Voi ig^ 5 XI1 ] General Notes. 89 



troit, in a tangled grassy field. In fifteen years' observation, this is the 

 first stellaris that has actually been taken here. Mr. Jas. B. Purdy writes 

 that some years ago he met with a pair of this species near Plymouth,, 

 where he found it breeding. — B. H. Swales and P. A. Taverner, De- 

 troit, Mich. 



Additional Records for Southeastern Michigan. — Savanna Sparrow. 

 Passe re //Iks sandwickensis savanna. — June iS, 1904, near Pearl Beach, St. 

 Clair Co., on the edge of the St. Clair Flats, I found a colony of these 

 birds breeding. About a dozen birds were seen. 



Clay-colored Sparrow. Sfizella pallida. — Took one bird at Port 

 Huron, St Clair Co., May 2, 1901. The specimen is in the collection of 

 J. H. Fleming of Toronto, Ont. 



Lincoln's Sparrow. Melospiza lincolnt. — May 15, 1904, I took a male 

 near Palmer Park, Detroit. It is in the collection of B. H. Swales. 



Prairie Warbler. Dendroica discolor. — I took a female at Port Hu- 

 ron, May 20, 1900. It is now in the collection of J. H. Fleming. 



Connecticut Warbler. Geothylpis agilis. — May 23, 1900, a female, 

 taken at Port Huron. Now in collection of J. H. Fleming. 



I also wish to record a Purple Gallinule [Ionornis tnartit/ica) taken near 

 Guelph, Wellington Co., Ontario, about 1894. It is an immature bird and 

 is in the possession of Mr. Wm. Holliday of that city. — P. A. Taverner, 

 Detroit, Mich. 



The Apparent Power of Reasoning in Birds. — The apparent power of 

 reasoning, I say, because we cannot be sure of an animal's mental con- 

 dition, as Mr. Wheeler points out in 'The Auk 1 for April, 1904, our 

 mind being no doubt very different from that of the animal. We will 

 have to be converted into the animal and live for a while as such before 

 we can thoroughly understand how it feels and what motive causes it to 

 act in a certain way. It does not do for us to treat the animal's actions 

 as though it were a human being, and yet there are actions on the part of 

 the animal which seem to show some mental faculty closely akin to man's 

 power of reasoning. Whether the animal really has any forethought as 

 to the best method of accomplishing a desired end or not we cannot say, 

 but at times it certainly appears to have. 



In the early summer of 1903, a friend and myself procured a nest of 

 young Red-winged Blackbirds and raised the brood. Since then I have 

 made a pet of one of them — a female. The cage sits upon the window- 

 sill and the blackbird takes much interest in the English Sparrows which 

 are attracted to the outer sill by her presence. Her cage has a large perch 

 which reaches the full length of the window. This perch is securely fas- 

 tened at one end while the other end rests in a notch upon a cross strip of 

 wood. This perch is some twelve inches from the vvindowpane, and when 

 upon it the blackbird was unable to see the sparrows upon the outer sill. 

 In some way or other she discovered that one end of the perch was free. 



