28 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Massachusetts. — Ipswich, December 4, 1868. Maynard, Am. Nat. Ill, December, 



1869, 554. 

 Maine. — Cape EHzabeth, March 20, 1875. Brown, Rod and Gun, VI, May 8, 1875, 81. 

 New Brunswick. — Point Lepreaux, April 11, 1876. Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. 



Club, I, July, 1876, 52. 

 Connecticut. — 'South End,' New Haven, November 4, 1875. Merriam, Bull. Nutt. 



Ornith. Club, I, July, 1876, 52. 

 [? New Hampshire. — Lake Umbagog, October 9, 1S76. Brown, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. 



Club, II, January, 1877, 27.] 

 New York. — Coney Island, Long Island, December 20, 1S76. Bailey, Bull. Nutt. 



Ornith. Club, II, July, 1S77, 78. 

 Nova Scotia. — Sable Island, summer of 1S84. Merriam, Auk, I, October, 1884, 390. 

 Delaware. — Rehoboth Beach, November 22, 1884. Dwight, Auk, II, January, 1885, 105. 

 Rhode Island. — Point Judith, November 27, 1884. [Jencks,] Random Notes, II, 



March, 1885, 17. 

 [? Texas. — Dallas, December 10, 1884. Sennett, Auk, III, January, 1886, 135.] 

 Virginia. — Cobb's Island, " common in winter." Rives, Proc. Newport Nat. Hist. 



Soc, 1889-90, 73. 

 Georgia. — 'Jack's Bank,' Glynn County, January 8, 1890. Worthington, Auk, VII, 



April, 1890, 211. 



Two of these records are open to such grave doubt that it is worth our 

 while to examine the evidence on which they rest. The first is the one tor 

 New Hampshire by Mr. Brown who writes: "On the 9th of October, 

 1876, I met with one of these birds on a sandy point on the northwest shore 

 of Lake Umbagog, in New Hampshire. I should hesitate to record the 

 occurrence of this species in a locality so far removed from its known 

 haunts, it not having been before observed so far in the interior, since, from 

 the miss-fire of two cartridges in succession I failed to capture my bird, 

 were I not perfectly acquainted with its almost unmistakable habits." 

 Unfortunately, its habits do not distinguish it from the Savanna Sparrow, 

 which under certain conditions of light might easily be confounded with it. 

 Besides, it confines itself so exclusively to the seacoast that its appearance 

 so far inland under any circumstances would be highly exceptional. It is 

 safer, therefore, to apply rigidl}' the too often slighted rule that the capture 

 of a specimen, especially where there is room for doubt, shall be the 

 accepted evidence of its occurrence, and thus exclude the sole record lor 

 the State. 



The species has been recorded as a bird of Texas by Mr. Sennett, as 

 follows: "I have in my collection an adult male Ammodramiis princeps 

 taken at Dallas, Texas, Dec. 10, 1884. I obtained it from Mr. Fred. T. 

 Jencks of Providence, who writes me in regard to it as follows : ' The 



