General Notes. 117 



male not until the next day. From that time forward we found tbom in 

 every suitable locality for miles around. The birds' favorite haunts ap- 

 peared to be dense and solitary woods with tangled undergrowth, where 

 fallen hemlock tops and other de'bris of the woods that mark decay 

 are overgrown with various briery bushes. From our arrival in July 

 until the time of their departure, they were in full song. In many cases 

 we found single birds having two distinct songs. Often have we observed 

 them singing one for some time, and then, as though tired of that, take up 

 the other, sometimes alternating the two. 



July 25 we found their nest, containing three young and one egg. The 

 next day we found a second nest, near which were three young, scarcely 

 able to fly. The nests were placed in the forks of small saplings, near the 

 ground, and were composed of hemp and grapevine fibres, lined with horse- 

 hair, interspersed with feathers. 



The birds began moulting about the first week in August, but by the 

 middle of September we obtained some fine specimens apparently recov- 

 ered from this state. We secured female birds with the black gradating 

 from a single spot to a full tracing of the hood. We also found young males 

 of the year, with the black as dense and glossy, and the yellow as rich, as 

 in the best adults ; yet the little " spike tails " scarcely exceeded half an 

 inch in length, and their peculiar plumage marked them as young. We 

 observed this Warbler as late as September 20, when a few cold breezes 

 from the lake drove them southward. — Samuel F. Rathbun and Frank 

 S. Wright, Auburn, N. Y. 



Note on Dexdrceca townsendi. — The following interesting ob- 

 servations occur in a letter addressed to me by William A. Cooper, of 

 Santa Cruz, Cal., dated January 18, 1879 : "I have made skins of about 

 a dozen specimens of Dendraeca townsendi this year, and have killed 

 others, too much shot to prepare to advantage. My first specimen, taken 

 November 3, 1878, was feeding in company with Parus rufescens, Vireo 

 huttoni, Psaltriparus minimus, and Regulus, in willows, alders, and syca- 

 mores on the bank of a river. November 14 I shot eight specimens, and 

 conld readily have obtained thrice the number, as I saw fully a hundred 

 feeding in a similar location, with several small birds as above mentioned. 

 I have obtained a few specimens since ; but they have left the trees along 

 the river, probably because they are now bare, and live among the taller 

 redwoods, firs, and oaks, and are obtained with difficulty. January 1, 

 1879, I shot my last specimen, not having been out since. Shot a couple, 

 December 29, of one of which I now have the skin. As soon as I can con- 

 veniently do so I shall go into the woods and try to obtain a fresh speci- 

 men to send you in the flesh. My opinion, based chiefly on the above 

 facts, is that D. townsendi, or at least a portion of those that come here, 

 spend the winter. Further investigations will decide it." — Elliott 

 Coues, Washington, D. C. 



