288 General Notes. [April 



On May 29, 1918, a bird which 1 am practically certain was of this species 

 was encountered in a grassy swale not far from Pullman, Whitman County. 

 When first sighted it was perched on a grassy tussock near the bottom of 

 the swale. When flushed it flew to a grass clump some distance up a gentle 

 hill slope, disappearing from view in the usual slinking fashion. Too 

 much reliance cannot, of course, be placed on this record, since the bird 

 was not secured. 



On June 13 I noted the song of a Grasshopper Sparrow in a grain field 

 near Six Mile Ranch, six miles south of Sprague, just over the line in 

 Adams County. The bird was pursued for some time before it was finally 

 taken. Its actions were as usually described, the bird characteristically 

 dropping behind a grass tussock, ledge of earth or pile of brush, and then, 

 with bill low, body in crouching position, and tail drooping, sneaking off 

 through the grassy vegetation, refusing to flush until one was too close to 

 shoot. 



The bird is now No. 262090, U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey 

 Collection. It is a male in much worn plumage. 



These experiences during the past field season indicate that the Grass- 

 hopper Sparrow is probably more common in eastern Washington than 

 has previously been supposed. — -Walter P. Taylor, Biological Survey, 

 Washington, D. C. 



The Dickcissel in New Hampshire. — At Concord, New Hampshire, 

 on October 13, 1918 I shot a male Dickcissel (Spiza americana) in immature 

 plumage. It was alone at the moment, in birches at the edge of woods that 

 bordered extensive fields of corn and stubble, the autumnal resort of 

 sparrows of several kinds, which were then swarming there among the 

 weeds. The only records of the bird from north and east of Massachusetts 

 with which I am acquainted are as follows : 



Maine, September 29, 1884. C. W. Townsend (Auk, 1885, p. 106). 



Maine, October 10, 1888. A. H. Norton (Auk, 1893, p. 302). 



Nova Scotia, September 13, 1902. J. Dwight, Jr. (Auk, 1903, p. 440). 



Francis Beach White, Concord, N. H . 



Early Nesting of the Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus 

 ludovicianus) at Savannah, Ga. — I am indebted to Mr. Gilbert R. 

 Rossignol, of Savannah, Ga., for the privilege of announcing the taking 

 by him on February 15, 1919, at Savannah, of a nest and five eggs of the 

 Loggerhead Shrike. Mr. Rossignol first discovered the birds building the 

 nest in a live oak tree, among a cluster of vertical shoots, on January 16. 

 The eggs were all fresh and the nest was approximately twenty feet from 

 the ground. 



In the vicinity of Charleston, S. C, the earliest dates upon which I 

 have found eggs were on March 24, 1916, six eggs almost hatched, and 

 March 13, 1917, five fresh eggs, both nests being found in the same live 

 oak tree and doubtless belonging to the same pair of birds. — Arthur T. 

 Wayne, Mt. Pleasant, S. C. 



