212 General Notes. [^rU 



tures as low as 16° to 20°, however. I would naturally have expected the 

 sparrow to be a Tree Sparrow, but it was a veritable Chippy, with which I 

 spent ten minutes. Mr. William Brewster, in his ' Birds of the Cambridge 

 Region,' gives one December record, that of a bird seen by him at Water- 

 town on December 31, 1869. The severe Christmas blizzard came four 

 days later, depositing a foot and a half of snow, and this belated sparrow 

 was not again seen. Mr. Brewster gives October 25 as the date of depar- 

 ture of the last Chippies; Dr. Townsend for Essex County, October 28. 

 My records in the last three years extend the season somewhat later. 

 They are: two Chipping Sparrows on the Common on October 30, 1907 and 

 1909; one on November 1, 1907, at Arlington, two on the 5th at Waverley, 

 five on the 6th in Brookline, two on the 9th in Stoneham; one on October 

 29, 1908, at Chestnut Hill; a company of ten on November 5 and 7 of the 

 same year at Stoneham; and one at the same locality in Stoneham on 

 November 6, 1909. — Horace W. Wright, Boston, Mass. 



Cerulean Warbler {Dendroica cerulea) in Northern New Jersey. — On 



Sept. 25, 1909, T collected an immature m£,le of this species near my home 

 at Palisades Park, N. J. The bird was found among the flocks of migrat- 

 ing warblers and undoubtedly was a migrant. This species appears to be 

 rare in the Hudson Valley, and the specimen in question is the only one 

 I have seen during my experiences in the field covering a period of seven 

 years. — J. A. Weber, Palisades Park, N. J. 



A Wintering Brown Thrasher in Northern New Jersey. — Records of 

 wintering Brown Thrashers in northern New Jersey are so few that my 

 recent experience with one of this species seems worthy of note. Prof. 

 Witmer Stone, in his 'Birds of New Jersey,' says that Mr. Chapman has 

 two winter records for Englewood, January 31, 1885, and "on another 

 occasion" (date not given). These are the only records I have ever seen 

 for the northern part of the State. On January 23 of this year, while 

 walking with a friend in the outskirts of this town, a large bird flew up from 

 the ground some distance ahead of us and took shelter in a thicket of low 

 bushes and green-briar. His general appearance and flight at once sug- 

 gested to us thoughts of Brown Thrasher, but we had had but a momentary 

 glimpse of him, and could hardly believe it possible, especially considering 

 weather conditions, for there was a foot of snow on the ground and we had 

 just experienced a week of severe weather, with some nights of zero tem- 

 perature. 



One of us went on either side of the line of bushes, the bird keeping just 

 ahead of us and out of sight until it reached a large tree, around the roots 

 of which there was a little bare ground where the snow had drifted off. 

 Here our quarry came to the ground and at once became interested in 

 something which was evidently to his liking, for when we came abreast of 

 him, he was hammering it with his beak, after the manner of a jay. Here 



