V0l i<£ 5 XI1 ] General Notes. 409 



were pure white with yellow legs and hills and bluish eyes. I shot them 

 near the Saskatchewan River at a point near Edmonton, in June, 1904. 

 These birds were in a flock of their own species and no white parent 

 duck was noticed during the breeding season. When the birds were 

 some weeks old they were seen by Mr. Grant, a ranchman, who owns the 

 pond near which they were hatched. He saw the young white ducks 

 swimming in the pond, and curious to find out what they were he and 

 another man swam into the pond and caught the ducks, which they dis- 

 tinctly saw diving under the water. When they discovered what they 

 were, Mr. Grant released them and the specimens which I got are the 

 result. There were five birds in all, and I succeeded in getting three of 

 them, two having disappeared the day before I got there." The ' Ameri- 

 can Field ' of Chicago has an albino specimen of this duck in its collec- 

 tion. — Ruthven Deane, Chicago, III. 



Rare Ducks near Bridgewater, Mass. — Ornithologists may be inter- 

 ested to know that Mr. Daniel B. Davis on Oct. 22, 1904, at Lake Nippi- 

 nickett, Bridgewater, Plymouth Co., Mass., shot a Shoveller [Spatula 

 clypeata). This bird, together with a number of others of different spe- 

 cies, was about to be disposed of in ordinary ways when fortunately Mr. 

 Joseph E. Bassett identified and purchased it. 



Other interesting captures at this lake are as follows : Two specimens 

 of the Ring-necked Duck (Ayl/iya collaris), by Joseph E. Bassett, Nov. 20, 

 1895. A King Eider (Somateria spe.ctabilis), Oct. 21, 1899, also by Joseph 

 E. Bassett. Two Gadwalls (Chaulelasmus streperus), Oct. iS, 1901, by 

 Mr. Harry P. Sturtevant. 



With the exception of one of the Ringnecks the skins of the above are 

 in the writer's possession. — Arthur C. Dyke, Bridgewater, Mass. 



Rallus elegans and Ionornis martinica in Massachusetts. — While 

 examining recently the collection of bird skins of Mr. Alfred Hill of Bel- 

 mont I was interested to find among them a male King Rail {/Callus ele- 

 gans) which was taken Dec. 30, 1896, at Cambridge, and which furnishes 

 the first record of the species for the vicinity. The bird was caught on 

 the ice of a small pond in the Fresh Pond marshes. It was in good plum- 

 age but was much emaciated and died in the night following the day of 

 its capture. 



I am indebted to Dr. L. C. Jones of Maiden for the information that 

 there came into his possession in April, 1902, a fine male Purple Galli- 

 nule (Ionornis martinica) which was shot at Sandwich by John McArdle, 

 a local gunner. — J. A. Farley, Boston, Mass. 



The Ruff at Camden, Maine. — I wish to record the capture of a female 

 Ruff (Pazwncella pugnax) at Camden, Maine, Sept. 14, 1900, by Mr. 

 Sidney Clark. This skin I purchased of Charles K. VVorthen, Warsaw, 

 111. — John E. Thayer, Lancaster, Mass. 



