chiefly upon the abundance of material. Full sets contain from two to eight eggs, and may be found as late as June 16

(1888). When the eggs are taken the birds often remove the nest, bit by bit, to a new location. The following notes show that two broods are reared in the same nest:

April 24, 1888: Found bush tit's nest in live oak, ten feet from ground. May 4: After cutting the nest down and finding that it held five young birds, I tied it in place again. May 12: Young still in nest. June 16: Thinking the nest deserted I again cut it down, was surprised to find five eggs. The birds had stopped up the original hole, made another lower down, and relined the nest. April 5, 1889. Bush tit's nest in live oak, nine feet from ground. Six young. April 21: Nest empty. April 27: Six eggs. April 28 Seven eggs. April 30: Eight eggs.

Regulus satrapa olivaceus. Western Golden-crowned Kinglet.
This kinglet is a rare winter visitant.

Regulus calendula.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

This is a very common winter resident, arriving, ordinarily, in October and remaining until March or April.

Myadestes townsendii. Townsend's Solitaire.

A female shot at Los Gatos, February 11, 1893, is the only one observed.

Hylocichla ustulata ædica.

This is a very common summer resident, arriving in April and remaining until September (Mar. 24, 1899-Sep. 3, 1892). It nests very abundantly along watercourses, chiefly in June.

Hylocichla aonalaschka. Dwarf Hermit Thrush.

The dwarf thrush is extremely common from late in October (Nov. 7, 1888, Oct. 20, 1899, Oct. 30, 1891, Oct. 22, 1892) until after the thrushes of the ustulata type have appeared in the spring. I believe it does not nest in Santa Clara county, although it does among the redwoods a few miles farther west.

Merula migratoria propinqua. Western Robin.

The robin is a common migrant and winter resident, appearing usually in October (Oct. 16, 1887, Nov. 3, 1888, Oct. 9, 1889, Oct. 30, 1891) and remaining until the latter part of March (Mar. 21, 1888; Mar. 24, 1889). One appeared at Los Gatos August 8,

1893, and was seen almost daily until September 10. In November and December, 1889, immense flocks passed southward, almost without intermission for days at a time.

Hesperocichla navia. Varied Thrush.

It usually is not until several weeks after the arrival of our other winter birds that the varied thrush appears at Los Gatos (Jan. 5, 1889; Dec. 24, 1889; Dec. 9, 1893). Often it is very common, but during the winter of 1889-90 I saw only three. My latest dates are March 22, 1888, and March 30, 1890.

Sialia mexicana occidentalis.

Western Bluebird.

This bluebird is a common resident. Its nests may be found from the middle of April until June. In winter it associates with Lawrence's warbler and the pine, green-backed and willow goldfinches.

Sialia arctica. Mountain Bluebird.

The mountain bluebird sometimes occurs as a rare winter visitant.

SOME PASSAMAQUODDY WITCHCRAFT TALES.

BY J. DYNELEY PRINCE, PH.D.

(Read November 17, 1899.)

The following six tales of witchcraft were related to me during the summer of 1899 at Bar Harbour, Me., by Mr. Newell S. Francis, of the Passamaquoddy' tribe, now resident with his people, numbering some 500 to 600 souls in all, on their reservation at Pleasant Point, Me. (Pass. Sibayik). The chief interest of these stories lies in the facts, first, that they are the utterances of a comparatively intelligent Indian who firmly believes in the genuineness of the phenomena which he describes, and, secondly, that they were recorded by means of a phonograph, into which Mr. Francis spoke with great distinctness, thus enabling me to reproduce them with much greater phonetic exactness than if he had written them in the very imperfect system at present followed by the few Indians of this tribe who can write their language.

Any missionary to the Passamaquoddies, or to their kindred, the New Brunswick Maliseets, the Penobscots of Oldtown, Me., or the Micmacs and Abenakis of Quebec, will admit that belief in the ancient Shamanistic sorcery among these Indians has by no means died out. Among the Passamaquoddies and Maliseets' particularly there is still a perfect mine of material relating to the wizards and their power over other men and over the curious beings with which the Indians have peopled the mysterious forests of their country. It is to be regretted that more interest is not taken in this highly curious people, who in the course of fifty years are almost bound to disappear, but whose old men and women are still able to impart much that is very valuable both to the philologist and to the student of native American beliefs.'

'The word Passamaquoddy is a corruption of the Indian Pistumwōkádyik, the plural of the participial formation Pěstŭmwōk-ād “he who catches the pollock-fish " from Pěskůtům wōk “ pollock-fish,” + -ād, participial ending. Cf. Põnnămwōk-ād "he who catches frost-fish.”

'The Maliseets, sometimes called St. John Indians, live in New Brunswick, on the river St. John. They are identical with the Maine Passamaquoddies in race and language. They are called in the native idiom: Walästuk-wiyik "Indians of the river St. John (Wülāstik).”

'See Prince, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., xxxvi, pp. 479-495; Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci., xi, pp. 369-377

PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXVIII. 160. M. PRINTED FEB. 7, 1900.

In pre-Christian times the Passamaquoddies, like their other Algic kindred, were Shamanists, worshipers of the demons of the wilderness and the lakes, and firm believers in the almost unlimited power of their m'dēaulinwük or wizards, many of whom still exist, subordinately, of course, to the Catholic doctrine, which nearly all the Indians profess. Francis informs me that there are only three or four Protestant Passamaquoddy families

A few specimens of these sorcerers' power are described below in the curiously curt style of Algic narrative. We see from the following tales that the wizards could transform themselves into animals at will (see tale i); that they could cast a spell or curse on an enemy, even though he might also be m'deaulin (tale ii); that they could violate the laws of nature so far as to walk in hard ground, sinking up to the ankles or knees at every step (tale iii), and, finally, that they could communicate with each other telepathically (tale iv). I need hardly comment on the first two and the fourth of these wonders, as they are common among all Shamanistic conjurers, but the third phenomenon, e. g., the power to sink into hard ground while walking, is, I believe, characteristically American. Rink states that this is not an unusual feat among the conjurers of the Greenland Eskimo, who frequently sink into rocky and frozen ground "as if in snow." The trick is probably done by some peculiar way of stooping. Leland compares here, however, the Old Norse statements regarding their wizards, who occasionally sank into the ground and who had power to pass through earth with the same ease as through air or water (Algonquin Legends, p. 342). It would be hardly permissible to draw a parallel between the ancient Norsemen and the northern Indians on this account, as the case he cites is that of a conjurer who disappeared into the ground head downwards, when he was stabbed at by a foe. It should be noticed that in the following tale, my authority did not see the actual feat, but only the deep tracks of the wizard where he had sunk into the earth" the night before," as Francis expressed it in his expla

nation.

The fifth anecdote, of a cannibalistic feast, is highly interesting. The wizards here eat their murdered comrade, evidently with the idea of absorbing into themselves some or all of his power. The cannibalistic orgies of the South Sea Islanders should be compared with this practice. For example, the Fijis and the Maoris of New Zealand ate their enemies with the same object in view, e. g., to