General Notes. 189 



Professor J. W. P. Jenks, lit- has kindly written mo in substance that the 

 bird was sent alive from Katahdin Iron-Works (Piscataquis Co., Maine) 

 by Mr. C. H. Prouty to his bro her in Providence during December, 187(J. 

 It had caught several hens, and, having pursued one under a barn through 

 a small opening, was itself caught in the arms of a man as il came out. 

 The Gerfalcon soon died; the wings were cut oil', and the body was 

 buried. Nearly a week afterwards a Mr. Adeock saw and picked up the 

 wings from a stable floor, and, recognizing his old English Fa'con, called 

 for the body, which he dug up and mounted. Professor Jenks happened 

 to see the specimen, and secured it for the University collection. 



I think MacFarlane's Gerfalcon has not before been known to occur in 

 any portion of Eastern North America, nor at all outside of Arctic North- 

 west America. The one now cited will make the third form of Gerfalcon 

 known to have been taken in New England. I cannot ascertain for a cer- 

 tainty that candicans has yet visited us. Mr. H. G. V T ennor records two 

 examples at Montreal. The black Labrador bird has so far been the most 

 frequent visitor to the Canadas, the Provinces, and the United .States. 

 I have record of several, one of which, now announced, was shot in Es?-ex 

 Co., Mass., a few years since, and is in the collection of the Essex Insti- 

 tute. — H. A. Pl'kuik, New/on, Mass. 



Nesting of Butf.o zoxockkcus in Nkw Mexico. — May 28, 187(J, 

 I found a nest of Buteo zonocercus in a very large cottonwood-tree, in 

 a grove of the same, in the mouth of a canon of the Gila River, in New 

 Mexico, about twenty miles above the Arizona line, I saw the parent fly 

 from the nest, and with its mate circle around overhead. One alighted 

 on the cliff overhanging the grove, which I succeeded in killing. It 

 proved to be the male I had no climbers, and could not then get to the 

 nest, but the next day I returned with a rope, and succeeded in getting 

 near enough to work my hand up through the nest and reach one egg, 

 which was all there was. The nest was quite bulky, composed of twigs, 

 lined with strips of the inner bark of the cottonwood. 



The egg was very near hatching, and in attempting to extract the em- 

 bryo I broke it, and it has since been broken into small pieces. It was 

 marked with large reddish-brown blotches, irregularly distributed on a 

 dirty white ground. I still have the male. This pair are the only Hawks 

 of this species that I am positive I ever saw, although I have seen several 

 Hawks here in California that at first I took to be B. zonocercus, but they 

 always proved to be very dark plumages of B. sicain&oni. It is about im- 

 possible to tell the difference at shooting distance. The latter species is 

 very abundant here at times. — F. Stevens, Wilmington t Cal. 



Capture of the Golden Eaglk at Gbavesend, L. I. — On Octo- 

 ber 6, 187 7, 1 had the good fortune to procure a male Golden Eagle (Aquila 

 chrysaiilus) in this vicinity. He was a fine, full-grown specimen, and gave 

 the following measurements: length, 32.75 inches ; extent, 78.25; wing, 

 22.50; tail, 14.00. — Frank E. Johnson, Gravesend, L. I. 



