THE OSPREY. 



67 



LONGSPUR NOTES. 



Smith's Long-spur ( Ca/carins f>irfits) is 

 usually considered a rare bird in Illinois. 

 Its visits are irreg-ular, and so far as 

 published accounts show few ornitholo- 

 g-ists have met with it here. This year, 

 however, it was very common in the fields 

 in this vicinity. The Painted Long-spur 

 g-enerally goes in flocks of twenty to a 

 hundred, and is often found with C. lap- 

 phouiciis- I saw about twenty-live in a 

 larg-e flock of Lapland Long-spurs on Oct. 

 3rd. Perhaps it is often overlooked on 

 account of its g-eneral resemblance to the 

 latter species. 



E. Black WELDER. 



Morg-an Park, 111. 



ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF A BONASA 

 UMBKLLUS. 



About eig-ht o'clock on the evening- of 

 October 9th, last, a Ruifed Grouse flew 

 with g-reat force ag^ainst a plate g-lass 

 window on one of the principal resident 

 streets of this city, and only two blocks 

 from the main business thoroug-hfare. It 

 was picked up, taken into the house, 

 placed in a chair and died in a few mo- 

 ments. On skinning- it I found it was 

 very badly bruised, especially on the 

 breast. I am at a loss to know w^hat 

 could have attracted it to the city at that 

 time of the year, food being abundant 

 everywhere. W. E. Snyder. 



Beaver Dam, Wis. 



A wood ibis in RHODE ISLAND. 



On Aug-ust 8th, 1896, a young- Wood 

 Ibis was shot on the river at Barring-ton, 

 R. I., by Mr. Charles Miller, and was 

 g-iven to a taxidermist in this city, Mr. 

 Mathewson, who permits me to publish 

 this note. The bird was seen flying- up 

 the river b}- three men, who hastily went 

 after their g-uns, and Mr. Miller w^as for- 

 tunate enoug-h to shoot it. It had been 

 fired at recently, for a wound was found 

 on one wing-, which was partially healed. 

 This is the first record for Rhode Island 

 so far as I am aware of. The bird which 

 was mentioned in the October, 1896, Aiik^ 

 by Mr. Wm. Brewster, was shot in See- 

 konk, Mass., which is within five or six 

 miles of Barring-ton, R. I. 



H. S. Hathaway. 



Providence, R. I. 



LATE NESTING OF THE GREEN HERON. 



On Aug-ust 17th, 1896, while g-rouse 

 hunting- in a small mixed wood along- the 

 Kenderhook Creek, I found two nests of 

 Ardca virescois, both containing- young- 

 birds. Benjamin Hoag. 



Stephentown, N. Y. 



GROUSE PLENTIFUL. 



Prairie Sharp-tailed and Pinnated 

 Grouse (Prairie Hens) have been unu- 

 usually abundant here this fall. In a 

 day's travel about November 1st, one 

 could see numerous flocks of from 50 to 

 200. Geo. W. Dixon. 



Watertown, S. D. 



LARGE FLOCK OF CROWS. 



Over 150 crows passed over here on 

 December 29th, about seven o'clock, fly- 

 ing- South-west. Were they mig-rating- or 

 not? George Roberts, Jr. 



Hartford, Ct. 



CAROLINA RAIL AT A HIGH ELEVATION. 



On September 18th, 1896, I killed a 

 Carolina Rail on the top of this (Pinna- 

 cle), Mountain, 800 feet above Clinton. 



C. E. Pleas. 



Clinton, Ark. 



ALBINO TURKEY VULTURE. 



A partial albino Turkey Vulture was 

 seen here. A larg-er portion of its back 

 seemed to be white, and more than half 

 of each wing- was apparently without a 

 dark feather, but they were not a pure 

 white. I was very sorry it was Sunday, 

 for had it been any other day I should 

 have shot him, and took chances of pay- 

 ing- the city's fine of $5.00 for firing- a 

 gun inside the city limits. 



A. M. Nicholson. 



Orlando, Fla. 



swallow-tailed kite. 



I lately secured a specimen of this Kite 

 here. This species is of rare occur- 

 rance in this County. The last one I 

 noticed was about eig-ht years ag-o; form- 

 erly the}' were quite common. This 

 specimen had five frog-s and one larg-e 

 g-rasshopper in its stomach. 



C. Fritz Henning. 



Boone, Iowa. 



