'1 A Notes {ifid JVews. fjanuary 



Brookline (Nov. 4, 1883) and Lynn, Mass. (Julj 6, 1878), and at Rje 

 Beach, N. H. (Aug. 7, 18S0). In the present instance the habits of the 

 species, as well as the absence of violent storms foi- some time previous, 

 preclude all idea of the bird's having been swept away from his home and 

 dropped here by some cyclonic gale. In all probability it was simply a 

 case of that restless spirit of wandering that takes possession of most 

 •non-migratory' species in the autumn, and which is very likely the sur- 

 viving remnant of a former habit of migration in such species. — C F. 

 Batchelder, Cambridge, Mass. 



Notes from Springfield, Massachusetts. — November 14, 1891, I captured 

 on the Connecticut River near Springfield an adult male Aythya collaris. 

 Occasionally in autumn a small flock of this species will locate their feed- 

 ing grounds in this vicinity and remain a month or so, but as far as my 

 experience goes they have heretofore been young birds. 



During the first half of November, the most common Duck about here 

 was Dafila acuta; this was something quite unusual. One day I was one 

 of a party that captured nine specimens, and we could easily have taken 

 more if we had cared to do so. There were a few^««5 obscura in com- 

 pany with the Dafila acuta, instead of the reverse as is usually tlie case if 

 any of the latter kind are in this locality. 



From the 28th day of last August until about the 20th day of Septem- 

 ber a water bird, which I suppose to have been a Clapper Rail, located 

 itself and remained among the wild oats that grow on the muddj' banks 

 of the Connecticut River upon the shore directly opposite the city of 

 Springfield. During calm days the call of the bird, which very much 

 resembles that of the common Guineahen, could be distinctly heard 

 from this side of the river, a distance of more than a quarter of a mile. 

 All my attempts at capture failed, although I approached within a few 

 feet of the bird. I know of but one Clapper Rail having been taken in 

 this vicinity. 



While shooting from a blind this fall, a Wood Duck stopped and flut- 

 tered ovei- the decoys, and while in that position, like a flash, a Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk flew and fastened itself upon the back of the Duck, when 

 both were shot. I relate this incident to show the ferocity and boldness 

 of this little Hawk. 



A pair of Mockingbirds, whose presence in West Springfield I have 

 heretofore recorded, passed this their fourth successive season in the same 

 locality in that town. — Robert O. Morris, Springfield, Mass. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



August von Pelzeln, an Honorary Member of the American Ornith- 

 ologists' Union, died at Oberddbling, near Vienna, on the 2d of Septem- 

 ber, 1891, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Owing to failing health 



