164 



General Notes. [April 



Thus of the five Redpolls attributed to North America at large four 

 have been found in Massachusetts. Of these A. Ihiaria visits us in abun- 

 dance, but of course more or less irregularly; A. rostrata in smaller 

 numbers, but still plentifully at times, as in February, 1SS3 (see Bull. 

 N. O. C, Vol. VIII, pp. 95-99, recorded as ^Sgiolhus linaria holboelli) \ 

 A. h. exilipes in very limited numbers, and perhaps even less regularly 

 than either of the two preceding; while A. I. holbcellii is apparently the 

 rarest of the four and possibly a mere accidental straggler. The fifth 

 North American form, A cant /it's hornemanni typica, has never been taken 

 within the limits of the United States. 



As the recent shifting of names in this group is somewhat confusing it 

 may be well to explain, that the sEgiothus linaria holboelli which I re- 

 recorded* from Massachusetts in 1883 is the Acanthis linaria rostrata 

 of the A. O. U. List, and the Acanthis linaria holba'llii, now for the first 

 time reported from our State, another and very different form, much 

 more nearly like true linaria, from which it can be distinguished only 

 by its greater size and longer bill. Those who care to look further into 

 this subject should consult Dr. Stejnegers able papers on the genus 

 Acanthis. t — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



[The omission of Acanthis horncmanni exilipes from my 'Revised List' 

 was due (1) to the fact that the then latest authorities on this group did 

 not recognize exilipes as occurring south of "Arctic America and North- 

 eastern Asia"; (2) in view of the recent radical shifting of names, and 

 the supposed not wholly trustworthy identification of at least some of 

 the specimens of 'exilipes,'' referred to above as recorded from Massachu- 

 setts, the omission of this form was thought to be the safer course, es- 

 pecially as the alleged specimens were not then accessible to me for 

 examination. — J. A. Allen.] 



Vireo solitarius alticola in Tennessee. — In my list of birds taken in 

 Roane County, Tennessee (Auk, III, p. 317), I record two specimens of 

 Vireo solitarius. Mr. Ridgway has since informed me that the specimens 

 are typical of the new form alticola. Both specimens were females, and 

 were taken at the foot of the ridge, in a grove of small pines. — William 

 H. Fox, M. D., Nezv York City. 



Another Specimen of the Prothonotary Warbler in Massachusetts. — 

 Recently when examining the collection of birds made by Mr. E. O. Da- 

 mon at Northampton, Mass., I saw a beautiful Protonotaria citrea which 

 he told me he killed in that vicinity on high ground, in May, 1SS3, ar >d 

 that two other specimens were shot at the same time by a friend of his. 

 These examples, additional to those already recorded by Messrs. Brewster 

 and Purdie (Auk, July and Oct., 1SS6), would seem to indicate that the 

 species enters New England regularly. — Jno. H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 



* Bull N. O. C, VIII, pp. 95-99. 



f Auk, 1, 1884, pp. 145-155; ibid., IV, 1887, pp. 30-35. 



