3 So General Notes. [October 



in the vicinity of Washington in May. 1SS4, and, judging from the worn 

 condition of the plumage of one of the specimens shot — a female — he very 

 naturally surmises that this species, hitherto considered an extremely rare 

 and irregular winter visitant, breeds in this section. This season I was so 

 fortunate as to substantiate this view in a most satisfactory manner. On 

 the 17th of May an adult male and a young bird in the striped feather, bare- 

 ly able to fly, were seen by me in a pine sapling, a short distance beyond 

 the city limits. Attracted to the spot by the call of the parent, uttered for 

 the encouragement of the young. I approached within a few feet, and 

 thoroughly identified the birds. — Hugh M. Smith. National Museum. 

 Washington, D. C. 



Non-appearance of Juncos at Montreal. — I am informed by Mr. Ernest 

 D. Wintle that he did not see a Junco in the vicinity of Montreal during the 

 spring migrations of the present year, a most unusual occurrence, as the 

 birds are generally very abundant at that season, although but few of them 

 remain there to breed. Mr. Wintle also writes to me that Mr. W. W. 

 Dunlop and Mr. Paul Kuetzing, also of Montreal, had remarked the 

 entire absence of this species. Mr. Wintle desires to know if anything 

 similar has been observed by readers of 'The Auk." — Montague Cham- 

 berlain. St. John. X. B. 



Familiar Chipping Sparrows. — Miss Katie Iline. of Vienna. Virginia, 

 has for several years past had Chipping Sparrows, Spizclla socialis, visit 

 her home each summer. The first year it was noticed that one of the 

 pair had the claw missing from the middle toe. This bird came with its 

 mate for three successive years and then ceased its visits. The second 

 year there came also with them another pair, one of which, at least, was 

 suspected to be the young of the first year. Xow there are two pairs of 

 adults so familiar that I observed them fly to her feet and clamor for 

 crumbs of bread while we were at the dinner table. In the afternoon 

 they frequently alighted near her and even fed from her hand. They 

 know the window of her bedroom, and each morning they assail the 

 panes of glass, making epiite a noise to arouse her for their accustomed 

 food. — L. M. Turner, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 



Swamp Sparrows and Yellow Rumps. — As the "Wintering of the 

 Swamp Sparrow in Eastern Massachusetts" has been made "a question of 

 evidence." it may be well to give that evidence somewhat more in detail 

 than was before thought necessary, and also to state the reasons for con- 

 cluding that the birds did pass the winter in Cambridge. 



On December 29. 1884. four Swamp Sparrows were seen by Mr. F. II. 

 Hitchcock in a small tangle of weeds and alders on the edge of a stream 

 which runs through the Fresh Pond marshes, but they were so shy and 

 hard to approach that only one of them was shot; this was stuffed by Mr. 

 C. J. Maynard of Boston, who told me that he had never before seen one 

 from Massachusetts in winter. While taking a short walk on the after- 



