124 General Notes. 



A Spotted Egg of Empidonax minimus. — [The following note, 

 communicated to me by Mr. Hayward, seems of sufficient interest to merit 

 publication. I have examined the egg in question, and tbereis apparently 

 no reason to doubt its correct identification. Save for the reddish-brown 

 dotting it is quite typical of E. minimus, and not for a moment to be com- 

 pared with the eggs of either E. traillii or acadicus. I have never seen a 

 spotted egg of the Least Flycatcher before. — W. Brewster.] 



Last spring, during the month of May, while collecting eggs at Milton, 

 Mass., I found a nest of this species in the forks of an apple-tree about 

 fifteen feet from the ground, containing four eggs, three of which were of 

 the usual color, but the fourth, of the same ground-color, was minutely 

 marked with fine dots of reddish-brown. The spots are irregularly dis- 

 persed over the surface of the egg, and while numerous on one side are 

 few on the other. The egg measures .63 x .50 of an inch. The ne s t was 

 like others of this species, and the bird had the well-known note of 

 dttbe'e. — R. Hayward, Boston, Mass. 



Additional Captures of the Curlew Sandpiper in New 

 England. — The three specimens of this rare straggler, which have pre- 

 viously been recorded as occurring in New England, have all been col- 

 lected in Massachusetts, and I am enabled to add two more instances, 

 both of which have also been taken in this State. 



Mr. John Fottler, Jr., writes me that he has in his possession a fine 

 spring specimen which was shot on Cape Cod about the 10th of May, 

 1878. Another specimen is in the collection made by Mr. Baldwin 

 Coolidge (now in possession of the city of Lawrence. Mass.), which was 

 taken on Nahant Beach some ten years ago, and at that time was preserved 

 by Mr. N. Vickery, of Lynn. — Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 



A Second Specimen of the Yellow-crowned Night Heron 

 ( Nyci tardea violaced) in Massachusetts. — Since the Yellow-crowned 

 Night Heron was added to our New England birds by Mr. Allen's record * 

 of an individual shot by Mr. Vickery in Lynn, Mass., in October, 1862, no 

 additional specimens have been brought to light by the numerous enter- 

 prising observers that are so thoroughly working up our bird Fauna. It is 

 therefore with greal pleasure that I am enabled to announce the occurrence 

 of a second Massachusetts example, which is now in my possession. The 

 history of this wanderer, so far as it is known, is briefly as follows: On 

 the afternoon of July 30, 1878, Mr. George Cunningham — who resides in 

 a rather densely populated part of Somerville, just beyond the line sep- 

 arating that city from Cambridge — was attracted by a commotion among 

 the Robins and other small birds in the orchard behind the house. l*pi>n 

 investigating the cause of this unusual excitement a large bird was seen to 



take flight and disappear over the adjoining fence. Shortly alter this 

 there was another alarm from the orchard, and it was found that tho 



Am. Nat., Ill, C; 



