'] 



General Notes. 2)59 



Panyptila melanoleuca que je n'ai pu bien observer: Panyptila habite les 

 fentes de quelques rochers sur la montagne. 



En 1893 une epid^mie de typhus a cruellement sevi a Guanajuato, et 

 les hirondelles ont ete fort peu nombreuses ; v a-t-il en une simple coin- 

 cidence ou une relation de cause a effet? Ce qu'il y a de certain c'est 

 qu' aujourdhui ces oiseaux viennent ici beaucoup moins qu'il v a quelques 

 annees; la cause est peut-etre la suivante. Les eperviers {Tznnunculus 

 sparverius) etaient communs par suite de l'abondance des oiseaux insecti- 

 vorez au gramivores, mais ils ont disparu ensemble depuis que les 

 insectes et les plantes qui les nourrissaient ont diminue en nombre : ce 

 dernier resultat est du a l'irregularite des pluies causee par le deboisage 

 inconsiddre' des montagnes. Les hirondelles disparaitraient aussi cer- 

 tainment si ce n'etait le nombre considerable de mouches qui existent en 

 tout temps, mais principalement a l'epoque des chaleurs et des pluies 

 (d'avril a octobre), grace surtout au ruisseau qui traverse la ville, et qui 

 recoit le tribu des 6gouts et des lieux d'aisance qui le rend souvent d'une 

 infection insupportable. — 6. Duges, Guanajuato, Mexico. 



Very Early Record of the Cliff Swallow. — This bird was known to the 

 Spaniards long before Say called it Hirundo lunifro?i%, and once occa- 

 sioned a geographical name. On the 19th of September, 1776, the Span- 

 ish priest, Silvestre Velez de Escalante, was in the Wahsatch range of 

 mountains, on their east side, about to pass over them into Utah valley. 

 He went through a canon, "que mombramos de las Golondrinas, por 

 haber en €\ muchos nidos de estas aves, formadas contal simetria, que 

 parecen pue-blecillos," in other words, he named it Canon of the Swal- 

 lows, because there were in it many nests of these birds, built with 6uch 

 symmetry, that they looked like little towns. This comparison of a 

 duster of Cliff Swallows' nests to the Indian pueblos of New Mexico is a 

 good one. The passage may be read in the very rare collection of papers 

 entitled: Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, 2d series, vol. I, p. 

 447. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



Philadelphia Vireo in West Virginia. —While hunting for Warblers 

 on May 16, 1S99, in the open woods, near Elm Grove, Ohio Co., W. 

 Va., the writer secured a Vireo, Avhich was at first glance supposed to be 

 a specimen of Vireo gilvus, but upon subsequent examination the first 

 primary was found wanting and the total number of the same but nine, 

 with other characters in accordance. From this it was very evident that 

 the bird was Vireo philadclphicus. Being unable to find any previous 

 record I believe this to be the first specimen which has been taken in the 

 State of West Virginia. —R. B. McLain, Wheeling, W. Va. 



A Note on Kirtland's Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandi). — On May 21 

 of this year, while looking for Warblers in our grove, my attention was 



