Vol. XXIIH General Notes. 2 I S 



1905 J •" * J 



ous years had two and three eggs respectively. The former was a full 

 clutch, as the bird was sitting. 



The outside structure of the nests being principally green moss made 

 them comparatively inconspicuous, in spite of their large size, as they 

 were usually saddled on a limb that was completely covered with the 

 same moss. 



There is generally a considerable admixture of damp leaf mold in the 

 foundation of the nest, but not in the walls. The average dimensions 

 are about six and a half inches for outside diameter, and three and a half 

 across the cavity. 



The ground color of the eggs is rather lighter than in those of Merula 

 migrator ia\ the spots vary from raw umber to dark sepia, and are usually 

 rather sparsely scattered, rather denser towards the larger end but never 

 forming a distinct zone. 



The shape is usually a long oval. One set (§) seems to present the 

 extreme variation in size, the eggs measuring 1.20 X .80 in., 1.21X72, 

 and 1. 15 X -73 inches. 



In no instance were two pairs of birds found breeding near each other; 

 the nests were about half a mile apart. The proximity of the nest is 

 usually betrayed by the actions of the birds, which flutter from tree to 

 tree uttering a peculiar chatter not heard at other times. 



Before closing these disjointed notes it might be as well to record the 

 irruption of the Varied Thrush during the present winter (1904-05). 

 During other winters a few may be seen, even in the coldest weather, 

 throughout the district west of the Cascades. This winter they fairly 

 swarm ; and reports from Okanagan show they are even wintering in the 

 cold interior of the Province. Large numbers of Audubon's Warbler 

 are also wintering in the lower Fraser Valley, though the winter is a 

 fairly severe one. — Allan Brooks, Sumas, B. C. 



An Unrecognized Subspecies of Bellona cristatus. — In his 'Descrip- 

 tions of New Species of Birds of the]Families Trochilida? and Tetraonidas, 

 (Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., I, p. 50, 1877) Mr. Lawrence described a new 

 hummingbird under the name of Orthorhynchus emigrans as follows: 



" Male. — The basal half of the crest is of a shining emerald-green, the 

 terminal half deep reddish-violet ; the upper plumage is dark grass-green ; 

 tail-feathers blackish-purple, the two central ones washed with green ; 

 quills light purple ; throat smoky -gray ; breast and abdomen smoky-black ; 

 bill and feet black. 



"Length, 3^ in.; wing, i| ; tail, \\ ; bill from termination of frontal 

 feathers, T % 



" A younger specimen, but with the crest full}' developed, has the throat 

 whitish-ash, and the outer two lateral feathers [rectrices?] tipped with the 

 same. . . . 



"Habitat. — Venezuela. Type in my collection. [Now in the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, New York.] 



