3 o8 



General Notes. [ July 



On June 6, in passing through one of the 'Bunting fields' on the return 

 trip, the writer flushed a female from a fresh set of five eggs of the usual 

 size and color. The nest, which is now before me, was placed on, not in 

 the ground, among the stems of a tuft of weeds, and is composed of leaves 

 externally, and lined with fine, dry grass. Its measurements are as fol- 

 lows : outside diameter, ioo mm. ; inside diameter, 63 mm. ; height out- 

 side, 63 mm. ; depth inside, 45 mm. These birds were observed in every 

 suitable locality on the Point, and on the return drive they were heard 

 constantly till we had gone three miles into the mainland, when no more 

 were noticed. 



On June 6, when about a mile farther up the Point, the writer heard a 

 strange note, and at every search for the author found an Orchard Oriole, 

 and, not being very familiar with that bird, attributed the note to it. 

 Shortly afterward Mr. Bailey arrived at the same place, and called out, 

 " Did you hear the Chat? " Instantly every one was on the qui vive, and 

 after some time a glimpse of the bird was obtained, but not the bird itself. 

 A hunt for it on the two following days was finally rewarded by the cap- 

 ture of a fine female Yellow-breasted Chat, with ovaries as large a sa pea. 

 Further search resulted in nothing more than this, the first capture in 

 Canada ; and though we looked carefully, we did not even find the begin- 

 ning of a nest. Reference has already been made in 'The Auk' to the 

 remains of a specimen of this species that Mr. Thos. Mcllwraith picked 

 up at Hamilton, Ont. No doubt they are regular summer visitors at Pelee 

 Island, Point Pelee, and some places along the shore of Lake Erie. 



On September 15, 18S3, there flew into a store in this city a Connecticut 

 Warbler, which was, as far as I then knew, the first Canadian specimen. 

 In December of the same J'ear, a consultation with Mr. Mclwraith disclosed 

 the fact that he had some specimens of the same species, which had never 

 been satisfactorily separated from the Mourning Warbler. These have 

 been in his possession for years. Again in May, 1884, attracted by a new 

 note, after spending some time in a swampy thicket, I succeeded in captur- 

 ing another of this species near London ; and since knowing their note 

 have found them tolerably common, but quite shy here as swamp birds, 

 and/piite common at Point Pelee, for a few days in June, as ground feeders 

 in dry places, where, on the above trip, several were procured. — W. E. 

 Saunders, London, Ont. 



A Belated Bird. — The Chewink (Pipilo erytkrophthalmus) returns 

 to this region in limited numbers every spring. It is not usual to see 

 very many of them, a pair at most together, and oftener one alone. Thev 

 depart as regularly every autumn, and we see no more of them until some 

 pleasant day in spring, when the weather has become quite warm. But 

 very curiously to me, one of these birds did not depart with its associates 

 in the fall, and is still here (Dec. 21, 1884). During the past ten days the 

 mercury has ranged from io° to 31 below zero, and yet my Chewink stays 

 about the barnyard, as bright and lively as though we were in the midst 

 of warm, bud-swelling spring days ! On the coldest morning. I found him 



