V °!k* VI ] General Notes. 35 7 



tered up and away from between my feet and dropped out of sight in the 

 ragged grass, must have been sorely surprised and startled. The situa- 

 tion was so odd and the eggs so peculiar in appearance that I repaired to 

 my cart, left at some distance, for glass, gun and camera. Returning in 

 fifteen minutes the bird was again flushed ; she ran stealthily along 

 where the ground was wet and comparatively bare of vegetation and was 

 presently joined by her mate, twittering weakly from a neighboring weed 

 stalk, who seemed not so averse as the female to searching inspection 

 through the glass. Both were finally shot and carried home with eggs 

 and nest lining. 



The eggs are small, about .65 X .50, of grayish-white ground, thickly 

 sprinkled and clouded all over with markings of brown, thickening on 

 the extreme butt into a dark brown zone. The general effect is that of 

 very small eggs of the Savannah Sparrow. One egg, a trifle larger than 

 the rest, shows a bluish-white ground less thickly sprinkled and wholly 

 lacking the clouded appearance of the others, but still exhibiting the 

 well defined zone so symmetrical in all five eggs as to be noticeable. 

 Incubation had progressed about one half, but was not exactly uniform, 

 and one egg was infertile. 



Not all the statements of Walter Raine find the widest acceptance, but 

 I am inclined to credit his account of the taking of a nest of this species, 

 as related by him on p. 88, Vol. I, of the ' Nidologist.' At least his 

 description there given corresponds closely with my own observation. 

 I can agree, too, with his statement that the eggs of this species "will 

 never be common in collections." The bird is but a trifle over five inches 

 in length, of sober coloring (except for the bright buff that shows only 

 when in hand), and shy disposition, and if, as seems likely, its nest is 

 habitually located in dreary marshes apart from the haunts of man, its 

 discovery will probably continue rare and the merest accident. I believe 

 the taking of the nest in the United States has not before been recorded. 



In photographing this nest and surroundings great pains were taken, 

 but the developed plate shows hopeless overexposure. The eggs are now 

 in the great Norris collection. — Eugene S. Rolfe, Minnexvaukan, N. 

 Dak. 



Hirondelles de Guanajuato, Mexico. — Vers le 15 fevrier de cette 

 annfe (189S) sont arrives par un temps chaud les aviones grandes {Progne 

 subis). La chaleur a continue avec quelques journees de pluie, et le 7 

 mars ont apparu les premieres golondrinas (Chelidon erythrogaster) ainsi 

 que les aviones chicos {Petrochelidofi lunifrons). Ces oiseaux passent a 

 Guanajuato le printemps et l'ete et y font leurs nids: ils s'en vont vers 

 l'automne, et partent par ordre d'arrivee. Progne subis est la premiere a 

 s'en aller ; Petrochelidon lunifrons emigre vers la fin de septembre, et un 

 peu plus tard Chelidon erythrogaster. J'ai vu ce denier arriver a Vera 

 Cruz en 1879 vers le milieu de fevrier; un peu plus tard ils etaient a 

 Orizaba, et quelques jours apres a Mexico. J'ignore oil Progne et Petro- 



