iS87-1 General Notes. 26 1 



send you in same mail with this a bird which was captured on her nest in a 

 hole in a willow tree. The hole was made by the deeav of a limb, was a 1 tout 

 five and a half feet from the ground, ami large enough to admit the hand of 

 an adult easily. It was about ten inches in horizontal depth. There was 

 almost no nest — simply a depression scratched in the decayed wood, with 

 half a dozen short strips of grape-vine bark arranged circularly in it. The 



whole cavity was wet and soggy The bird was sitting on five eggs 



when captured." On examination the bird proved to he a female Son;.; 

 Sparrow {Melospiza fasctata), showing marks of incubation. — J A. 

 ALLEN, American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



The Sharp-tailed Sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus) in a Fresh-Water 

 Marsh. — I am informed by my friend, Mr. Lewis M. Todd, of Calais, Me., 

 that during the autumn of 1NS6 he captured one of these Sharp-tails on a 

 marsh some distance above the falls on the St. Croix River The water at 

 that point must be free from saline flavor, as the falls prevent the sea 

 water from reaching it. — Montague Chamberlain, St. John, N. />'. 



Nesting of the Hudsonian Chickadee (Partis hudsonicus). — I find that 

 this species, when excavating for its nest, sometimes enters from the side 

 of a tree, and not invariably from the top of a stump, as I have stated else- 

 where. My co-laborer in this district, Mr. James W. Banks, during the 

 seasons of 1SS5 alK ' 1 886, discovered three nests of which the entrance was 

 at the side of a decayed stub. One of these, now before me, is a rather 

 interesting example. It lays in the section of the tree (a poplar) just 

 where it was placed by the birds. The tree measures four inches in diam- 

 eter, and the nest fills all the space excepting the little that is taken up by 

 the outer hark, and on one side by a slight margin of the decayed wood. 

 The nest is about two inches deep, and is set on a cushion of dried moss 

 Beside the felted fur used in the construction of the nest, there is consid- 

 erable dry moss mixed through, a material I have never before seen in the 

 nests of this species. 



The entrance was about six inches from the top of the nest. After 

 piercing the outside shell of bark the excavation turned downward, and 

 was carried obliquely some four inches, where it was abruptly widened 

 from two to four inches. This width was continued to the bottom. — 

 Montague Chamberlain, St. John, N. B. 



Another Addition to the Avi-fauna of South Carolina. — May 6, 18S7, 

 I shot a specimen of Tardus alicice bickuelli in the thick under- 

 growth of a large body of timber near the town of Chester. In the same 

 locality I have found alicice, in varying numbers, in former years. Some 

 of the examples of this form have approached closely- to the maximum 

 dimensions of the lesser race, still none could be properly assigned to it. 

 The following are the measurement of the bird above noted : $ Length, 

 176.53 mm. ; extent, 274.32 mm. ; wing, 86-36 mm. ; tail, 72.39 mm. ; cul- 

 men, 12.7 ; tarsus, 24.2 mm. ; middle toe, 16 mm. — Leverett M. Loomis, 

 Chester, S- C. 



