General Notes. 127 



text : "In the male common golden-eye, the wind-pipe, soon after leaving 

 the throat and before it enters the breast, has a very sudden enlargement, 

 almost as it were a broad hoop thrown obliquely around its stem; on the 

 inside this leaves large circular pouches on the posterior surface before 

 the restriction of the pipe takes place again. In the Rocky Mountain 

 species, the wind-pipe simply and gradually enlarges itself, becoming re- 

 stricted again before it enters the breast. In one the enlargement is 

 suddenly from 2-8 of an inch to an inch and 1-8, while in the other from 

 2-8 to 5-8 of an inch, and that with no protuberances. In the males 

 alone of both species there is, after the wind-pipe has entered the brgast, 

 that very complicated sub-quadrangular knob, from which the bifurcation 

 of the pipe proceeds." — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



Notes on the Sea-Bikds of the Ghand Banks. — During Sep- 

 tember, 1878, Mr. Raymond L. Xewcomb of Salem, well known as an 

 ornithological collector, spent several weeks on and near the Grand Banks, 

 under the direction of Professor S. F. Baird, for the purpose of obtaining 

 specimens of the various sea-birds to be found there. Mr. Newcomb left 

 Gloucester August 28, and returned September 19, and although much of 

 his time was engrossed with other duties, he secured many interesting 

 birds. The following is an abstract from his note-book, kindly communi- 

 cated for publication in the Bulletin. 



August 29, off Thatcher's Island, several Jaegers were seen which 

 were thought to be Stercorarius pomatorlrinus. The next day (August 30) 

 the first Shearwater (Puffinus major), the " Hagdon " of the 6shermen, 

 was met with, the vessel being then just out of sight of land. The fol- 

 lowing day (August 31) several Terns (thought to be either Wilson's or 

 the Arctic) were seen, some Petrels, and three flocks of " Sea Geese," 

 — one containing about twenty individuals, and th.3 others four or five 

 each. Three of the " Sea Geese " were shot, and provad .'o be Red Pha- 

 laropes (Phalaropus fulicarius). Several Skua or Jaeger G-uIls were also 

 seen. On September 1 only one " Hajrdon " and two or three Petrels 

 were seen all day. Under date of September 2, Mr. Newcomb writes : — 



"Saw what Captain Collins called a 'Sea Hen,' a number of 'Hags' and 

 Mother Carey's Chickens. The 'Sea Hen' is the Skua Gull [Stercorarius 

 eatarrhactes], about which considerable stir has been made the past summer.* 

 The Fish Commission secured one, but I did not get any ; still, our 'skipper,' 

 who is an intelligent and very persistent man, says he will get one, just to make 

 his word good. The fishermen say they are seen comparatively often, still I 

 feel somewhat doubtful, owing to the meagre and inaccurate knowledge which 

 this class of men have of the subject." 



" September 3. On Sable Island Bank, at anchor. I shot to-day twenty-three 

 birds, including [the Greater] Shearwater in two plumages, some Petrels (Cymo- 



* See this Bulletin, Vol. Ill, p. 188. 



