?8_J. General Notes. [October 



Another Richardson's Owl in Massachusetts. — h&Nyctala tengmalmi 



richardsoni has been so seldom taken so far south as this point (central 

 Eastern Massachusetts), it may be well to record an additional example. 

 I have in my collection a fine specimen obtained in this place on Jan i, 

 1SS5. It was approached without difficulty in broad daylight by a wood- 

 chopper and killed with a stick. 



This is about the southern limit of the range of the species as at present 

 determined. I find but three examples on record to the south of this ; the 

 early one of Dr. Wood for Connecticut in 1859, ana * tne two obtained in 

 18S1 and 1882 near Providence, R. I., as reported by Mr. Jencks in the 

 •Nuttall Bulletin' of April, 1881, and April, 1883. 



The circumstances of this capture indicate the defective day-vision 

 characteristic of the strictly nocturnal species, in accordance with Richard- 

 son's statement: "It is so much dazzled by the light of the sun that it 

 becomes stupid and may easily be caught by hand." — F. C. Browne, 

 Framingham . Mass. 



The Oyster-catcher (Hcematopus palliafus) in Massachusetts. — Mr. 



Warren Hapgood tells me that during the last week of April, 1SS5. he 

 received an Oyster-catcher in the flesh from Chatham, Mass. It was shot 

 on Monomoy Island by Alonzo Nye, the veteran gunner of Chatham. It 

 was in fine plumage, and is now preserved in Mr. Ilapgood's collection. 

 If I remember rightly this is only the third specimen known to have been 

 taken in Massachusetts, the other two being the pair mentioned by Dr. 

 Brewer (Water Birds. Vol. I, p. 1 13), and now in the New England collection 

 of the Boston Society. — William Brewster. Cambridge. Mass. 



The Baird's Sandpiper {Actodromas bairdii ) at Locust Grove, New 

 York. — August 18, 1SS5. while Dr. C. H. Merriam and the writer were 

 driving along a country road at the above locality we discovered a solitary 

 Baird's Sandpiper on the edge of a small, temporary pool of water formed 

 by the recent rains. It was a female of the year in fine plumage, and 

 was evidently a straggling migrant which had dropped down hap-hazard 

 to feed and rest. Most of the eastern stragglers of this species, hitherto 

 recorded have been from the Atlantic coast, but undoubtedly the bird 

 occurs more or less commonly all the way across the interior country. — 

 II. W. Henshaw, Washington. D. C. 



A Bird New to Massachusetts. — Among the Sandpipers collected by me 

 years ago in Massachusetts I find a single specimen of the Western 

 Sandpiper (Erennrtcs occidentalism, taken on Long Island, Boston Harbor. 

 Aug. 27, 1S70. It was one of a number of "Peeps' shot on that day, and 

 it is by no means unlikely that the lot contained others of this species, 

 which were overlooked under the impression that they were all the com- 

 mon species, E. pusillus. Like the Baird's Sandpiper, this species may 

 be expected to occur in small numbers along the Atlantic coast during the 

 migrations, especially in tall. — H. W. Henshaw, Washington. D. C. 



