356 General Notes. [j a l y 



During the nesting period the bird would eat from one to three moderate 

 sized angleworms a day. It did not bolt them down after the manner of the 

 robin but bit off small pieces and chewed them before swallowing. Cuttle 

 bone was also in demand. This feeding continued for perhaps three weeks 

 and again during the moult in September and October. At other times 

 the bird would take no animal food although insects and worms of various 

 kinds were offered. Its staple food was canary millet, rape, oats and a 

 little sunflower seed with plenty of fruit and succulent grass, lettuce, 

 cabbage and apple cores. The past winter the cage has hung outside 

 with a hood of transparent celluloid to cover the upper two thirds for 

 shelter and wind break. I hoped that the Pine Grosbeaks would visit 

 us again and that my lady bird by calling might help me to obtain a mate 

 for her. None visited this part of Connecticut the past winter, however, 

 and I think but very few came below latitude 45°. I still have hopes of 

 breeding them in captivity as they very soon become tame and contented 

 with cage life. My bird did not mind the cold of the zero week during 

 which she had an extra allowance of hemp and sunflower seed and a bit of 

 suet. She began singing February 1 and at present writing, March 24, 

 1918, is singing much of her time, using her whistling call notes when 

 Robins or Starlings fly near. Her song is identical with that of the male 

 and rather reminds one of the song of their pigmy representative the 

 Purple Finch but lacks the ringing quality. 



If I obtain a male to mate with my bird another year and should succeed 

 in breeding them, there are several experiments to be made. One is to 

 see if birds raised here and given their liberty would remain throughout 

 the year and another in regard to color changes in the male. — Geo. M. 

 Marckres, Sharon, Conn. 



The Systematic Position of Calyptophilus. — One of the most 

 peculiar of the many aberrant Antillean forms is the monotypic genus 

 Calyptophilus of Haiti. This form was originally described by Cory in 

 1883 as Phcenicophilus frugivorus, and the following year the describer 

 proposed for it the generic name by which it has since been known. 



Sclater (Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., XI, 1886), considered the two genera 

 Phanicophilus and Calyptophilus to form a subfamily of the Tangaridse 

 confined to the island of Haiti. At the same time he remarked, " I have 

 some doubts whether the Phcenicophilinse ought to be included at all in the 

 Tanagrine series." 



Notwithstanding its peculiarities Calyptophilus was allowed to remain 

 in the Tangaridse until 1902 when Ridgway (Bds. N. and M. Amer., Ill, 

 p. 1), after enumerating several genera that he considered out of place 

 in the Tangaridse added, " Another genus must also be removed. This is 

 Calyptophilus Cory, usually placed next to Phcenicophilus; but being a 

 ' ten-primaried ' bird, it obviously does not belong here. Calyptophilus 

 is of very doubtful position, but probably is a member of the Mimidse." 

 Accordingly in Part IV (1907) of the same work we find Calyptophilus as a 



