i8S6.] General Notes. 485 



young birds. He also observed one of the Kites about twenty rods off, 

 sitting on a stub in the pond, in the latter part of August. He also 

 tells nie that on August 30, on higher ground, within a mile of his house, 

 two of the Kites tlew past him within fifty yards, and afterward coursed 

 about together low over a field of buckwheat, as if catching insects. One 

 of these Kites had a very long and deeply forked tail, and was larger than 

 the other, which had its tail but little forked or nearly even at the end. 

 Two other persons told me about seeing one or two of the birds at or near 

 the same place. 



From seeing the locality, and from the information received, it seems 

 probable that a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites bred, in 1886, in Rensselaer 

 County, N. Y., at about latitude 42° 53', longitude 73° t^t^', and near 600 

 feet above tide water level. — Austin F. Park, Troy, N. T. 



The Barn Owl at Englewood, N. J. — At about six o'clock on the 

 morning of August 26, near the centre of a tolerably dense wood, I start- 

 ed from its roost of the previous night, a bird I was unable to identify, and 

 which eventually escaped me. The ground and bushes beneath the tree 

 from which it had flown were spattered with its droppings, some of them 

 not yet dry, and here a number of feathers were found, undoubtedly shed 

 by the bird which had passed the night above. These feathers, the basal 

 halfof a primary, a covert from either wing, and a number of smaller ones, 

 were forwarded to Dr. A. K. Fisher at Washington, who has kindly iden- 

 tified them as the feathers of a Barn Owl (Stri'x pratincola~). — Frank 

 M. Chapman, Eiigleivood, N. y. 



Carnivorous Propensities of the Crow (^Corviis amcricaiius). — My 

 neighbor, Mr. E. M. Davis, indulges in the luxury of live pets, and 

 amongst them is a Crow, reared by hand from the nest and now perhaps 

 three or four months old. He manifests the usual inquisitive and mis- 

 chievous habits of the species in confinement, secreting various objects for 

 which he can have no possible use, and worrying on all occasions both 

 the cat and the dog of the premises, by picking at their toes, pulling their 

 tails, etc. He seems to fear nothing but a small rubber hose used for 

 sprinkling purposes, upon the first appearance of which, even before any 

 water was thrown, he manifested the utmost fright, and fled to the house 

 and his master for protection ; this he has repeated whenever the hose ap- 

 pears. Qiiery : Is it a case of hereditary fear oi snakes? Qiiite recently 

 a young House Sparrow {Passer domcsZ-icus), not fully fledged, was cap- 

 tured and taken into the happy family, pains being taken to keep it away 

 from the cat, but not from the Crotv, which, at its first introduction, 

 pounced upon it savagely, seized it by the neck, shook it as a terrier does 

 a rat, and before it could be released the Sparrow had gone the way of all 

 birds; portions of it being eaten by its destroyer. As the Crow had been 

 well fed, on a diet embracing meat, grain, and vegetables, the killing of 

 the Sparrow would seem to have been the outcome of natural propensities 

 rather than the result of the pangs of hunger. — F. W. Langdon, Cincin- 

 nati, Ohio. 



