286 General Note,. [^^ujl 



I have in the past fifteen years examined a very considerable number 

 of nests, and it has been my experience that normally it is an unusual 

 thing to find dead young in the nest. I should say that each such find 

 the past season was so much evidence indicating an unusual mortality, 

 and I am of the opinion that could such data all be gathered, it would be 

 found that the effect of the unusual season of 1903 on bird life was very 

 marked. — B. S. BowDifiH, New York City. 



The Rapidity of the Wing-Beats of Birds. — Attention may well he 

 directed to a neglected phase of the problem of flight, for while foreign 

 observers have devised graphical methods for measuring wing movements 

 too swift for discernment by the human eye, little or nothing is known 

 about our birds of slow flight, in which it is possible to count the wing- 

 beats. On several occasions, I have had opportunity for watching 

 Herring Gulls {^Larns argeiitafus) following in the wake of a steamboat 

 running at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, and on calm days 1 

 find the wing-beats in this species average about one hundred and eighty 

 to the minute. Varying conditions make difficult even such simple 

 observations as these ; but the cooperation of many observers in this 

 almost untouched field may some day furnish valuable data. Laboratory 

 experiments abroad, with harnessed birds, show that the wing-beats of a 

 Sparrow are 780 a minute, of a Duck, 540, of a Pigeon, 480, and so on, 

 while at home we only know that wings are too swift for most cameras. 

 The subject is a large one and I merely wish to stimulate interest in it, by 

 thus lightly touching upon it. ^Jonathan Dwight, Jr., M. D., Neiv 

 York City. 



A Correction. — -In 'The Auk,' Vol. XIX, No. 3, July, 1902, p. 331, in 

 the first line, "Faxon and Allen" should read Faxon and Hoffmann. — 

 Reginald Heber Howe, Concord, Mass. 



Audubon's 'Ornithological Biography.' — I have just purchased a copy 

 of the above work, the first volume of which bears the imprint, 



Philadelphia : | Judah Dobson, Agent, 108 Chestnut Street ; | and | 

 H. H. Porter, Literary Rooms, 121 Chestnut Street. | MDCCCXXXI. 



Coues's Bibliography makes no mention of this imprint, nor can I find 

 another set the first volume of which bears such a one. — Reginald 

 Heber Howe, Jr., Concord, Mass. 



Delaware Bird Notes. — A hasty visit to Lewes, Del. — Cape Henlopeii 



on February 5, 1904, admitting of but an hour's walk across the frozen 



marsh and barely into the cedars and pines bordering the ocean sufficed 

 to note the following, amongst the species: — Myrtle Warblers, numer- 

 ous ; Robins and Bluebirds, abundant ; several Savannah Sparrows, a 

 flock of 18 Snow Buntings, one Catbird, a single Brown-headed Nut- 

 hatch, and two Red-breasted Nuthatches. — C J. Pennock, Kennett 

 Square, Pa. 



