Vol. XVII 
1900 
General Notes. 69 
River west of the main divide of the Rocky Mountains. But another 
" passage in the ‘ Narrative,’ p. 70, gives the desired data to fix the date of 
discovery and precise locality. Writing of June 15, 1834, Townsend says: 
*“T found here a beautiful new species of Mockingbird, which I shot and 
prepared”; and gives a footnote referring to the Appendix as above cited 
for the description. At the date in mention, N. J. Wyett’s expedition, 
accompanied by Townsend and Nuttall, had made the South Pass over 
the Continental Divide on the 14th, and were about to camp on Big Sandy 
River, a tributary of Green River, in Wyoming. They were on the already 
established fur traders’ route which went about S. W.from the Pass to the 
Big Sandy at or near the confluence of the latter with Green River. — 
ELLiottT Cours, Washington, D. C. 
Notes on Birds of Long Island.—Ardea egretta and A. candidissima.— 
It isa pleasure to note that both ‘White Herons’ are still entitled to notice 
among the present avifauna of Long Island, notwithstanding the con- 
tinued persecution to which both species throughout the entire limits of 
their range have been of late years subjected, and the consequent diminu- 
tion in their numbers. 
Their persistent occurrence on Long Island in spite of their decline in 
numbers is rather remarkable and may be regarded as denoting that Long 
Island is an attractive feeding ground for this genus of birds. It may 
also be that there exists an instinct affecting certain individuals leading 
them to migrate in the autumn in a direction contrary to that of the 
species as a whole, or, that the genus is simply prone to a wandering, 
restless disposition.. Since Mr. Dutcher’s note on the former was pub- 
lished (Auk, III, 1, p. 435) nothing, I think, has appeared to show that 
either of the birds.now nest on Long Island, and it seems questionable 
whether the birds have nested so far north since the prevailing demand 
for their plumes first began. Late occurrences of the two species are as 
follows: 
During the autumn of 1897 several ‘ White Herons’ were noted about 
the shores of Jamaica Bay, Queen’s County, by several observers, from 
whom I heard of them. Chas. Ward, a gunner of Rockaway Beach, shot 
several on or about October 1, one of which was merely wing-tipped. 
This bird was preserved alive for some time, in which condition I saw it 
on October 9, it having then been in captivity about a week or ten days. 
The bird was confined in a boat builder’s shop where its unnatural sur- 
roundings atfected it unfavorably, as it appeared drooping and sick. it 
proved to be a specimen of the American Egret, Ardea egretta. 
A flock of Snowy Herons, Ardea candidisstma, comprising six or seven 
individuals, was seen on the salt meadows near East Rockaway in mid- 
August this year (1899). Two of these, which were wing-tipped, are now 
in the possession of Mr. Daniel DeMott of East Rockaway. They are at 
present in apparently excellent condition, established in roomy, comfort- 
able quarters, with out-door run and with in-door shelter. Mr. DeMott 
