1920 J General Notes. 2ivo 



On returning several times at intervals of ten minutes we had oppor- 

 tunities of observing the female on the nest, her bright red eyes being the 

 most prominent feature. On each occasion when leaving the eggs, she 

 darted from the nest into the surrounding grass, never taking wing, and 

 with such celerity that it was impossible to observe her movements, the 

 action resembling more that of a mouse than a bird. 



Eventually she was seen and caught in the hand while moving through 

 some shorter grass. Mr. J. Fletcher Street secured some excellent photo- 

 graphs of the bird while thus held. On being released, the bird again 

 disappeared into the grass by a similar dart as before, never at any time 

 showing the slightest indication of wing power. The first bird, flushed 

 some ten yards from the site of the nest, was doubtless the male, forced 

 to fly because of insufficient cover when surprised. — George H. Stuart, 

 3rd, Girard Trust Co., Philadelphia. 



Maggots in the Ears of Nestling Cooper's Hawks (Accipter coop- 

 eri). — On July 8, 1913, when examining three Cooper's Hawks seventeen 

 days old, I found maggots in their ears and took a maggot from each ear 

 of the three birds. In one ear of one of the birds there was another maggot 

 which I could not get as it went far back into the ear. Possibly these 

 maggots were the larvae of the Screw-worm Fly {Campsomyia macellaria). 

 I visited these birds again July 20, when their ears appeared to be quite 

 normal. — Verdi Burtch, Branch-port, N. Y. 



Age Attained by the Hyacinth Macaw. — A venerable specimen of 

 the Hyacinth Macaw {Anodorhynchus hyacinthus) well known to the 

 visitors to the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, died on February 28, 

 1920. The records of the Zoological Society show that the bird was 

 received on July 22, 1893, so that it had been on exhibition in the bird 

 house for over twenty-six years. How long the bird had lived before it 

 was captured it is of course impossible to say. At the time of its death 

 it was still in perfect plumage. — Witmer Stone, Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Curious Habits of the Whip-poor-will. — Mr. Moritz Boehm, a 

 neighbor of mine, has a very beautiful place surrounded on two sides by 

 a deep ravine. Each year for the past six or seven seasons a pair of Whip- 

 poor-wills have spent the summer on his grounds, and have become quite 

 tame. The male has certain stands around the house, and comes up from 

 the depths of the ravine at night and calls, first from one perch, then 

 another, until he has gone around the house several times, usually answered 

 by Mr. Boehm. On different occasions, while the male was calling, he saw 

 the female going through some peculiar antics, but in the dusk could 

 not make out just what she was doing. One evening, when he was sitting 



