^°S™"'] General Notes. 199 



gi'oups of forty, fifty or a hundred, yet all fairly near one another, and 

 suggesting a single flock. They seemed to leave the water reluctantly and 

 gave me the impression that they were weary. 



The long flights demonstrated for many shore birds had always puzzled 

 me, for it seemed hardly possible that such flights could be made without 

 rest or food. Here, however, was an apparent explanation of the matter. 

 The birds might stop to rest anywhere in the course of their long journey, 

 and, no doubt, in many places food in abundance might be found floating 

 on the water. 



Though I had never seen or even heard of anything like this sight, I have 

 taken it for granted that ornithologists had often observed and reported 

 on this matter. I think I once mentioned it incidentally in ' Forest and 

 Stream' in connection with some notes on shore birds. Mr. E. W. Nelson, 

 to whom I mentioned the matter recently, advised me that the matter was 

 new to him and suggested that this note l)e .sent to ' The Auk.' — - Geo. 

 Bird Grinnell, New York City. 



American Golden Plover ( Charadrius d. dominicus) at Nantucket Is- 

 land. — On September 6, 1915, I drove to the extreme western end of the 

 island, and remained there an hour or two without seeing any birds. I 

 interviewed the crew of the Life Saving Station at Maddeket, several of 

 whom I knew, none of them had seen, or heard any Golden Plover or Es- 

 kimo Curlew passing this summer. One of the men said he had heard of 

 five Golden Plover living in a certain field, the owner of which preferred 

 watching, to shooting them. In the afternoon I drove to the south side of 

 the Island (Surfside). I called at once on the former captain of the Life 

 Saving Station located there, who was an old acquaintance, and a gunner. 

 He informed me that his grandson had shot a Golden Plover the day before, 

 he showed me the legs which I identified. He said there had been four in 

 all living at Noljadeer pond, and that I could probably find the other three 

 still there. I suggested we harness up his horse and ride down to the pond, 

 he and his grandson taking their gims. On arrival we saw the three Golden 

 Plover running about, two black and white breasted birds, and one ' pale- 

 breast ' (young); we succeeded in shooting the latter, which I later had 

 made into a skin . I am of the opinion that these birds were the same ones 

 which occupied the protected pasture mentioned above. They constitute 

 the only records of this plover I have been able to obtain for the island of 

 Nantucket this season. I also saw, while at the Nobadeer Pond, two 

 Hudsonian Curlew, and two of the larger Yellowlegs. — George H. 

 Mackay, Boston, Mass. 



Nest of the Alder Flycatcher on the Pocono Mt., Pa. — Among the 

 low shrubs, birches and swamp grass, Ijordering a lake on the Tobyhanna 

 River, Monroe County, Pa., the Alder Flycatcher {Empidonax trailli 

 alnorum) is apparently not imcommon, for at least three pair can be found 

 within a radius of two or three miles. The discovery of the nest is, how- 



