^°1908^^] General Notes. 475 



to the southwest by west going north of the Kittatiny Mountain range. 

 No birds were observed to go through the Gap, though I would not say 

 that none do. — Bruce Horsfall, Princeton, A'. J. 



Turkey Buzzard {Cathartes aura) in Northern Illinois. — On June 28, 

 1908, I watched one of these buzzards circHng over the links of the 

 Exmoor Country Club at Highland Park. It is rarely seen so far north 

 in the State. Mr. BenJ. T. Gault recorded three seen in the city of 

 Chicago, April 1, 1896 (Wilson Bull., No. 9, July, 1896), and there is a 

 mounted specimen in the collection of the Academy of Sciences, Chicago, 

 which was taken at Worth, 111., several years ago. — Ruthven Deane, 

 Chicago, III. 



Pileated Woodpecker near Litchfield, Conn. — To-day (June 20, 1908), 

 while driving near my home in Litchfield, Conn., I had the good fortune to 

 .see a fine specimen of the Pileated Woodpecker {Ceophlams pileatus abieti- 

 cola). It was on the wing and high up when I first saw him, and beginning 

 to cross, almost at right angles to our course, a deep valley which we were 

 to drive through lengthwise. He was far off when first seen and my 

 attention was attracted by his lazy, even flight and his great size. But 

 his flight soon brought him directly over our road and a little way in front 

 of us. Then I could see the great white markings on his wings. The bird 

 flew on across the valley and with a swoop, which ended with an upward 

 curve, entered the foliage of a large maple, which stood upon the mountain 

 side, making for its trunk. He had alighted too far up the valley side for 

 me to follow up the search, and, indeed, there was no need for this because 

 his markings and manner of flight had made the identification plain, 

 '•^'.p region is extremely wild and rugged, in the Berkshires. — John 



1 TCHiNs, Litchfield, Conn. 



Nelson's Finch in the Mountains of Virginia. — Some light may be 

 thrown upon the line of spring migration of Ammodramus nelsoni by its 

 occurrence in Montgomery County, Virginia, in May. Dwight, in 'The 

 Auk' for October, 1896, speaks of the breeding of this species in Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Dakota, and Manitoba; its occurrence as a 

 fall migrant on the Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to South Carolina, 

 and adds that spring records are few and far between. 



My house on the Campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacks- 

 burg, Va., is near a low meadow, flooded in winter as an ice pond, and in 

 spring and summer rank with a marsh-like growth of grass and weeds; 

 it affords a hunting ground for my cat, who frequently brings field-mice 

 into the house to eat. On the evening of May 23, 1908, I surprised the cat 

 with a bird which he dropped. I always confiscate his bird-catches for 

 ^Audubonic' reasons, and picked this up thinking it a Yellow-winged 

 ^Sparrow. To my surprise I saw it was a Sharp-tailed Finch, and on com- 

 paring with a series of Nelson's Finches and Sharp-tailed Finches taken 



