General Notes 91 



GENERAL NOTES 



TWO UNUSUAL BIRD RECORDS FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 



Two rather unusual records for Central Illinois are those of the 

 blue grosbeak (Guiraca ccerulea cwrulea). May 3-10, and of the 

 bald eagle (Haliwtus leucocephalus leucocephaliis) , May 3-20, 

 which I obtained northeast of Rantoul, Illinois. 



I observed the blue grosbeaks first, early in the morning in a 

 low plum-bush, where a pair were quietly at rest. For a week 

 this pair remained about the place where I first saw them, and 

 then left. 



The bald eagles frequented a walnut grove beside an old aban- 

 doned orchard until one was shot in the immediate vicinity, the 

 other about five miles south. The wing-spread of the birds was 

 over five feet. 



The record of the blue grosbeaks was the first in many years 

 of continuous observations; that of the bald eagle the first since 

 1915. 



SlDIv-^EY E. EkBLAW. 



Rantoul, 111. 



THE PASSING OF THE BLUE GROSBEAK 

 {Guiraca ccerulea ccerulea). 



H. T. Jackson's record in the June issue of the Bulletin, of a 

 Blue Grosbeak in this section, recalls to mind the fact that 

 twenty-five years ago the Dickcissel {Spiza americaria) was very 

 common in this part of the country. 



I have not seen one in Maryland, Virginia, or parts of North 

 Carolina that I have traveled in, for over twenty years. 



The Blue Grosbeak, some years past, was rather a common 

 breeding bird in the tidewater section, but has been getting more 

 scarce each year, until the seasons 1917 and 1918 have gone by 

 without my seeing a single breeding pair of them. It will be in- 

 teresting to note if they follow the lead of the Dickcissel and 

 move farther westward. 



It has not been the lack of suitable breeding grounds that has 

 kept either of these birds from our territory, for the pine timber 

 has about all been cut off, and was followed by the small hard 

 wood scrubby growth, so well liked and utilized by these two 

 species. 



Habold H. Baliey. 



Newport News, Va. 



