1 88 General Notes. [^p"^, 



river. One bird fluttered down near us and died in a few minutes. I 

 opened several and found them all very much emaciated, and the 

 stomachs in nearly all cases were empty. 



On Lake Worth I counted fourteen flocks of the Surf Scoter {Oidcmia 

 perspicillata) each containing from nine to twenty-three birds. Two Old 

 Squaws were also seen at the Canaveral Club, near Titusville, during 

 the December freeze. Thousands of small fish were killed in the Banana 

 River, and several Lesser Scaup Ducks were found dead, evidently choked 

 to death by fishes which they had attempted to swallow. 



The weather remained rather cold for several days and Mallards and 

 Northern Black Ducks were not uncommon, and Surf Scoters were 

 abundant flying south along the coast in flocks. Robins have been 

 unusually abundant in Florida all winter. Paroquets {Coiiurus caroli- 

 nensis) are not uncommon in the Cyprus swamps at the head of Cyprus 

 Creek ; several flocks were seen about my camp at south branch of 

 Middle River, and I killed six out of one flock. The Indians tell me that 

 Paroquets are not uncommon to the north and east of Lake Okeechobee. — 

 Charles B. Cory, In camp on South Branch of New River, Dade Co., 

 Fla. 



Notes on the Winter Birds of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. — At a 

 meeting of the Nuttall Club during the winter of 1S92, Mr. O. Bangs 

 reported the presence on Cape Cod of two birds which, so far as I know, 

 have not hitherto been recorded as regular winter residents of any portion 

 of New England. In a short visit to the Cape, last December, I found not 

 only the birds reported by Mr. Bangs, but also two other species which 

 are, I believe, unrecorded as winter residents of New England. The 

 birds noted were the following. 



Rallus virginianus. Virginia Rail. — One seen in Barnstable, Dec. 

 31, 1894. Mr. Bangs reported this bird as fairly numerous in December, 

 1892. 



Circus hudsonius. Marsh Hawk. — Two were seen between Sandwich 

 and Barnstable, Dec. 31, 1S94. 



Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis. American Rough-legged 

 Hawk. — A female of this species in the black phase was given me by 

 Mr. J. F. Carleton of Sandwich. The bird was shot in Barnstable, Dec. 

 i8, 1894. 



Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna. Savanna Sparrow. — Dec. 

 28, 1894, I found a Savanna Sparrow in a small tidal marsh in Sandwich. 

 The next day, and again on the 30th, I found two, always in the same 

 spot. 



Spizella pusilla. Field Sparrow. — I saw a flock of eight Field 

 Sparrows on the edge of the West Barnstable marshes, Dec. 31, 1894. 

 Mr. Bangs reported them in Dec. 1892. 



The only published records I am aware of for the wintering in New 

 En"-land of any of the birds mentioned above (except of course of the 



