'^^'^ -"^'-"^l General Notes. QI 



I c;02 J y 



out in the back yard, not fifteen rods from the house, that I was escorted 

 to an open shed, some dozen feet square, with roof of rough slabs laid 

 double and supported by four corner posts, and with three open sides and 

 one, the east, a rock. It was occupied by a small portable forge and anvil 

 and the usual tools of a smithy, evidently long out of use. The end of one 

 of the slabs of the roof, by the forces of decay, had fallen away from its 

 support several inches, and on the shelf so formed between it and the slab 

 above was the nest I had come to see; chiefly composed of decayed leaves, 

 weed stems, fine rootlets, and rubbish, outwardly, and nearly filling the 

 space, lined with stems of maple seed, horse-hair, and pieces of snake-skin. 

 There was no tenant and neither welcome nor remonstrance greeted our 

 intrusion, and the only bird note the cheery song of a Red-eyed Vireo in 

 the tree that spread its shading arms over our heads. Finding seats 

 Ave waited quietly and patiently the greeting and salutation anticipated as 

 unwelcome guests intruding upon the family affairs of a stranger. Ten 

 minutes of quiet and a little bird flitted from the thicket near, to a branch 

 some fifteen feet away; for five minutes she remained quiet, motionless as 

 a statue, and watched the invaders of her domain ; she then descended to 

 the water pool near, took a drink and began chasing the insects around the 

 pool a few moments; then by short flights and leaps she drew near to her 

 visitors till she reached a perch on a small stone not three feet away from 

 us and watched us and our every motion, first with one eye and then with 

 the other, till some slight motion on our part sent her scurrying into the 

 thicket. It was a fine typical specimen of the Great Carolina Wren ( TJ/ryo- 

 thorus ludovicia7ius), and her nest contained five eggs topical of the spe- 

 cies, as found in the usual Carolina haunts. Mr. Watrous tells me that he 

 has observed the birds in that vicinity for several years ; that he saw the 

 nest and young reared near the same place in a brush heap last year, and 

 he has heard their inimitable song ringing out every month and every 

 week of the year! The birds were perfectly quiet throughout our inter- 

 view, no song of transport and no note of displeasure once met our ears. 

 This is the first proof I have ever received that this bird was a permanent 

 resident of Connecticut, and I believe this to be the first record of its nidifica- 

 tion in the State. — John N. Clark, Saybrook, Conn. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in New York City. — A Blue-gray Gnat- 

 catcher (Polioptila ccEriilea) was seen in Central Park, New York City, 

 and positively identified, on May 22, 1901. — C. B. Isham, Nexv Tork 

 City. 



Various Massachusetts Notes of Interest. — Sterna caspia — A young 

 female was shot out of a flock of five on September 6, 1901, by Mr. B. C. 

 Tower at Ipswich. These birds seem to appear on our coast very irregu- 

 larlv, but often in fair numbers. 



