V °i8g9 VI ] General Notes. 36 1 



the fifth egg was laid a dog came around near the back door and caught 

 sight of the bird in the shoe and made a dash for her, the bird escap- 

 ing, but breaking three of the eggs. 



The shoe, nest, and two eggs are in my collection. The nest was-com- 

 posed of dry grasses and fine moss and lined with horse hair. — Arthur 

 William Brockvvay, Old Lyme, Conn. 



Puerto Rico Honey Creeper. — I have been interested in a pair of 

 Honey Creepers, Ccereba portoricensis (Bryant), building about my house. 

 They began in a rose bush, but it being too close to the ground they 

 deserted the place and are now busy upon another nest in a small tree. 

 The nest is a little larger than a baseball, perfectly round, with the open- 

 ing like a well drilled auger hole, just below the middle. Outside are 

 grasses and bits of twine ; inside are feathers, and when the birds leave 

 the nest for any time they cover the hole with a couple of feathers. The 

 female does this also when she is within, just peeping out with bill and 

 head, which with the aid of my glass makes a real picture. These birds 

 are our 'Jenny Wrens,' and there are a good many of them here all 

 around our houses, especially where roses, coral plants, and other smaller 

 flowers abound. We have become very much attached to them. — George 

 B. Pratt, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 



Notes on Marian's Marsh Wren, Cistothorus mariatur, and Worthing- 

 ton's Marsh Wren, Cistothorus palustris griseus. — On April 16, 1897, I 

 shot a very dark colored Marsh Wren near Mount Pleasant, South Caro- 

 lina, which has the top of head deep black. At Mr. Ridgway's request, I 

 sent the specimen to him and under date of June 10, 1S97, he wrote me 

 as follows: "I have just finished examining the Wren, with the aid of 

 Mr. Brewster's series of both mariance and griseus. Your dark bird is 

 intermediate, but on the whole may best be considered an exceptionally 

 dark specimen of griseus. Mariana? is a more rusty brown and usually 

 has the breast speckled with blackish." 



I sent the Wren above mentioned to Mr. Brewster and he wrote me 

 under date of Dec. 6, 1897, as follows: "As to the April bird (Wren), I 

 cannot agree with Mr. Ridgway, for it has absolutely none of the true 

 characters of griseus and is quite indistinguishable, so far as I can see, 

 from some of my examples of marianai from Tarpon Springs, Florida ; 

 although it certainly has more white beneath than is usually the case 

 with that form. In respect to the coloring of the upper parts, and 

 especially of the crown, it is typical mariance, to which I should accord- 

 ingly refer it despite the locality at which it was taken." 



It will be seen from the above that this record extends the range of this 

 bird to the Atlantic coast, and that it is an abundant bird in this Stale 

 during the migrations the following records will show. On Oct. 1, 1898, 

 I killed four; Oct. 4, five; Oct. 11, one; Oct. 15, one; Oct. 17, three; 

 Oct. 28, two; Oct. 31, two; April 21, 1S99, one; May 6, one; May 8, one. 



