104 General Notes. ban. 



The Cape May Warbler in Eastern Massachusetts. — In view of the 

 extreme rarity of the Cape May Warbler ( Dendroica tigrina) in eastern 

 Massachusetts, their occurrence in unusual numbers during the past 

 autumn in Lexington, Mass., seems worthy of note. 



Between Sept. 9 and 14, 1914, I met nine Cape Mays in four widely 

 separated parts of the town, — three on the 9th, five on the 13th, and one 

 on the 14th. Three of the birds were about my house in the town centre, — 

 two in a maple, and one in a mountain ash tree. Three other birds fre- 

 quented a red cedar pasture where I watched them for an hour. They kept 

 close together, generally in the same tree, and passed repeatedly over a 

 beat which included two or three acres. We met another individual on 

 the border of a piece of woodland, and another in an isolated dead oak tree. 



The birds showed a remarkable range of plumage; some, old males 

 evidently, were almost as brilliantly marked with yellow and orange as in 

 spring, others, birds of the year no doubt, were pale grey, streaked above 

 and below with brown, and lacked all yellow except on the rump. The 

 Cape Mays accompanied a heavy flight of migrants, composed chiefly of 

 Bay-breasted and Magnolia Warblers. 



Mr. William Brewster kindly sends me a record of three more Cape May 

 Warblers which he saw in the nearby town of Concord, Mass. His dates 

 extend materially the limits of the flight. 



" August 31, 9 in red cedar in berry pasture. Very tame. 



" September 12, 9 in oaks and larches. Very tame. 



" September 30, 9 spent several minutes in bush directly in front of our 

 dining room window through which I viewed her at a distance of not over 

 five feet. She was accompanied by three Black-polls." 



Mr. Walter Faxon, who saw two of the Lexington birds, had previously 

 met the Cape May Warbler but three times in this vicinity during twenty- 

 eight years of constant observation. 



Mr. William Brewster (Birds of the Cambridge Region 1906, pp. 329, 

 331) summarizing all the instances which his notes supply of the bird's 

 occurrence in the Cambridge Region, says, — " It will be noticed . . .that 

 during twenty-four — or two-thirds — of the total thirty-six years which 

 the records cover, the beautiful bud was not noted at all, and that during 

 eleven out of twelve years where it was observed only a single individual 

 was seen each season. These facts appear to me to warrant the conclusion 

 that the species is really one of the very rarest of the Warblers which visit 

 us with any degree of regularity." 



In his summary, which includes the records of many observers, he men- 

 tions but a single occurrence in this region in autumn. 



From the evidence of Mr. Faxon's and Mr. Brewster's experience the 

 flight of Cape May Warblers during the past autumn must be considered 

 unprecedented. — Winsor M. Tyler, M. D., Lexington, Mass. 



The Records of the Tennessee and Cape May Warblers in South- 

 western Maine.— Up to the summer of 1914 the Tennessee Warbler 



