236 General Notes. [Auk^ 



by A. Sidney Morgan, and was carefully examined by the writer. Two 

 were observed at Cameron, Marshall County, June 11, 1900 — evidently 

 a pair. I have seen birds of this species in Lewis County in the breeding 

 season. Prof. S. B. Brown, of the West Virginia University, tells me that 

 he has seen this bird a number of times near Morgantown, and on April 2, 

 1905, Prof. Fred E. Brooks, Associate Entomologist of the West Virginia 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, took a young bird just from the nest 

 near Morgantown. To all of these records, I may add the following, which 

 is, I believe, the most southern record of the breeding of this species. I 

 give these notes as they came to me in a letter from Prof. Fred E. Brooks, 

 as follows: 



"French Creek, W. Va., Apr. 11, 1905. . . .Your note concerning my ob- 

 servation on the Homed Lark at. Morgantown came here yesterday, and 

 seems to have stirred me up, for this morning I found a nest with three 

 young birds. Father was scattering some manure on the grass just over 

 the hill from the corn-house, and the chickens, which were gathered about 

 him, were attacked by two old larks. They would alight upon their backs 

 and fight them viciously. He called to me, and after looking a minute I 

 found the nest only a few feet away. The nest is ^^•ithout the slightest 

 protection, and is made almost entirely of grass-blades and straws in a 

 little hollow place in the ground no larger than a pint cup.. The young 

 birds will be large enough to leave the nest in five or six days. They have 

 the white spots all over the body which you mention as being characteris- 

 tic. The young one I caught at Morgantown had the same spots." 



Within ten years this species seems to have extended its breeding range 

 far southward into West Virginia. 



Carpodacus purpureas. — On August 28, 1902, I found the Purple Finch 

 abundant in "The Pines." While sitting by the road-side, a pair of these 

 pretty birds came down to a spring and drank. One of these was a male 

 in full "purple" plumage. These finches were flying everywhere among 

 the black spruce trees and over the adjoining fanns. 



Chondestes grammacus. — About the year 1900, the Lark Sparrow first 

 made its appearance at French Creek, in central West Virginia. Early 

 in June of that year my attention was called to this bird by its splendid 

 song and striking appearance. On June 20, I saw an adult Lark Sparrow 

 with two young just a day or two from the nest. Again on July 1, two 

 young were seen. For three or four years afterward, this species was often 

 seen at French Creek in the breeding season, but I did not succeed in find- 

 ing a nest, or in seeing the young again. I have additional records of the 

 occurrence of this species in this State as follows: — -Blue Knob, Clay 

 Coimty, July 30, 1900; Waverly, Wood County, almost every week in 

 summer seasons, 1903-1906; Lewis County, one heard in song May 2, 

 1907. This species, like the Prairie Homed Lark, seems to be. a recent 

 emigrant into our State. 



Junco hyemalis carolinensis. — For the past ten years, I have spent a 

 week or more each summer in some part of the mountainous region of this 



