V<»-™I"] General Notes. 319 



" Feb. 13, 1915. Fort Lee Ferry, New York City. An immature 

 plumaged Gull, paler and more uniform than a young Herring, with the 

 primaries largely white, seemed about the size of Herring Gulls which flew 

 up with it from an ice-pan in the river. It could only have been an Iceland 

 Gull or very small Glaucous Gull, in all probability but not positively the 

 former." 



" Jan. 19, 1916. Twenty-third Street Ferry. New York City. An 

 adult plumaged Iceland Gull seen nicely among Herring Gulls, though 

 without glasses, at close range, from the front of the boat. The delicate 

 grey of the mantle extended well out on the wing not sharply contrasted 

 with its white tip. It was appreciably smaller than the Herring GuUa, 

 the head and bill less heavy, and had an etherial look which I accredited to 

 its having a paler mantle, although by then my chance had passed for 

 direct comparison of the tone of same. Its head and neck were clouded 

 with brownish, its feet pink." — Ludlow Griscom and J. T. Nichols, 

 Neiv York City. 



The Arctic Tern in Central New York.— On May 20, 1915, I was 

 fortunate enough to collect an adult female of this species mixed in with 

 Common and Plack Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls at the north end of 

 Cayuga Lake. As Brewster and Townsend have shown, it is distinguish- 

 able in life from the Common Tern by its all crimson bill and more deeply 

 forked tail. Early Avi-iters on New York State ornithology mention this 

 species without definite data, and Bergtold gives it as an accidental visitor 

 near Buffalo. The only definite record for the state is a male in Mr. 

 Butcher's possession taken on Ram Island shoals, July 1, 1884. 



The record is of particular interest to my mind, however, in furnishing 

 a definite date for the spring migration of this species, about which little 

 or nothing is known. It seems to arrive on the New England breeding 

 grounds about May 15, though I have been unable to locate a definite 

 record. It has been noted near Mt. McKinley, Alaska, May 30, 1908. 

 In localities where it is only a transient, definite data are again lacking. 

 An extremely early specimen was taken at Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 9, 

 1875. There are two records for Hawaii, May 9, 1891, and April 30, 1902. 

 Considering the breeding range, one would think that there must be at 

 least three migration routes through the United States, one along each coast 

 and one through the interior, as it breeds in Wisconsin and abundantly 

 in North Central Canada. The scarcity of records is correspondingly 

 remarkable. — Ludlow Griscom, Ithaca, N. Y. 



American Merganser, wintering at Boston, Mass. — I have noted 

 this species (Mergus americanus) on Charles River, Boston, Mass., this 

 winter as follows: 



Dec. 24, 1915. I saw a single bird in the female plumage. 



Dec. 25, 1915. Saw a single bird in female plumage in the morning, in 

 the afternoon saw three. 



