202 Getieral Notes \j^r. 



that does not congregate in flocks while with us, they being seldom seen 

 in companies of more than two or three. They are not common during 

 winter and are only found at that season along river valley roads that are 

 fringed with coniferous bushes. 



Junco hyemalis. Slate-colored Junco. — This season (1901) is the 

 onl}' time the writer has observed this species here so late in the year, one 

 being observed December 4, during a heavy snowstorm. It seemed as 

 happy as if it had just arrived from the south in April. — W. H. Moore, 

 Fredericton, N. B. 



The Occurrence of the Lapland Longspur [Calcariiis lapponicus) in 

 Mid-winter in Massachusetts. — On January 12, 1902, the writer, with Mr. 

 H. M. Spelman and Mr. R. S. Eustis, found between forty and iifty of 

 these birds at Ipswich. Four or five were on a hillside about half a mile 

 from the beach, and the remainder among the sand-dunes by the sea. 

 The day was stormy and cold, the fine snow blowing and drifting so that 

 the beach grass on which they were feeding was more or less covered. 

 Perhaps on this account the birds were tamer than usual and allowed a 

 close approach. The Longspurs were alone, and also associated with 

 Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. Three Ipswich Sparrows were seen 

 with them. 



It is not uncommon to find the Longspurs in the early part of Decem- 

 ber in Ipswich. Thus I have records for December 10, 189S, and Decem- 

 ber S, 1901. — Charles W. Townsend, Boston, Mass. 



The Lapland Longspur Wintering in Massachusetts. — In our ' Birds 

 of Massachusetts ' (1901), Mr. Reginald Heber Howe, Junior, and the 

 undersigned, gave, as the only instance known to us of the wintering of 

 the Lapland Longspur in the State, the record of one from Ipswich, Jan. 

 6, 1877. This specimen with above date on the label, is preserved in the 

 mounted collection of the Boston Society of Natural History. Bj' a mere 

 chance the fact came ovit that this specimen, which was presented by 

 Messers. E. A. & O. Bangs, was probably from the same lot of birds, 

 bought at the Boston Market, from which came the McCown's Longspur, 

 credited by Mr. C. J. Maynard to Massachusetts. It appears that the 

 market-man of whom the specimens were obtained, when asked if they 

 came from Ipswich, replied, as he naturally would, in the affirmative, and 

 it seems reasonable to believe that these two birds were in reality from 

 the West, and that there are no actual Avinter records for the State. Lately, 

 however, Mr. Howe, in company with Mr. Louis Agassiz Shaw, while at 

 Ipswich on the iSth of January, 1902, took one, and saw at least five others, 

 so that we are now able to give the species unquestioned standing as of 

 at least occasional occurrence in Massachusetts in winter. 



While on three trips to Ipswich during the autumn of 1901 (Oct. 22, 

 Nov. 9 and 28) Mr. Howe found Longspurs in unusual abundance, and 

 apparently, as this season has been comparatively mild, a proportion have 



