Vol. XI r 



General Notes. ^"5 



is unusually bulky and loosely woven at the bottom, showing plainly — 

 were such evidence needed — that it must have originally rested on a 

 broader and more stable foundation than the fork or branch of a tree 

 or shi-ub. Its identification is placed beyond all question by the fact 

 that it is accompanied by the skin of its little architect and owner who 

 was shot while sitting on her four eggs. These, it may be added, are 

 perfectly typical eggs of D. virens. — William Brewster, Cambridge. 

 Mass. 



Dendroica palmarum in New Jersey. — Learning from Mr. Witmer 

 Stone's 'Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey' that this 

 western race of the Palm Warbler has not been recorded from the region 

 covered by that work I desire to record my capture of an adult female 

 Dendroica palmarum at Red Bank, Monmouth County, New Jersey, 

 September 28, 1889. Several others were observed at close range and 

 the comparative absence of yellow remarked. — Harry C. Oberholser, 

 Washingt07i, D. C. 



Breeding of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Minnesota. — Until the 

 summer of 1892 this bird was a rare visitor in Minnesota and was not 

 supposed to breed here at all. In the month of April, 1892, several 

 pairs were observed near St. Paul for the first time. In June a nest 

 was found by a local collector and brought to me for identification. The 

 parent being taken with the nest it was easily identified. This find set 

 me to searching for their nests the next season, and I was rewarded 

 with a fine set of five eggs which were taken with the nest and pai-ent 

 in June. That was the only nest observed in 1893. The past summer 

 the birds were much commoner than ever before, and four nests were 

 found, three with eggs. The first nest was taken May 27, and contained 

 four fresh eggs. The second set was taken on June 2, with five slightly 

 incubated eggs. The third, also taken on June 2, contained four fresh 

 eggs. The fourth nest, taken on June 18, contained four young, just 

 hatched, and one addled egg. This is, I believe, the first record of the 

 Gnatcatcher breeding north of 43^^ N. lat., St. Paul being in lat. 45° N. 

 All the nests, with one exception, were taken in West St. Paul, in 

 Dakota County. They were all placed on horizontal branches of the 

 burr oak and the height varied from twelve to twenty-four feet. — 

 Walton Mitchell, Sf. Paul, Minn. 



The Systematic Name of the Mexican Creeper. — The specific or 

 subspecific name mcxicana has long been in use for the Certhia inhabit- 

 ing the mountains of Guatemala, Mexico, and southern Arizona. The 

 original reference to the name I have had no opportunity to verify, but it 

 is credited to Gloger (Handbuch, 1834, 381) and Reichenbach (Ilandb. 

 Spez. Orn., 266). The former is cited in the American Ornithologists' 

 Union Check-List and by Mr. Sharpe in Volume VHI of the 'Catalogue 



