the primitive purity of its Western fellow. . . . However, they are quite abundant and extremely tame, and being well protected during the greater part of the year by a special law, they are allowed to breed in security, and their ranks are but slightly thinned during the 'off months.'” By H. R. Ibid., XV, p. 426. — A

156. Another Captive Woodcock.

Ibid., XV,

specimen "picked up in the street" in Montreal alive. 157. Canvas Backs in Rhode Island. By Fred'k Skinner. p. 417. — Two killed at Point Judith early in November. 158. The Wavy of Winnipeg the Snow Goose. By H. Ibid., XV, p. 466.-Ross's Goose not known to occur in the Province of Winnipeg. 159. Domestication of the Ostrich. By E. B. Biggar. Ibid., XV, pp. 505, 506, xvi, pp. 6, 7. An original account of Ostrich-rearing in South Africa.

160. Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries and Game, of the State of Maine, for 1880. Augusta, 1880, 8vo. pp. 1-54. [E. M. Stillwell and Everett Smith, Commissioners.]-Contains ten pages (pp. 33-43) devoted to the game birds of the State, including six pages relating to the introduction of the European Quail.

General Notes.

ABUNDANCE OF THE HERMIT THRUSH IN WINTER NEAR WASHINGTON, D. C. -During the winter of 1879-80, the Hermit Thrush was commonly distributed throughout the woods of the District of Columbia as well as those of Alexandria County, Virginia. As the occurrence of this species in winter is not recorded in the lists of District birds, I, at that time, considered its appearance as exceptional and due to the unusual mildness of the season.

The present winter, however, has been one of remarkable severity in this part of the country, the rivers having frozen in November, while the ground has been covered with snow, from nine to twelve inches deep, since December 20. On the 1st of January, while hunting for birds among the wooded hills which border the Virginia shore of the Potomac, I again met with this species. These hills are very wild and steep, densely coverved with a growth of young trees, and intersected by numerous deep ravines, through which streams of water work their way to the river. In these secluded places numbers of birds had sought shelter from the cold, which, during the night, had been intense, the thermometer registering a temperature of fourteen degrees below zero. The first Thrush noticed was shot about ten o'clock in a clump of saplings a few yards from the river's bank. In the course of the day seven other individuals were observed. They frequented the most sheltered and tangled portions of the ravines, principally near the summits of the hills. They were silent and

solitary, and so tame that they frequently permitted an approach to within five or six yards before leaving their perch.

My brother obtained another specimen in the same locality on the 4th and reported them more numerous than on the 1st. I observed three more individuals in the woods bordering on Rock Creek on the 9th, a few hours after a snow storm.-GEORGE SHOEMAKER, Georgetown, D. C.

THE HUDSONIAN TITMOUSE IN MASSACHUSETTS. -December 31, 1880, I shot a Hudsonian Titmouse (Parus hudsonicus) in my garden at Cambridge. It was very tame and, in company with one Black-capped Titmouse, was hopping about on a low pear-tree when secured. The thermometer had been in the neighborhood of zero for several days and the Black-capped Titmice unusually numerous. This is, I believe, the third appearance of the Hudsonian Titmouse in Massachusetts. HENRY M. SPELMAN, Cambridge, Mass.

ON THE RANGE OF Lophophanes atrocristatus IN TEXAS.-In looking over Mr. Sennett's "Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande" I was surprised to find that this species ranged westward up the Rio Grande only to Fort Clark, about three degrees west of Fort Brown. It also recalled to my mind that, so far as my own observations have extended, the longitudinal range of the Black-crested Tit becomes still more contracted as I traced it north, the bird being seen only in a narrow strip of cross timber in Young Co., Texas in about lat. 33° N. From Fort Griffin, which is forty miles west of Graham, in Young County, I traveled westward one hundred miles and did not see a single specimen. To the east of Graham there was a decided strip of neutral land on which I did not observe either L. atrocristatus or L. bicolor. I estimate approximately the width of this space at thirty miles. This trip was made in October, 1878. The eastern boundary of the range of this species runs from Graham southwest to Austin, Texas. This bird was not seen on the head of the Red River by Lieut. McCauley, but it ranges nearly if not quite to Red River in long. 100' W.-G. H. RAGSDALE, Gainesville, Texas.

