^°^'i9iV"] General Notes. 209 



Carolina Parakeet (Conunis carolinensis) . — For many years the range of 

 this species has been extended to include Michigan on the strength of a 

 specimen preserved in the U. S. National Museum. I have recently exam- 

 ined this bird, number 1228, and find that it was received by Prof. S. F. 

 Baird from Dr. Leib of Philadelphia among a small collection of other 

 birds. In the original catalogue of the National Museum this specimen 

 is recorded as number 1228, in Prof. Baird's handwriting, but is given no 

 locality. However, he later records it as "Southern States" in Pac. R. R. 

 Surveys, IX, 1858, p. 68, together with its measurements, etc. As. Prof. 

 Baird undoubtedly knew more then of the status of the birds received 

 from Dr. Leib, this specimen must be eliminated from all consideration as 

 a Michigan record. I believe that there is no other Michigan record for the 

 species. In a letter from Prof. Walter B. Barrows, dated Feb. 25, 1910, 

 he says: "I am quite sure that there is no other record of a Michigan 

 specimen to which the slightest weight can be attached. There have been 

 various suppositions as to the Parakeet's former occurrence in the State, 

 but these are only conjectures." — B. H. Swales, Grosse Isle, Mich. 



Acadian Flycatcher in Ontario. — On writing to my friend Dr. MacCallum 

 of Penetanguishene, who lived for many years at Dunnville, regarding my 

 capture of the Acadian Flycatcher in southwestern Ontario last June, he 

 replied, that he had a nest and set of three eggs, which he had always 

 believed belonged to this species. I had seen this nest years ago, but was 

 not at that time aware of the marked difference between the nest of this 

 species and that of the Alder Flycatcher. Since then I have added nests 

 of both of these species to my collection and know how easy it is to dis- 

 tinguish between them. I therefore wrote Dr. MacCallum, asking for 

 the privilege of inspecting this nest and set. The favor was promptly 

 granted, and the nest is undoubtedly that of the Acadian Flycatcher as 

 the Doctor surmised. "It was taken," he writes, "from an old thickly 

 branched apple tree on June 24. 1884." The nest is composed of fine 

 grasses and rootlets bound together on the outside by what appears to 

 be caterpillar web. 



The well known habit of this species of making the nest appear like an 

 accidental bunch of drift, by the addition of loose flowers of alder, walnut 

 or oak, is varied in this instance by the substitution of a large number of 

 bud scales, apparently of beech. The nest is, as usual, shallow, the cavity 

 measuring |- of an inch deep, by 1^ inches wide, while the external measure- 

 ments are 5X2. In every particular this nest corresponds so exactly with 

 that of the Acadian Flycatcher, that there cannot be the least doubt of its 

 belonging to that species, thereby antedating my discovery of the bird in 

 Ontario by 25 years. 



It is, of course, quite within the possibilities, that there are favorable 

 locations for this bird scattered along the north shore of Lake Erie, in fact 

 it would be surprising if there were not, and as the spread of southern 

 species which barely reach the limits of Ontario appears to be strictly 



