i«8S-] General Notes. ^8c 



Ereunetes occidentalis on the Lower Potomac. — Respecting the occur- 

 rence of the Western Sandpiper in the Eastern States, the only published 

 record is that of C. W. Beckham, of Washington, in 'The Auk,' Vol. II, 

 p. no. This gentleman speaks of several specimens shot at Virginia 

 Beach, Va., September 6-7, 1S84. By way of throwing a little additional 

 light on the range of the species, it may not be wholly amiss to state that 

 during the last week of August of the present year I found the western 

 bird quite as common as the eastern, at Piney Point, Md., on the Potomac 

 River. If anything the former was the more numerous, for of eighteen 

 specimens of Ereunetes preserved, fourteen were identified by Mr. Ridg- 

 way as occidentalis, and these, too, were taken at random from a lot of 

 about twenty-five dead birds. — Hugh M. Smith, National Museum, Wash- 

 ington. D. C. 



The Great Marbled Godwit at Portland, Maine. — Late in May, 1884, 

 a specimen of the Great Marbled Godwit (Limosa foeda) was shot by a 

 Portland sportsman on Scarborough Marsh. The weather being warm 

 at the time the captor of the bird sent his trophy at once to a taxidermist 

 but I was given an opportunity of examining it as soon as its preserva- 

 tion was secured. I make a note of this specimen because it is the only 

 one which I know to have been taken in the vicinity of Portland during 

 my observations there, or between the years 1870 and 1885. A generation 

 ago. in the days of the famous Maine sportsman. 'Cale' Loring, the 

 Marbled Godwit appears to have been at least an occasional visitor to the 

 Scarborough Marshes. In the journal which Loring left, there is. I am 

 told, not infrequent mention of this species, and no Portland sportsman 

 will question the authenticity of such records. Of late years, however, 

 the birds have evidently not looked with favor upon their old-time halting- 

 places. — Nathan Clifford Brown. Portland. Maine 



The Little Yellow Rail {Porzana noveboracensis) in Kansas. — Prof. 

 L. L. Dyche, Curator of Birds and Mammals. State University, Lawrence, 

 writes me that April iS. 1SS5. he captured one of these birds (a female; 

 on low wet land, about five miles southeast of Lawrence. I have seen the 

 specimen, which is mounted and on exhibition in the fine collection under 

 his charge. — N. S. Goss. Topeka. Kans. 



Harelda hyemalis in Maryland in Summer. — - On the 27th of July, 1885. 

 a Duck, which I supposed was Aix sponsa, was seen swimming in the 

 Potomac River near Piney Point, Md. After a time it came to the shore, 

 and approaching it rather cautiously I had no trouble in catching it, as 

 it made no attempt to use its wings. It proved to be a male Long-tailed 

 Duck, in slightly worn plumage. One wing showed signs of injury; the 

 upper coverts were gone, leaving bare the bases of the primary quills; and 

 there was an eminence on the humerus, indicating a fracture of that bone. 

 Without doubt the presence of the bird in these waters at this season was 

 due entirety to the diseased wing. The specimen has been mounted for 

 the National Museum, in the collection of which it bears the number 

 105,301. — Hugh M. Smith, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 



