596 General Notes, [$gj 



Mr. Saunders suggested that the difference in songs noted by him 

 might be of subspecific value. The evidence presented above, showing 

 five types of song in one northeastern locality, renders doubtful the exis- 

 tence of any relationship between these song-types and true subspecific 

 characters. 



It is possible, however, that these differences in song may be of use 

 in determining the migration routes of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Song- 

 type No. 1, and no other, has been recorded by Mr. Saunders from "Ver- 

 mont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 and Alabama." and by myself from Nova Scotia, but it is very rare at 

 Quebec. Apparently, then, few of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets which 

 migrate northward in the United States east of the Alleghany Mountains 

 pass near Quebec; ; t is probable that nearly or quite all of them breed 

 farther eastward, some of them in Nova Scotia. This tends to confirm 

 what might be expected, for, although Quebec is about as far east as 

 Boston, the breeding-range of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet extends more 

 than eight hundred miles to the eastward of Quebec, and this great terri- 

 tory should easily accommodate in the breeding season all the individuals 

 of the species which have migrated along the narrow Atlantic seaboard 

 of the United States. Furthermore, if the birds which pass Quebec have 

 not come from the eastern side of the Alleghanies, they must have come 

 from the western side. Those who have the opportunity to compare 

 songs of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet between the Alleghanies and the 

 Mississippi with the records made at Quebec can assist in determining 

 this. It seems probable that there can be proven in the case of this species 

 a strong northeastward movement from the basin of the Mississ ; pp : to 

 tide-water in the vicinity of Quebec; a movement which I believe to be 

 participated in by many other species in whose cases the evidence is not 

 yet so clear. — Harrison F. Lewis, Quebec, P. Q. 



Notes from Seal Island, Nova Scotia. — In 1884, in Volume I of 

 'The Auk,' J. H. Langille published an interesting account of the recently 

 described Bicknell's Thrush as found by him breeding in Seal Island, 

 a low, spruce-covered island, twenty miles off the southeastern point of 

 Nova Scotia. Since then the island has been visited by Bent, Job ('Wild 

 Wings," 1905, ChaDter X), Bishop, Cleaves and other ornithologists. I 

 stayed there from July 10 to 14 of this summer (192C) and have thought 

 it worth while to record the present status of the birds of this interesting 

 island. 



Black Guillemots, formerly so common, have dwindled to less than a 

 dozen pairs and Puffins are entirely extirpated. Fully a thousand Herring 

 Gulls nest there and possibly a few Common Terns, while the burrows of 

 Leach's Petrel are everywhere to be seen in the peaty soil of the island. 

 Counted twenty-seven Eiders, which we disturbed from under spruce 

 bushes and one with a brood of four downy young. Two or three pairs 

 of Semipalmated Plover were breeding and the downy voung seen. Spotted 

 Sandpipers were common. 



