1 84 General Notes. \_\£\ 



B. foliocephala (Reichenow), B. xavieri (Oust.), B. notata (Cass.), B. 

 exitnia (Haiti.), and B. canicapilla (Hartl.). — Ciias. W. Richmond, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Barn Swallows {Hiruudo erythrogastrd). — Within a few yards of the 

 house occupied by Mr. John R. Sandsbury during the time he is caring 

 for the Terns on Muskeget Island, and where I make my headquarters 

 when visiting there, is an old shed or boathouse which has several aper- 

 tures. This shed has been used as a nesting place for the past six years 

 ~by apparently the same pair of Barn Swallows. At my request Mr. S. 

 ■made a few notes on these birds, which arrived this year (1898) on May 

 29. It is their custom to repair the old nest, they never having built any 

 since the first one. Four young birds were hatched this season. The old 

 birds would occasionally fly into the sitting-room of the house, but were 

 always frightened on getting inside. When I was visiting Muskeget this 

 summer (July 2-5, 1898), I found, in addition to the old pair of birds, still 

 another pair, apparently birds of last year, assisting in feeding the four 

 young ones in the nest. This they continued to do up to July 10, the 

 date on which the young left the nest. On this date they were all flying 

 about together, the young going at intervals to the nest to rest. On July 

 n, there were only the two original old birds and the four young ones, 

 and they remained around until July 19, the young returning to the nest 

 every night. The young birds were so tame that they would alight on, 

 and even run over Mr. Sandsbury's fingers while he rested his hand upon 

 abeam which was near the nest. They returned occasionally up to August 

 1, but were not so tame, alighting on top of the shed and on the clothes 

 line near the house. At this latter date the group consisted of the two 

 old birds and the four young. — George H. Mackay, Nantucket, Mass. 



Another Example of Curious Nesting of the American Redstart. — Mr- 

 Verdi Burtch, in the October Auk, 1S9S, recorded a curious example of 

 the American Redstart's nesting, and having had a somewhat similar 

 experience, it may be of interest to record it. 



June 3, 1898, I had been collecting about a swamp in the vicinity of 

 Dorchester, Mass., and at noon sought the shade of a wood lot near. A 

 female Redstart {Setophaga ruticilla) at once attracted my attention by 

 her queer ways. I retired for a short distance and the bird settled upon 

 a Vireo's nest, which was situated four and a half feet above the ground 

 in a sapling. It contained five Redstart eggs. One of these was entirely 

 buried beneath the others, in a thick lining of horse hair. The yolk of 

 this egg had settled and hardened. The other four were fresh. 



As numbers of Redstarts' eggs are annually stolen by boys from this 

 wood, it may be possible that the following theory accounts for this 

 strange thing. An incomplete set of Redstart eggs was taken ; the female 

 laid in the Vireo nest during the absence of the owners rather than deposit 



