294 General Notes. ely 
The American Egret in Connecticut.— On the 28th of July, 1899, a 
fine specimen of the American Egret, Ardea egret/a, was brought me, 
having just been shot from a tree on the shore of a small pond in this 
town, Kent. As the person in question passed near the pond, the great 
white bird flew up from the shore, alighted on a low tree close by, remain- 
ing until he returned from the house with a gun, and manifesting no 
shyness. It was a male, but whether old or young I could not decide, 
as, though without plumes or long feathers, it was of full measurements, 
and showed no lingering adolescence. This occurrence, forty miles 
inland, is probably much more unusual than the appearance of this 
species on Long Island Sound.— Rev. HersBertT K. Jos, Kent, Conn. 
Notes on the Nesting of the Blue-throated Hummingbird. —On 
February 16, 1899, while at a place called Las Minas, which is about five 
miles north of Las Vigas, Vera Cruz, Mexico, I found the nest of a Blue- 
throated Hummingbird (Caligena clemenci@). ‘The place was in a cafion 
and the elevation was about 4500 feet. 
On February 12 we had snow, with thermometer down to 32°F. 
at 4 p. m., and on February 13, at 7 a. m., down to 29°F. All the 
plants and trees were covered with ice, and the leaves of almost every- 
thing were killed; we found many frozen birds, and that was the fate of 
the owner of this nest. We only had two cold days, but that was enough 
to destroy many birds. 
The nest was fastened to a vine one tenth of an inch in diameter and 
about three feet above a small stream of water. The vine hung from a 
large rock and the nest was one and a half feet from the rock, and would 
have been sheltered from rain by the overhanging rock. The nest is of 
bulky structure, and is perhaps a new nest built on top of an old one. It 
is composed of fine moss massed together, and bound with spiders’ webs 
or similar material. It measures, outer diameter, 23 inches, depth 4 
inches; inside diameter, 11 inches; depth, } inch. There is very little 
lining, only enough for the eggs to rest on, consisting of down from 
some fern. ; 
The two dull white eggs, elliptical oval in shape, measure .61 X.35 and 
.62X.40 inch. The nest and eggs are now at the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. —Jos1an H. CLark, Paterson, N. J. 
Evening Grosbeak ( Coccothraustes vespertinus).— This beautiful and 
dignified looking bird was exceedingly common in the city of Milwaukee, 
during the months of February and March, as many as thirty and forty 
often being seen in one flock. They frequented the box elder trees, 
which were covered with an unusual supply of seeds even in the densely 
populated parts of the city. One morning — the thermometer registered 
20° below zero — while walking down Cedar Street I found the whole 
sidewalk underneath a fine old box elder covered with the broken parts 
