2^^. Goss on the Black-cafped Vireo and Nonpareil. fuh 



fearlessly. On October 15, 1879, I savv one swimming in the East River 

 at the foot of Pine Street, New York City. It was very gentle, the steam- 

 er I was on passing within twenty-five feet of it, when it started, flew a 

 short distance, and settled on the water again. 



17. Rallus longirostris crepitans. Clapper Rail. — This bird seems 

 to be a winter resident on Long Island. Mr. Wm. Dutcher informs me 

 that the gunners at South Oyster Bay see a few every winter. I have the 

 following records from Far Rockaway : Nov. 9, 1872 ; Nov. 25, 1S83 ; Dec. 

 5, 1SS4. Messrs. Wm. Dutcher and L. S. Foster found a fresh lv killed 

 specimen on the outer beach, February 23, 1SS5. 



18. Porzana noveboracensis. Yellow Rail. — At Far Rockaway, Oct. 

 15, 1SS3, while crossing a large field within a short distance of the salt 

 meadow, I started one of these Rails, but having no gun I did not secure 

 it. It was very gentle ; I flushed the bird three times, it rising at first within 

 a few feet and flying but a short distance. Mr. Harold Herrick informs 

 me that he started a Yellow Rail on the Jamaica Bay meadows, near Far 

 Rockawav, in October, 1882, but failed to shoot it. 



THE BLACK-CAPPED VIREO AND NONPAREIL IN 

 SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS. 



BY N. S. GOSS. 



While collecting and observing the birds in Comanche County, 

 from May 7 to iS inclusive, 1885. I captured three pairs of Vireo 

 atripapillus, and saw quite a number, all in the deep ravines 

 in the gypsum hills on the Red or Salt Fork of the Arkansas 

 River, near the town of Rumsev. The birds were quite bold 

 and noisy, but this may he the case only during mating and the 

 early part of the breeding season. They are very pleasing sing- 

 ers, their song being not like the 'who's-afraid,' jerky notes of 

 the White-eyed Vireo, nor as loud as those of the Red-eyed, but 

 a more warbling and varied song than that of any of the family 

 which I have heard. 



On the 1 1 th I found a nest near the head of a deep canon, sus- 

 pended from the forks of the end of a horizontal branch of a 

 small elm tree, about five feet from the ground. It was screened 

 from sight above by the thick foliage of the tree, and the larger 

 surrounding trees ; but beneath for quite a distance there was 

 nothing to hide it from view. The material, however, of which 

 it was made so closely resembled the gypsum that had crumbled 



