General Notes 119 



to see a yellow crown patch glowing like a gold coin. He did not 

 leave the tree nor ascend above fifteen feet during my stay, and in 

 fact must have been there all day, if not longer, for the bark on 

 one side was chipped off and pecked full of holes from the ground 

 to a height of thirty feet, as was also another hemlock and a white 

 pine close by. I certainly never expected to meet with my first 

 Arctic Woodpecker in October, and it is more to be wondered ac 

 since the month was very mild, with no heavy storms. 



Holbcell's and Horned Grebes. — I wish to correct a statement 

 made by me in the December, 1916, Bulletin concerning the (ap- 

 parent) abundance of Holbcell's Grebe for October of that year; 

 and to give the true status of the two species as I have found them 

 to occur here along the lake. January 30. 1913, while seated on 

 the end of the pier at Fairport, a Holbcell's Grebe approached un- 

 til finally it was just below me in the open water that extended a 

 short distance out in the lake. My notes taken on the spot, at such 

 close range, gave an ideal description of the Holbcell's winter plum- 

 age and the length was easily computed to be at least twenty inches. 

 The bill was described as being " long, sharp and yellow at the 

 base, at least two inches long." The following January (1914) a 

 bird of this species was shot by a local hunter and I examined the 

 bird, which tallied closely with the one of the winter before. So 

 much for the Holbcell's. 



In October, 1916, a number of grebes were seen on the lake, which 

 I reported as Holbcell's; but later I suspected I had been mis- 

 taken and, that they were the Horned Grebe in fall plumage. How- 

 ever, it was not until this fall (1918) that I was able to measure 

 and examine a number of specimens killed by hunters. I found 

 my suspicions to be correct, they all proved to be the Horned. So 

 the status of the birds stand as follows. The Horned Grebe is a 

 rather common spring and fall migrant. I counted over twenty 

 one day in October of 1917 around the piers at Fairport. The Hoi 

 boell's may be designated as rare and occurring on the lake during 

 the winter months when there is open water. It is a much larger 

 bird than the Horned and with a decidedly longer bill, and not so 

 White on the neck; but at a distance on the dancing waves the 

 Horned Grebe looks larger than he really is — probably because of 

 the long neck, which is usually stretched its full length. 



E. A. DOOLITTLE. 



Painesville, Ohio. 



THE OSPREY AT CHICAGO, ILL. 

 The occasions are rare when one observes the Osprey in the 

 vicinity of Chicago. The writer does not recall having ever ob- 

 served it a half dozen times in thirty years, although he remem- 



