-^^^ Getieral Notes. [q"^ 



identification. Slie was in full dark plumage, the darkest phase I have 

 ever seen in this species, and the feathering on the tarsi was clearly noted. 

 The nest was a large one, measuring two feet in diameter by one foot deep 

 outside, the inner ca\itv measuring nine inches across by four inches deep. 

 It was built in a crotch of the main trunk of the tree, resting partially on 

 some smaller branches ; it was made of large sticks and lined with pieces 

 of dry flags and shreds of the same, with a few sprigs of green leaves. 

 It contained two fresh eggs which we left for future reference, supposing 

 that the set was incomplete. We visited the locality again on June 7 and 

 had another good look at the bird, sitting on a fence-post, but there were 

 still only two eggs in the nest. 



As we had to leave this vicinity on the following day we collected the 

 set of two eggs, which is now in the collection of Rev. H. K. Job of Kent, 

 Conn. Mr. job visited the locality again on June 20 but found the nest 

 deserted. — A. C. Bent. Tdiinfon, Mass. 



Melanerpes erythrocephalus Breeding near Boston. — On the 26th of 

 June, 1901, I saw a pair of Redheaded ^\'oodpeckers feeding their young 

 in Newton, Mass., the nest being in a dead stump at a height of twenty 

 or twenty-five feet from the ground. According to Messrs. Howe and 

 Allen's 'Birds of Massachusetts' this would seem to be the first nest 

 ever recorded from eastern Massachusetts, although Mr. Brewster, in 

 his edition of Minot, speaks of one found in Brookline in 187S. — 

 Bradford Torrev, Wellesley Hills. Mass. 



Discovery of the Egg of the Black Swift [Cypseloides niger borealis). — 

 On the morning of June 16, 1901. I, with a companion, started out with 

 the intention of taking a few sets of Cormorants' eggs on the cliffs a few 

 miles west of Santa Cruz, California. On reaching the locality, I noticed 

 a pair of Black Swifts flying about over the clifts, much lower than they 

 usually fly. One bird rose high in the air and struck off in a bee line, at 

 the rate of a mile a minute. I then resumed my search for the Cormorants, 

 which I found on the face of the cliff, where the shore line turns sharply 

 inland and about where the Swifts had been seen. 



After throwing clods and stones for some time, to flush the cormorants 

 in order to ascertain whether the nests contained full sets, we then, with 

 the aid of a rope ladder and a pole and dipnet. took two sets of Baird's 

 Cormorant containing four eggs each and one of Brandt's Cormorant con- 

 taining three eggs, from nests situated about 25 or 30 feet from the top of 

 the cliff. 



After moving my ladder a little. I proceeded to reach out and down for 

 a more distant set of Baird's Cormorant eggs when suddenly, right from 

 under the pole and not more than three or four feet from my hand, a 

 Black Swift flew out and down toward the water and passed around the 

 angle toward the ocean. It did not rise above the clift, in the immediate 