THE CONNECTICUT WARBLER (Oporornis agilis) · -A CORRECTION.— In a small collection of birds kindly sent to me for examination, by Mr. George Woolsey, is the specimen recorded as Oporornis agilis in Vol. V, p. 117, of this Bulletin. The specimen proves to be a female Geothlypis philadelphia. The bird was taken May 12, 1880. and the correction of the error becomes the more important from this fact, since it leaves Oporornis agilis without a spring record for southern New England. — J. A. ALLEN, Cambridge, Mass.

STRANGE NESTING HABITS OF A PAIR OF CHATS.-I think the following extracts from a letter lately received from Mr. C. W. Beckham of Washington, D. C., may be of interest to the readers of the Bulletin. The locality is near Ilchester, Howard Co., Maryland.

"About the first week in May, 1876. a pair of Chats [Icteria virens] began building in a Wren box attached to one of the pillars of the south piazza which partly fronts towards a small ravine. They seemed to be very little disturbed by the occasional presence of members of the family, but appeared to be considerably annoyed by the belligerent attentions of a pair of Wrens (Troglodytes aëdon) who had taken up their quarters in another box on an adjacent pillar, and who were inclined to be very quarrelsome with their strange neighbors.

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They the Chats - had been at work nearly a week, when a violent wind-storm blew the box down and thus rudely upset their domestic plans. The box was replaced in hopes that they would try it again, but their perseverance was not equal to the occasion, and they never returned. In view of the generally shy and secretive nature of the Chat, this incident of abnormal nidification seems rather curious."-CHARLES F. BATCHELDer, Cambridge, Mass.

SONG OF THE WHITE-BELLIED Swallow (Iridoprocne bicolor).—I have seen no account of the song of this species, nor, indeed, was I aware of its musical powers until the past summer. May 24, at an elevation of 8000 feet, I found a little colony just beginning house-keeping in a cottonwood grove on an island in the San Antonio River, Colorado. When at rest they uttered a peculiar chirrupy warble, bearing resemblance to a Sparrow's song in some respects, and strikingly like a Robin's in some of the half whistles.

The species breeds as high as 10,000 feet, and, I believe, always in trees. – F. M. DREW, Howardsville, Colorado.

The White-belLIED SWALLOW (Tachycineta bicolor) ON THE NEW JERSEY COAST IN NOVEMBER. - Mr. Gerard R. Hardenbergh of New Brunswick, New Jersey, tells me of the great abundance of the Whitebellied Swallow at Squam Beach, New Jersey, on November 16, 1880. The Swallows had been abundant for the previous two days, though the temperature was unusually low for the time of year. They were feeding on the bayberry (Myrica cerifera) in such numbers that Mr. Hardenbergh secured fifteen birds at a single shot. The birds were brought to me, and at least three quarters are in immature plumage. - W. E. D. Scott, Princeton, New Jersey.

A NEW BIRD (Plectrophanes pictus) FOR SOUTH CAROLINA. In the town of Chester, S. C., while walking, on December 1, 1880, through a stubble field overgrown with short grass, my attention was arrested by the undulating flight and peculiar chirping notes of a small bird, some thirty or forty feet in the air, flying towards me. When within about twenty yards of the place where I stood, it suddenly darted to the ground; and, when approached, ran nimbly off through the grass, stopping occasionally to watch my movements, and, finally, when too closely pressed took wing, continuing its flight, only, however, for a few yards. After being flushed several times, and apparently growing less shy, it allowed me to advance

within five or six feet. As I was without a gun, my only resort was a stone; and, much to my surprise, the bird stood, with parted bill and drooping wings, inquisitively watching my movements, while I deliberately threw the stone and knocked it over. This accidental acquisition thus added a new bird - the Painted Lark Bunting to the fauna of the Carolinas. LEVERETT M. LOOMIS, Chester, S. C.

THE IPSWICH SPARROW (Passerculus princeps) AT SQUAM Beach, NEW JERSEY. - Mr. Gerard R. Hardenbergh secured on Nov. 16, 1880, a female of this species which he sent to me with other birds. W. E. D. SCOTT, Princeton, New Jersey.

