A.OO General Notes. [October 



specimens of this prettj little Sharp-tailed Finch, I have at present only 

 one by me, a fine male, however, shot by Mr. J. G. Bell, of New York, on 

 the 24th of May." He gives its habitat as "Upper Missouri prairies. 

 Common." Professor Baird, in 1S58. says (Birds of North America, 1858, 

 p. 452) : "I am obliged to copj' the description of this rare Sparrow from 

 Mr. Audubon, as I have no skin at hand. The type of the species was pre- 

 sented to me by Mr. Audubon, but it lias somehow been mislaid." In the 

 'History of North American Birds' (Vol. I, 1S74, p. 552) a second specimen 

 is recorded as having been "received by the Smithsonian Institution from 

 Washington Co., Texas, collected by Dr. Lincecum," but "in very poor 

 condition, having been skinned for an alcoholic preparation and does not 

 admit of a satisfactory description of the colors." This, then, was the only 

 specimen known to be extant when the species was re-discovered in 1S73 

 by Dr. Coues, "near Turtle Mountain, on the border of Dakota, latitude 

 39°," where a mmiber were found together on August g — the only occa- 

 sion when thev were noticed. The subsequent remarkable history of this 

 long lost species need not be recounted, it having been found of late in 

 numbers from the Upper Missouri region to as far south and east as South 

 Carolina. 



A speciiuen in the Maximilian Collection in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, proves that a second specimen was 

 really extant during this long interval. It still bears the original label in 

 the handwriting of the Prince, as follows: "Ammodramus LeContei 

 Audub. (Emberiza Audub.) Missouri. Mas." In tlie manuscript Cata- 

 logue of the Maximilian Collection (p. 171, genus 515, sp. 3) it is recorded 

 as follows: "[Coturniculus] Lecontei Audul). ; Bp. : (Ammodramus Le- 

 contei Gray). Nord America, am oberer Missoiu-i." There is no further 

 clue to its history, but doubtless it was taken by the Prince on his North 

 American journey, 1S32-34, and hence some ten years before the discovery 

 of the species by Audubon. As the Maximilian Collection was transferred 

 to the American Museum in 1870, this specimen was in New York City 

 for three years prior to the i-e-discovery of the species by Dr. Coues. 



The specimen (No. 1916) is in an excellent state of preservation, though 

 doubtless taken not less than half a century ago. 



Another specimen of historic interest in the collection of the American 

 Museum of Natural History is one of the original Bachmanian specimens 

 of Swainson's Warbler (No. 25,348). This is from the Elliot Collection, 

 Mr. Elliot having received it from Professor Baii'd. 



A third specimen, of much local interest, is an example (No. 1236. $ad.) 

 of a Wheatear (Sax/cola cenanthe^ , from the collection of Mr. D. G. Elliot, 

 taken on I/Ong Island, N. Y., but the date of capture is not given. It ap- 

 pears not to have been previously recorded. — J. A. Allen, Am. Mus. 

 Nut. Hist., Ne-v York City. 



Four Rare Birds in Northern California: Yellow Rail, Emperor Goose, 

 European Widgeon, and Sabine's Ruffed Grouse. — While on the coast 

 of Northern California in December, 1SS5, I visited the ornithological col- 



