324 General \otes. [^uk 



more nests of Tule Wren containing eggs that were almost ready to hatch. 

 These last two sets must have been complete on or before my pre\ious 

 visit. 



My other early record is a nest and four eggs of the Killdeer taken April 

 14, that were almost one half incubated. 



Of the above records it is probable that the wrens may not be greatly 

 out of the general rule, but those of the Rail and the Killdeer I should con- 

 sider most exceptional. — J. H. Bowles, Tacoma, Wash. 



Notes on Missouri Birds. — On examining Mr. Widmann's 'A Preliminary 

 List of Missouri Birds' I find I have notes on several birds not reported 

 from Missouri. At his suggestion I send them to you for a place among 

 the 'General Notes' in 'The Auk.' 



November 16, 1899, I saw a White-winged Crossbill feeding under some 

 evergreen trees in a cemeterj^ in town. It allowed me to stand watching 

 it for a long time. 



On Dec. 3, 1903, I saw a female Pine Grosbeak in a red cedar in a yard 

 in tov\-n. It seemed sluggish and did not fly though I approached it 

 closely. 



In 1904 I saw Carolina Wrens in March, April, May and June, and I think 

 it was the spring of this year that one commenced building in a gourd hang- 

 ing in a lilac bush about four feet from the ground and within a few feet 

 of our dining room window. It worked industriously for three or four 

 days during the last week of March and then disappeared, and the House 

 Wrens afterwards took possession of the site. This spring a pair built over 

 a door in an outhouse in the garden and this time I think they succeeded 

 in raising their brood, though we saw nothing of them. We could not see 

 into the nest and the birds did not alight near it, but the male would fly to a 

 pile of boards about thirty feet away and sing as though he would fly into 

 pieces, and then suddenly dart towards the nest and fly through the door 

 so swiftly that he was almost invisible. The first of INIay we found the nest 

 torn to pieces. We thought the House Wrens did it. 



In the spring of 1907 I saw a European Goldfinch in a pasture \'\here 

 American Goldfinches flock in winter and breed in summer. — M. Susan 

 Johnson, La Grange, Mo. 



Bird Notes from Southeastern Michigan.— 'Recent Ornithological 

 Developments in Southeastern Michigan,' by Messrs. Swales and Tavemer 

 (Auk, XXIV, p. 135), was of especial interest to me owing to its local nature, 

 but while present conditions are faithfully depicted prior knowledge is 

 sonle^^■hat \ague, and I submit the following as additional data. 



Larus delawarensis. Ring-billed Gull. — This gull is of regular occur- 

 rence here beyond all question. I first learned to identify it in the fall 

 of 1890, but classed it distinct from the Herring Gull as early as 1886. 

 The first examined were two birds shot by Mr. Rad C. Ouellette, November 



