294 General Notes. [ A ^£ 



The native Rhododendron (R. maximum) grows here in profusion attain- 

 ing a height of twenty-five, or more, feet, and is a wonderful sight when 

 in blossom in July. There is also much laurel and many hardwood trees 

 on the edge of the swamp. On July 5, 191S, walking here among the Rho- 

 dendrons, listening to the songs of the Hooded Warbler, 1 made a dis- 

 covery. The Hooded Warbler is quite common in this locality and sings 

 freely. I heard the two songs on this day — one of which seems to say 

 '• you 're it. you 're it, you 're it, you 're it yourself " sung rapidly and 

 varying in the number of " you 're its.'' The other song seems to say 

 •• Nobody can touch nie-e," a rising inflection on the end. They made me 

 think of children playing tag. Suddenly a strange distant song drew my 

 attention and 1 hastened along listening intently — then as I stood on a 

 rock surrounded by Rhododendrons out flew a beautiful Black-throated 

 Bine Warbler, which alighted on a tree and sang. It flew about from tree to 

 tree quite near and sang over and over again, and was answered by the 

 same song from a more distant bird. The song was much finer than the 

 books lead one to suppose. About six zees — the first three seeming to 

 have a sort of double resonance and the last longer drawn out and higher. 

 Of course the birds were nesting here, but although I visited the spot every 

 few days and heard and saw the bird near the same locality, I could never 

 locate the nest, in the wild tangle of growth. The last time that I heard 

 the song was on August 1. In Dr. Bishop's ' List of Connecticut Birds' 

 the Black-throated Blue is given as nesting at Eastford in 1S74 and 1SS1, 

 in Kent hi 1905 and in Litchfield in 190.5. Near this same place some 

 Broad-winged Hawks were nesting and every time I visited the spot one 

 of them would perch in a tall tree and whistle — a shrill penetrating whistle, 

 although at times they could do it quite softly. They seemed to be unafraid 

 and it was amusing to see one of them watching my dog as he ran among 

 the bushes: it would stretch its neck and twist its head from side to side 

 in a very funny way. For two years now the Solitary Yireo has nested 

 in this vicinity and delighted us with its song all summer. 



Still another rarity has been found nesting in this swamp, the Canada 

 Warbler. Dr. Graves found it there on June 25, 1884, and again thirteen 

 years later on July 17. 1897; at this later date he saw and heard a number 

 of them singing. Although looking for it here for the last ten years I have 

 yet to find it nesting. — Frances Miner Graves. New London, Conn. 



The Name " erythrogaster." — I have been interested in the discus- 

 sion about erythro - •ythrogastra, erythrogastris, etc. in recent numbers 

 of ' The Auk.' From analogy, both in the Greek and Latin tongues, I 

 make no question of this being an adjective. Thus in Latin, from longus 

 and man us comes the adjective longimanus -a, -um, long-handed. In Greek 

 form (using the Reman alphabet" leiikos and lithos, hukolithos, -on. The 

 older naturalists, as many botanists still do. printed specific names that 

 are nouns with an initial capital, those that are adjectives with a lower-case 

 initial. Linnaeus, for instance, who observed this distinction, wrote Anas 