NOTE ON THE FIELD SPARROWw (Spizella pusilla). — On the morning of the 8th of May, 1880, while gathering wild flowers on the banks of a running brook in a meadow I found a nest of the Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) containing four eggs. I had almost trodden upon the nest and my first impression of its location was the fluttering at my feet of the female bird as she left her charge at my too near approach. On the morning of the 12th the nest contained six eggs and as one of them was much warmer than the others I presumed it had just been laid. I visited the nest frequently and on the morning of the 19th five birds were hatched and the sixth egg chipped. Supposing the bird to have commenced setting immediately after laying the last egg the period of incubation could not have exceeded seven days-one hundred and sixty-eight hours. Continuing my visits at irregular intervals I noticed the rapidity of growth in the nestlings. The nest was not large enough to contain them all; on the 24th one of the little birds was sitting just outside but close to the nest, and on the afternoon of the 25th I found the nest empty. Reclining on the grass awhile I soon heard a faint chirp somewhat resembling the noise of young crickets, and in a few seconds several of them, and as the parents appeared with food for the little ones a hurried fluttering from various places within the space of a square rod revealed the presence of the family. The next day the young birds could fly two or three rods at a time and procure a portion of their food. Sixteen days from the commencement

of incubation the young seemed to be able to take care of themselves. The adult birds appeared to become familiar in some degree with my visits and exhibited less uneasiness towards the close than at the beginning, and the male occasionally sung his richly musical strain, which resembles a combination of some of the notes of the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) and the Grass Finch (Pacetes gramineus).

The mean temperature of the air during incubation week from May 12 to 19 was 57.61°; the extremes, 46° on the 14th and 88° on the 17th; rainfall, 0.21 inches on the 13th. The mean temperature from the 19th to the 25th was 68.14'; the extremes, 52° on the 19th and 88° on the 25th; rainfall, 0.23 inches on the 23d.-ELISHA SLADE, Somerset, Mass.

BELL'S FINCH (Poospiza belli nevadensis) in New Mexico. - I have found Bell's Finch to be quite common in the vicinity of San Marcial,

New Mexico, during fall and winter. I met with them in small flocks on the hill-sides bordering the barren plains, where a few stunted bunches of grass, scattered weeds, the tree cactus, and thorny bushes occasionally dotted the ground. The birds were very active, running about with tail steadily erected at an angle of 45°, in an odd, easy, graceful manner which readily attracted attention. When startled they flew to the top of a bush, but quickly dropped again to the ground. I thought, as I saw them running so swiftly, stopping now and then to pick up food or occasionally to scratch the ground, that they were busily engaged in catching a small kind of beetle I had noticed, but in dissecting four that I shot December 2 and 3, 1880, I found in their stomachs only small seeds and coarse gravel. The measurements of the birds shot are as follows: —

Length, 6.20; extent, 9.50; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.60; tarsus, .80: bill, .40. ♂ Length, 6.50; extent, 9.50; wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; tarsus, .80; bill, .40. Length, 6.50; extent, 9.75; wing, 3.10; tail, 3.00; tarsus, .80; bill, .40. Length, 6.00; extent, 9.00; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.65; tarsus, .80: bill, .40. Iris, dark brown; bill, dusky, the base of the lower mandible pale blue. Legs, dark-reddish brown; feet and claws black.-N. S. Goss, Neosho Falls, Kansas.

PECULIAR NIDIFICATION OF THE BOBOLINK. - During the haying season of 1854, I found in a meadow where I was at work a nest of the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) occupying the space between four stalks of a growing narrow dock (Rumex crispus). This nest was suspended from four points of its circumference, 90° apart, to the four stalks of the plant which grew from the same root. The bottom of the nest was about six inches above the ground. It was constructed entirely of vegetable material and consisted of two distinctly separate parts. A hemispherical cup, in one piece of coarse but neatly woven cloth, very strong and very light, was fastened to the living, growing supports by strong fibres passing around each stalk above and below a joint and firmly woven into the rim of the cup with some of the longer strings interlacing the sides. Loups passed through the bottom of the cup were attached to diagonal supports. The edge or rim of this cup was about half an inch thick at the points of bearing and about one-fourth of an inch in the quadrants. The texture just below the rim was closely woven and strongly wrought, varying from one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, growing thinner gradually from the edge, and a small space in the lowest part was of open work evidently designed to secure good and certain drainage.

In this hanging basket was an elaborate lining of very soft blades of grass between which and the cup was an elastic padding. The woven cup was about five inches in diameter and five inches deep, the padding about half an inch thick, and the lining about the same thickness. The whole structure, dock and nest, swayed in every passing breeze but the nest was so strongly fastened to the stalks and the plant so securely held by the nest that it would have required a hurricane or tornado to have blown it away.