336 General Notes. [£j£ 



A Ruffed Grouse near Camden, South Carolina. — Late in the after- 

 noon of December 27, 1904, a Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) was shot a 

 couple of miles from Camden, South Carolina, by Channing Wiley, Esq., a 

 visiting sportsman, and within an hour was in my hands. I am sorry to 

 say that it could not be preserved, since Mr. Wiley contributed it to the 

 table of an invalid. 



Camden is far outside the usual range of this bird in South Carolina, 1 

 and there seems to be no record of its appearance in the State at such a 

 distance from the Alleghanies. More than this, the town contains several 

 resident sportsmen of many years' experience, and none of them whom 

 I have met knows of another occurrence of the Ruffed Grouse in that 

 vicinity. — Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Maine. 



Note on the Crop Contents of a Nestling Mourning Dove (Zenaid- 

 ura macroura). — The crop contents of a nestling of this species taken at 

 Boxford, Mass., on August 12, 1905, were sent to Prof. Beal at Washing- 

 ton, and the following interesting report was returned: 

 "Contents of crop and stomach of nestling Zenaidura macroura from Box- 

 ford, Mass. 

 70 seeds of buckwheat (Fagopyrum fagopyrum), 40 %. 

 3 seeds of smartweed (Polygonum aviculare), 1.5 %. 

 171 achenes of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisi&folia), 12 %. 

 17 seeds of blue curls (Trichostema dichotomum) , 2 %. 

 17 seeds of a violet (Viola sp.) 1.25 %. 

 89 seeds of Timothy (Phleum pratense), 3 %. 

 836 seeds of green and yellow Foxtail (Chaiochloa viridis and C. glauca), 



35%. 

 1 seed of Paspalum sp. 0.25 %. 



Several fragments of seeds which may be the remains of ' pigeon milk.' 2 %. 

 Bits of a milliped, 1 %. 

 1 snail and fragments of another, 1 %. 

 Bits of egg shell, probably from nest, 1 %. 

 Animal matter, 3 %. 

 Vegetable matter, 97 %. 



Gravel was 10 % of the entire contents.— W. L. McAtee, Dec. 2, 1905." 



It would seem, therefore, that 'pigeon's milk' does not constitute the 

 entire food of the young during their whole stay in the nest. 



As a help in estimating the age of the bird, it may be stated that on 

 July 16, 1905, the nest, containing one egg, was found at Boxford, by Mr. 

 F. H. Allen. 



The nest was in a white pine, 19 feet from the ground, in a crotch close to 

 the main trunk. On July 22, Mr. Allen and I found two eggs in the nest. 

 On August 12, one of the adults was seen sitting on the nest, and it did not 



1 See, especially, Loomis, Auk, III, p. 483. 



