Hoy.] 400 . [April 21, 



Nor can I see any occasion to be startled at this large sum, or any 

 place for incredulity, when it is remembered there has been left out 

 of tli^ estimate the time necessary to deposit eleven feet of muck, 

 and the time also which must have elapsed between the abandonment, 

 by its architects, of this ancient fireplace, and the time when the 

 surface upon which it was builded became prepared to receive its first 

 peaty burden.' 



Saratoga Springs, March 29, 1869. 



Dr. T. M. Brewer read the following extract from a letter 

 from Dr. P. R. Hoy of Racine, Wise, in regard to the 



Rough-winged Swallow, Cotyle serripennis, and the Yellow- 

 bellied Flycatcher, Empidonax flamventris Baird. 



On the 10th of June I found the nest of the Rough-winged Swal- 

 low, a solitary nest — it was situated on the bank of a creek, two miles 

 from the lake. The hole penetrated the bank three feet, terminating 

 in an excavation to the right of eight inches in diameter and four 

 high. The nest was large, well constructed of fine marsh grass or 

 carex, the blades of which were evenly bound around; there were six 

 white eggs ; the nest is compact and large, unlike the straggling straw 

 and feather nest of the Bank Swallow. * 



I shot a specimen of the Empidonax fiaviventris. a very charming 

 songster — that is for a flycatcher, — the best of any of the family. 

 This is the first specimen I have procured. I was attracted to the 

 bird by his song. In all probability the female was nesting near by, 

 as it was the 11th of June, but I did not succeed in finding its nest. 



Dr. Brewer added that the information was interesting, establishing 

 an additional breeding place for this little-known swallow, only known 

 before as breeding near Carlisle, Pa. 



That a bird marked as a Clamator and not an Oscen, should be a 

 good singer, was also a fact to be noticed. He had himself met this 

 flycatcher in Nova Scotia and in Grand Menan, in both places find- 

 ing its nest, and had noticed its song. Mr. G. A. Boardman of St. 

 Stephens, N. B., had previously informed him that this species is a 

 good singer. According to systematlsts. the Crow, Jay, Raven, etc., 

 are, or ought to be, singers, while the Flycatcher should not be one. 



Dr. B. Joy Jeffries called attention to the incoiTectness of 

 the statements of Dr. Eliot Coues in the "American Natu- 



