A New England? Ornithologist 7 



Conn., as a large light green worm with light and reddish bands 

 across it with a long horn, black on top and green below, a dozen 

 or more large locusts and a small green snake, a small frog and 

 four black ground beetles. A winter record of Accipiter velox is 

 December 30, 1878. The contents of stomach of an Accipiter velox 

 taken September 12, 1877, were the bill of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 

 while the stomachs of all Sparrow Hawks contained mice. Twice 

 does he mention how Hawks have darted down and taken away 

 the bird he had just killed, in each case it being Cooper's Hawk, 

 and on one of these occasion he managed to kill the thief. The 

 Marsh Hawk he finds but once, and of other Hawks only the Bald 

 Eagle is met with, especially at the Southwick Ponds, Mass., in 

 July and August, 1880. 



Among the Owls ,he notes the stomach contents of a Screech 

 Owl taken July 21, 1879, as having dorrbugs (whatever that may 

 be) and parts of a Chipmunk, while all others had mice. On May 

 25, 1877, he shot a pair of Great Horned Owls with both of the 

 young. Stomach contents: the $ had skunk, the (^ a Red Squirrel, 

 the young each a mouse and the skunk's fur. His best record, 

 however, is a Hawk Owl (Surnia uliila caparocli) obtained in the 

 Boston markets in December, 1877, shot on Salem Beach, having 

 a mouse in its stomach. As there are only fourteen records for 

 this owl in Massachusetts it constitutes the fifteenth one, or rather 

 the tenth one, in order. The Long-eared and Short-eared Owls 

 are also mentioned by him. 



Orders Coccyges and Alcyones. 

 Both species of cuckoos are mentioned, though the Blackbilled 

 one is the more common of the two. The Kingfisher is mentioned 

 as common and several observations on his mode of fishing are 

 made, that he dives down quite deep to catch his prey and that 

 he breaks the backbone of the fish and swallows it doubled up. 



Order Pici. 

 The record for Picoides arcticus has been mentioned. The 

 Flicker, the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers are all noted as com- 

 mon. His specimens of the Pileated Woodpecker came from North- 

 ern New York and Vermont. Of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 

 (SpJiyrapicus varius) he hasi but one record, a ^ taken September 

 9, 1874, at Rehoboth, Mass. (coll. W. F. H., No. 1395). We know 

 today that this species is a rare breeder in the mountains of Massa- 

 chusetts and his record must have been of some value in those 

 days, since it does not seem to be established as a breeder there 

 till in the eighties of the past century. The greatest rarity, how- 

 ever, is the specimen of Centurus caroJinus, the Red-bellied Wood- 



