584 General Notes. [oS 



Sound to the valley of the Upper Yukon, southern Mackenzie, southern 

 Keewatin, and Gulf of St. Lawrence." The Gulf of St. Lawrence does 

 not extend south of latitude 45° 35i N., while Cook's Beach is in latitude 

 43° 44i N., so that it is evident that the breeding-range of this bird extends 

 farther south than was supposed. — Harrison F. Lewis, Quebec, P. Q. 



The Cowbird's Whistle. — During a visit of five days at Jamestown, 

 R. I., July 3-7, 1915, I frequently heard a male Cowbird (Molothrus 

 ater ater) whistle in the following manner. He gave two long whistles, 

 inflected upward, followed by three short, quick whistles on a lower pitch. 

 His only variation was to omit one of the long whistles. This bird inter- 

 ested me not a little, for in Lexington, Mass., where the Cowbird is com- 

 mon — especially in the spring and early summer — I have noted a remark- 

 able uniformity in its note. The Lexington birds give one long whistle 

 followed by two short ones — never more and never less. 



I should not have ventured to call attention to this Jamestown bird, 

 if the matter had not been brought to my memory by another Cowbird 

 (presumably another one) at exactly the same spot in Jamestown. On 

 May 2, 1919, as I was passing the corner of the road where I had heard 

 the bird four years before, a Cowbird uttered a long whistle, then two 

 short ones, and concluded the series with another long whistle. This 

 performance was not exactly the same, to be sure, as that heard in 1915, 

 yet it was similar to it, and, at the same time, very different from our 

 Lexington birds. During the spring of 1919 I noticed repeatedly a similar 

 extension in the whistling of another Cowbird, two or three miles away 

 in Saunderstown, R. I., although other Cowbirds near at hand whistled 

 as the Lexington birds do. 



A small matter, all this, perhaps, yet in the light of Mr. Saunders' il- 

 luminating demonstration in his article on Geographical Variation in 

 Song ('The Auk,' 1919, pp. 525-528) the thought suggests itself that there 

 may be many minor variations in bird-songs, slight in direct proportion 

 to the distance separating varying birds. Possibly these Rhode Island 

 Cowbirds presented a variation of a longer song of which I am ignorant, 

 but which may be heard in the southern states. — Winsor M. Tyler, 

 M.D., Lexington, Mass. 



Dance of Purple Finch. — The following description of the ecstatic 

 movements of a Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus purpureus) is inter- 

 esting in the light of recent discussion. At six-fifteen (Eastern Time) 

 on the afternoon of May 16, 1920, my wife called my attention to a male 

 Purple Finch fluttering among the branches of our cherry tree. A female 

 Purple Finch was soon discovered sitting quietly in the same tree. The 

 male remained about five feet from the female, taking short, nervous 

 flights, raising his crest and softly uttering the call note. In a few mo- 

 ments the female flew down to the ground. At once the male followed 

 and became violently excited, drawing his quivering wings out in an arc 



