112 General Notes. [-January 



The Common Cormorant off Boston Harbor. — On the 22c] of Septem- 

 ber, 1SS4, while shooting on the 'Graves,' a dry reef a few miles off the 

 entrance to Boston Harbor. I secured a Common Cormorant (P/ialacroco- 

 rax carbo). It was the only one seen, the rest of the Cormorants being 

 P. dilophus, and at once attracted my companion's notice by its large size 

 and whitish underparts. Inquiries made of local collectors and fishermen 

 failed to elicit any proof of its occurrence at this point, although 'way 

 north' they 'saw them often.' — Wm. A. Jeffries, Boston, Mass. 



The Common Cormorant in Massachusetts. — Although several recent 

 authors have characterized Plialacrocorax carbo as a common fall or win- 

 ter visitor to this State, the specimen recorded by Mr. Jeffries in the pre- 

 ceding paragraph is the only authentic Massachusetts one of which I have 

 any present knowledge. Very probably there are a few others scattered 

 about in collections, but it is nearly certain that the bird, so far from 

 being common, is extremely rare here. Along the coast of Maine, how- 

 ever, it winters regularly and in large numbers, especially at some small 

 islands near the mouth of the Penobscot River, whence I have received 

 several specimens through the kindness of Mr. Manly Hardy. This gen- 

 tleman writes me that P. dilophus is not found there in winter, nor have I 

 any record of its wintering in Massachusetts, although it is a common 

 spring and fall migrant here. — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



Rare Summer Residents in Kansas. — On the 26th of June. [884, at 

 Fort Wallace, on and about a pond made bv damming the Smokv Ilill 

 River, I saw four pairs of American Coots (Fulica amcricana). six 

 pairs of Shovellers [Spatula clypeata), one pair of Blue-winged Teal 

 {.i^uerqiicdiila cyanopferd) , a female Gadwall (Chaulelasmus sfreperus), 

 and a small flock of Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus icteroceph- 

 alits). From the actions of the birds I think their breeding grounds were 

 on the small, bog-like islands, covered by a thick growth of grass and 

 weeds, and also flags in places. The next day near Ellis, on Big Creek, 

 I saw a female Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus. I 



On July 5 following, near Lawrence, in an old channel of the Kansas 

 River. I saw several pairs of American Coots, one pair of Mallards (Anas 

 boscas), and. skimming over and about the water, a Black Tern (Hydro- 

 chelidon lariformis surinamensz's), and. at the edge of the timber border- 

 ing the slough, an Acadian Flycatcher {Empidonax acadicus) , a Black- 

 and-white Creeper (Mniotilta varia), feeding its young, and a pair of 

 Blue Grosbeaks (Guiraca ccerulea), with three young birds following 

 them in their flights, clamorous for food; and on the 11th of the same 

 month, at Topeka, a male Black-headed Grosbeak (Zarne/od/a tnelano- 

 cephala ) . 



Both of the Grosbeaks mentioned are quite common in the western and 

 middle parts of the State, the Blue breeding as far east as Manhattan. 

 Their occurrence east of that locality is rare. Prior to this 1 had not 

 observed the Black-headed east of Ellis, but Professor D. E. Lantz writes 



