General Notes. 119 



Rough- winged Swallow in Connecticut. — Although not given 

 by Samuels as a bird of New England, and classed as "a rare summer 

 visitant" by C. H. Merriam in bis "Birds of Connecticut," tbe Rough- 

 winged Swallow breeds regularly in tbis State. It bas nested for tbe 

 past tbree seasons in the old stone abutments at a road-crossing over the 

 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, within eight or ten rods of 

 the depot at Green's Farms, twenty-six miles west of New Haven. Half 

 a dozen pairs nested there last season, and perhaps more; but, judging 

 from the number seen, I should say there were, fewer than during the 

 season of 1877. I have been unable to account for tbe fact that more 

 than thirty trains could pass within six or eight feet of their nests each 

 day, and not drive them away or apparently disturb them in the least. — 

 J. A. Stannis, Hartford, Conn. 



The Loggerhead Shrike (Collurio ludovicianus) breeding in 

 Northern New England. — On the 5th of May, 1877, Mr. C. A. 

 Morse, of Bangor, procured, near that city, the parent bird, nest, and 

 four eggs of what he supposed to be the Great Northern Shrike, and 

 which was so described in the " Oologist." Without suspecting the in- 

 correctness of this identification, I wrote to Mr. Harry Merrill of that 

 city for full particulars of this interesting find, which he has very kindly 

 given me in full. The parent of Mr. Morse's nest was fortunately pro- 

 curable, and was sent to me. I have submitted it to Mr. Ridgway's ex- 

 amination. The result is that the nest and eggs procured by Mr. Morse 

 near Bangor were those of the typical Collurio ludovicianus. No au- 

 thentic instance could be ascertained by Mr. Merrill where the borealis 

 had been known to breed near that city, but of the six nests found within 

 the past two years, the parents of which were procured, all were like the 

 specimen sent me for identification. 



In the summer of 1877 I received a set of eggs, sent me as those of 

 the Great Northern Shrike, from Rutland, Vt. Making further investi- 

 gations in regard to the particulars of a matter so replete with interest, by 

 the aid of Mr. Jenness Richardson of that city, I have received here also 

 one of the parent birds, and in this instance I have been again surprised 

 to learn that it is the Loggerhead, and not borealis or excubitoroides, that 

 is the species referred to. In regard to the parent of the nest found by 

 Mr. Richardson. Mr. Ridgway writes me that "it is again ludovicianus, 

 but approaching very decidedly the excubitoroides type ; in fact it is quite 

 as ' typical ' of ibe latter as a great many Western specimens." 



Mr. Richardson has furnished me with the particulars of four nests of 

 this species found in that region, one near Castleton, and three in and 

 about Rutland. So that we have in all ten well-authenticated instances 

 of the Loggerhead breeding in tbe very heart of two of the most northerly 

 of the New England States. — T. M. Brewer, Boston, Mass. 



Capture of the Loggerhead Shrike in Winter in New Hamp- 



