^"'iQ^P^] General Notes. 249 



today (December 31, 1913) while on a tour of the local places where 

 birds are to be found in winter, I made an observation new to me, 

 and while actualty interesting and thrilling, it was exasperating and dis- 

 appointing. While walking along a stretch of sandy beach with a com- 

 panion we suddenlj' flushed a belated shore bird, without having time to 

 bring our glasses to bear upon it ; from the shape of its wing, mode of flight 

 and general coloration we were quite sure that it was a Sanderling. The 

 bird took a course directly ahead of us, and along the water's edge; so we 

 followed hoping to positively identify it. 



Three hundred yards in advance of us, sitting on the beach was a flock 

 of about two hundred Crows quietly basking in the sun. As soon as our 

 bird drew near them it swerved out over the water, when one of the Crows 

 rose and flew directly at it. 



The smaller bird dodged repeated attacks and was drawing ahead, when 

 another Crow at the farther end of the flock, seeing the escape flew out to 

 intercept it and turned the Sanderhng (?) back, giving the first assailant an 

 opportunity to swoop down and deliver a telling blow with its wing. The 

 smaller bird fell, but recovered itself before touching the water. Then 

 to avoid its two assailants it was obliged to fly towards the land and directly 

 over the large flock of Crows, when about twenty of their number rose in a 

 bunch and bore the unfortunate to the beach, all endeavoring to get at it 

 at the same time. As soon as we discovered the little fellow's real danger, 

 we ran and shouted, but they did not heed us until close upon them, when 

 they flew off leaving nothing but a small piece of breast with feathers 

 attached, the body being carried away. 



We followed them up from one place of ahghting to another hoping to 

 find a wing or some part of the body but without success. — Clarence H. 

 Clark, Lubec, Maine. 



Staxlings (Sturnus vulgaris) at Providence, R. I. — It may be of 



interest to the readers of ' The Auk,' in following the movements of the 

 Starhng to know they have appeared in Providence, R. I. My business 

 requiring my presence in this city for a few weeks, on the morning of 

 November 23, I started out with my field glass to see what could be seen 

 here in the line of bird life. In passing through Swan Point Cemetery I was 

 not a Httle surprised to encounter a flock of about forty Starlings, many of 

 them in full summer plumage; they were constantly in song, many 

 times singing notes quite like our Bluebird. I have had other excellent 

 observations of them covering a date as late as December 6. 



In the same section on December 1, 1912, I found two Mockingbirds 

 but have failed to record them this season. — E. E. Cadtjc, Boston, Mass. 



Starlings {Sturnus vulgaris) in Cambridge, Mass. — ■ A flock of Starlings 

 numbering about sixty birds appeared at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, in 

 late November, 1913. They were first seen by me on the 27th day and 

 have been successively observed up to the middle of February, the time of 



