308 General Notes. [April 



found it to be a female Green-winged Teal. It had been caught by the 

 bill in a steel trap that was set for muskrats. This same man brought 

 me a Green-winged Teal that he had shot October 8, 1914. The Green- 

 winged Teal is rather rare in this locality. 



Pinicola enuncleator leucura. Pine Grosbeak. — December 9, 

 1913, I saw a single female Pine Grosbeak in a locust tree in the streets 

 of Branchport. 



Hesperiphona v. vespertina. Evening Grosbeak. — I saw eight 

 Evening Grosbeaks in a pear tree in the streets of Branchport the morning 

 of March 28, 1916. They soon took flight and could not be again located. 



Progne s. subis. Purple Martin. — A single Purple Martin stopped 

 for a little while on the telephone wire in the street at Branchport, April 23, 

 1916. 



Asio flammens. Short-Eared Owl. — November 2, 1916, a dead 

 Short-eared Owl was picked up in the swamp at Branchport. Evidently 

 it had been shot and left where it fell. 



Aluco pratincola. Barn Owl. — May 27, 1917, a Barn Owl was 

 brought to me by a young man who had shot it. He said that it was 

 after his chickens. This is the first record of the Barn Owl for Branch- 

 port. — Verdi Burtch, Branchport, N. Y. 



Unusual Winter Bird Records for Iowa City, Iowa. — Although 

 the early winter season has been unusually severe in this locality and 

 cold weather has continued almost without intermission since late No- 

 vember, 1919, a number of species of birds which ordinarily winter farther 

 south have remained with us. The minimum temperature to date has 

 been — 25° Fahr. and the ground has been practically covered with snow 

 since early December. Among eighteen species of birds seen on Decem- 

 ber 26, 1919, between the hours of 8:00 A. M. and 2:30 P. M., the three 

 following seem worthy of special mention. 



Falco sparverius sparverius. Sparrow Hawk.— One example of 

 this species was seen in a small wooded plot about one-half mile west of 

 town. The bird was studied with the glasses at a distance of twenty 

 yards. It was being tormented by a pair of blue jays which appeared to 

 have no hesitancy in attacking the hawk, thus causing it to change its 

 perch frequently in the tops of the trees. This is my first and only winter 

 record for this bird. 



Anderson (Birds of Iowa, Proc. Davenport Acad. Sci., XI, 1907, 257) 

 says concerning the status of this hawk in Iowa: "A common migrant 

 in all parts of the state and somewhat less common as a summer resi- 

 dent. * * * A male specimen was shot at Iowa City, November 28, 

 1905." Bailey (The Raptorial Birds of Iowa, Iowa Geol. Surv. Bull., 

 No. 6, 1918, 170) adds: "Although rarely found with us during the winter, 

 Mr. G. H. Berry, of Cedar Rapids, brought the writer one that was killed 

 in the month of January while pursuing English Sparrows." 



