246 General Notes. [April 



an automobile a white heron — I think undoubtedly of this species — feed- 

 ing by one of the pools. Mr. Lyman Underwood, who was spending 

 the summer in the same township with me (Nonquitt, Mass.), saw several 

 white herons a day or so later at the same place, as he also passed in his 

 automobile, and later I was asked by residents of Wareham, Mass., if 

 white herons should be seen in that locality. Apparently there was a 

 flight during August, 1913. — R. Heber Howe, Jr., Thoreau Museum, 

 Concord, Mass. 



Notes on an Unusual Flight of Stilt Sandpiper {Micropalama 

 himantopus). — While walking through the Boston Markets on August 12, 

 1912, I was surprised to find large numbers of Stilt Sandpipers offered for 

 sale. This species is rather uncommon and although a few generally occur 

 each fall I had never before seen more than twenty or twenty-five in the 

 market at one time. On this date nearly every stall had bunches of them 

 and at one place I saw a large hamper filled with shore-birds nearly all of 

 which were this species. There were a few Yellow-legs and Ruddy Turn- 

 stones in the lot but I estimated that there were not less than two hundred 

 Stilt Sandpipers in this one stall. The proprietor, whom I personally know, 

 informed me that all came from Ipswich, Massachusetts, or the immediate 

 vicinity. I could not learn from the other dealers where their birds had 

 been shipped from but there is little doubt that practically all came from 

 points along the Massachusetts coast. 



The presence of so many birds in the market would seem to indicate an 

 unusual flight along the coast and the following observations ~ made on 

 Long Island, N. Y., on the same date by my friend, Mr. John Treadwell 

 Nichols, of the American Museum of Natural History, may throw some 

 light on the extent of this flight. With his kind permission I quote the fol- 

 lowing from his letter. 



"On August 12, 1912, I observed an unusual flight of Stilt Sandpipers 

 at Mastic, Long Island. In about three hours time, in the early morning, 

 approximately 200 birds pas.sed by a single set of stool (decoys). They 

 were in flocks of varying size, and mixed with them were a very few Lesser 

 Yellow-legs and Dowitchers. The Stilt Sandpipers taken and observed 

 (and I imagine all the rest) were in barred plumage." — F. Seymour Her- 

 SEY, Taunton, Mass. 



Franklin's Grouse in Colorado. — While recently securing data and 

 notes on the "game birds" of Colorado from Mr. Bryan Haywood, who 

 has for years shot these birds all over the west, I was pleased to learn that 

 Mr. Haywood had shot a Franklin's Grouse (Canachiies franklini) at 

 Palmer Lake, Colo., in September, 1896. I accept this record unhesitat- 

 ingly because the bird was shot, and examined, and because Mr. Haywood 

 is thoroughly familiar with the species, having killed many in Montana. 

 This bird can be cla.ssed only as a straggler in Colorado, and this record is 

 the first, so far as I know, for the state. — W. H. Bergtold, Denver, Colo. 



