V0 !'s£, VI ] General Notes. 2J$ 



I wished to, I was turning to go, when I saw a second one, closely 

 followed by a third, dash past the bow, and over the fore part of the ship. 

 One of them alighted on the railing of the bridge, while the other kept 

 on over the sea for some distance. From that time on I frequently saw 

 them together, and found that there were two females and one male. 



All this happened in bright afternoon sunlight, before half past five 

 o'clock. The following other birds were on the ship at this time. A 

 Palm Warbler {Dendroica pahnaruni), an adult male Hooded Warbler 

 {Wilsonia mitrata), a full-plumaged Bay-breasted Warbler [Dendroica 

 castanea), a Yellow-winged Sparrow {A mm od ram us savannarum passeri- 

 nus), a Catbird (Galeoscoftes ca rolinensis), and a Field Sparrow (Spizella 

 fusilla) ; making, with a Black-poll Warbler [Dendroica striata) and 

 some Tree Swallows (Tac/iycineta lu'cofor) which we had seen in the 

 morning, and the Chuck-will's-widows, nine species of land-birds which 

 had rested on the ship during the day. 



As twilight came on, the Chuck-will's-widows spent more time about 

 the ship and less over the water, and we found that they were feeding on 

 large beetles which were flying around over the decks. Suddenly as we 

 were watching one of these birds, an officer of the ship called to us from 

 the other side of the deck: "Did you see that Hawk catch that little 

 bird?" And he then told us that he had seen the ' Hawk' chase one of 

 the small birds out over the sea and swallow it, or at any rate the bird 

 had suddenly disappeared when its pursuer was almost on top of it. A 

 moment later two sailors, who had been on the deck below, came up and 

 asked our informant if he had seen the big bird catch the little one, and 

 when questioned by us, they described it exactly as he had done. Soon 

 afterwards, when I was standing on the superstructure, a Warbler, which 

 I took to be the Hooded, darted past me hotly pursued by a Chuck-will's- 

 widow, and the next instant I plainly saw it seized upon and swallowed, 

 just as if it had been a moth, though, its captor seemed to have some 

 difficulty, as 1 saw it opening and shutting its mouth when it passed me 

 again a moment later. This was our last observation for the day, as it 

 was getting too dark to see clearly. 



The next morning was cold and foggy, and I thought that if the 

 Chuck-will's-widows were anywhere on board, they would be hiding in 

 some sheltered corner. Accordingly I hunted the ship over, paying 

 special attention to corners of the lower deck, but found nothing but a 

 Palm Warbler and a Field Sparrow, and was about to give up the search 

 when I suddenly came upon one of the females squatting under a life- 

 raft. She was apparently benumbed by cold, as I was able to get within 

 three feet before she flew, and almost caught her as she dodged out past 

 me from under the raft. She was evidently the only one left on the 

 ship, but whether the others had been caught by the ship's cat, or had 

 flown away, we never learned. The day was unusually cold, about 45 

 Fahr., and the solitary Antrostomus was quite evidently affected by it. 

 There was a marked difference in her actions, for though she occasionally 



