^°190?^] General Notes. 215 



GENERAL NOTES. 



Occurrence of a Dovekie at Port Washington, Wis. — On January 11, 

 1908, some boys hunting along the ice fringe of Lake Michigan at Port 

 Washington, about twenty-five miles north of Milwaukee, shot a bird which 

 was strange to them and which they carried to Dr. C. W. Beemer of that 

 town for identification. Dr. Beemer correctly determined it as a Dovekie 

 (Alle alle) and had it mounted by a local taxidermist. He has since 

 presented it to the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee. The sex was 

 not detennined. The bird appears to be an adult in ordinary winter 

 plumage. 



I believe that this is the first record for this bird as far west in the United 

 States as Wisconsin. Its presence was presmnably accidental, storm- 

 driven, rather than a voluntary straying from its coastwise habitat. — 

 Henry L. Ward, Milwaukee, Wis. 



An Addition to the Birds of Iowa. — The Museum of Natural History of 

 the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, obtained a fine female specimen, in 

 good plumage, of the Long-tailed or Arctic Jteger {Stcrcorarius longicaudus) , 

 which was captured near Lone Tree, Johnson County, Iowa, on or about 

 June 15, 1907. The bird was seen flying around with the pigeons on the 

 farm of Mr. Charles Prizler, near Lone Tree, and a shot from his gun 

 broke the bird's wing and enabled Mr. Prizler to capture it alive. The 

 bird was brought to Iowa City and presented to Professor C. C. Nutting, 

 of the department of Zoology, and identified by him. I saw the bird two 

 or three days later, after it had been mounted by Mr. Homer R. Dill, the 

 University taxidermist, and verified the measurements and identity. 

 The coloration and measurements are those of the typical adult, as given 

 in Coues's 'Key' and Ridgway's 'Manual.' I know of no previous record 

 of the occurrence of the Long-tailed Jager in Iowa, although its congener, 

 Stercorarius parasiticus, has been taken at least twice; once on the Missis- 

 sippi at Keokuk, Oct. 6, 1896, and preserved by Mr. Wm. G. Praeger, and 

 one specimen at Eagle Lake, Hancock County, Sept. 20, 1905, and now in 

 the Coe College collection at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, recorded by Dr. B. H. 

 Bailey. — Rudolph M. Anderson, Macon, Missouri. 



The Black Tern at Camden, N. J., and Philadelphia, Pa. — In ' The Auk' 

 for April, 1907, page 211, I recorded the observation of a Black Tern 

 (Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis) on the Delaware River at Philadelphia, 

 Pa., but as the bird was not taken there appears to be some doubt, in the 

 minds of some ornithologists, at least, as to the reliability of my identi- 

 fication, and in this connection I would like to assure the most incredulous 

 that I made no mistake, for if I had been in the least doubt, I certainly 

 would never had recorded its occurrence. However, I am now able to 



