184 



General Notes. [^"k^ 



River, on the afternoon of the same day, when the cold was not especially 

 severe, although it had been so the previous night, many Swallows while 

 on the wing were seen to fall lifeless into the river. I learn that at Lemon 

 City for several days the boys amused themselves by dropping their hats 

 over benumbed or exhausted Swallows on the docks. On the morning of 

 February 15, seven dead birds were taken from under the seat of a 

 catboat where they had evidently sought shelter during the previous 

 afternoon and had perished in the night. The same day I noticed many 

 dead Swallows in the water and on the shores of Biscayne Bay adjacent to 

 this place. At Cocoanut Grove, about ten miles further south, many 

 birds were killed, over sixty dead Swallows being found one morning on 

 the roof of a piazza. Persons who visited the ocean shore, which is a 

 favorite resort for these birds, reported the beach as thickly bestrewn 

 with dead Swallows. At the house of refuge, located on the coast oppo- 

 site this place, over one hundred and fifty dead birds were counted one 

 day. 



An examination of the alimentary tracts of some of the birds showed 

 an entire absence of food ; and to this cause, rather than the direct 

 influence of the cold, I am inclined to attribute the exceedingly great 

 mortality which ensued. — Hugh M. Smith, Lcmo/t City, Dade Co., 

 Florida. 



The Rough-winged Swallow {Sfcli;-ido/>tcryx scrri/e/i/iis) and Tree 

 Swallows (^Tachyci)ieta bicolor) Wintering in South Carolina. — I shot 

 a male Rough-winged Swallow on the morning of December 22, 1894, 

 which had been in the neighborhood for over a month, and which had 

 roosted in a barn since November. I also shot two Tree Swallows on 

 January 4, 1895. The weather was intensely cold between these dates, 

 the thermometer registering as low as 8° above zero. It is not unusual 

 to see hundreds of Tree Swallows on mild days in Janui\r\' and February, 

 but it is certainly surprising to find them braving a temperature of 8° 

 to 10^ above zero. The Tree Swallows had their throats stuffed with 

 myrtle berries, which they subsist upon in the fall and winter months. — 

 Arthur T. Wayne,. Mount Pleasatit, S. C. 



A Ground Nest of the Black-throated Green Warbler. — This Warbler 

 is notoriously varialile in its choice of a nesting site. The usual 

 situation, of course, is the horizontal branch of a pine, hemlock or 

 spruce, liut I have seen nests built at or near the tops of tall specimens 

 of these e\ergreejis, in deciduous trees, such as birches and elms, and 

 in iiarberry bushes in open pastures. It appears, howe\'er, that there is 

 an even wider range of possibilities, for Mr. Clarence H. Watrous has 

 just sent meanest which he foimd — at Chester, Connecticut, June 18, 

 1894 — on the ground "among a large clump of ferns in a very low and 

 damp place under a heavy growth of hemlocks." There is nothing 

 peculiar about the composition or construction of this nest save that it 



