2 5 8 



General Notes. I July 



finished despatching a woodrat (Neotoma). The bird reluctantly withdrew 

 as I came upon the scene, leaving the rat, which I found to be quite dead. 

 A post-mortem disclosed a bad contusion on the side directly over the heart, 

 and another on the spine between the shoulders, while the skull was 

 crushed by a blow behind the ear, although the skin was nowhere broken. — 

 A. W. Anthony, San Diego, Cal. 



The Redheaded Woodpecker in Eastern Massachusetts. — It is so 

 seldom that a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is 

 seen in eastern Massachusetts that its occurrence is worthy of note. On 

 Sunday noon, March S, 1896, while taking a walk through a grove of 

 mixed elm, maple and pine trees in the section of Boston known as 

 Dorchester, I came across a beautiful bird of this species, lazily climbing 

 about on a partially decayed stump and apparently searching for food. 

 The bird was vevy tame, allowing me to follow it closely as it flew from 

 tree to tree and to approach to within ten or fifteen yards on several 

 occasions. After watching it for some fifteen minutes and thinking 

 from its tameness and from its partiality to a particular stump that it 

 might be wintering in the locality I quietly withdrew. A thorough 

 search of the woods the next morning failed to discover the bird again 

 and I concluded it was probably a temporary visitor. 



On May 8, 1896, while walking early in the morning in Dorchester 

 District, my attention was attracted by the loud calling of a Red-headed 

 Woodpecker. After a short search the bird was located in a clump of 

 tall oak trees and was shot. It proved to be a male in full plumage, and 

 was very fat. This is probably, the same bird noticed by me on March 8, 

 1896, as recorded above, as it was shot within one hundred yards of where 

 it was previously observed. 



I have seen this species in Massachusetts only once before, the first 

 time being on May 19, 1878. — Foster II. Brackett, Boston, Mass. 



Pyrocephalus rubineus mexicanus in Los Angeles County, Cal. — 

 During recent winters numerous duck-hunters in the San Gabriel River 

 bottom have observed a "fiery red" bird among the willow trees. On 

 Dec. S, 1895, I secured an adult male which, as I expected, proved to be 

 the Vermillion Flycatcher. On Feb. S, 1S96, I again shot a specimen, an 

 adult female in the same locality. Thus it appears that Pyrocephalus 

 rubineus mexicanus is a regular winter visitant to the river bottoms in 

 Southern California west of the Sierra Madre Mountains. — Horace A- 

 Gaylord, Pasadena, Cal. 



Intergradation in Song of Sturnella magna and S. m. neglecta in Mis- 

 souri. — In Dr. Coues's 'The Birds of the Northwest,' Mr. Tripp notes 

 that he had never observed any intergrading of the songs of Sturnella 

 magna and 5. m. neglecta. Some seven or eight years ago while 

 creeping on some ducks in Audrain County, Mo., I heard a very pecu- 



