lUU General Notes. [jan. 



size and noticeably different bill. In these respects it exactly matched 

 adult specimens of Franklin's Gull in the collection of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Subsequently I compared it with 

 young Franklin's Gulls in the collection of Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., 

 which showed at once that it belonged to that species. This is the first 

 record of the bird for Pennsylvania and I believe the second for the Atlantic 

 coast.^ Wither Stone, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa. 



The Black-backed Gull {Lams marinus) on Long Island, N Y., in 

 August. — Near Jones Inlet, on August 14, 1910, I collected an adult 

 female of this species. As this bird does not make its appearance on 

 Long Island until the cold weather sets in, late in the fall, this early date 

 appears to be a rare exception. The bird was moulting heavilj^, especially 

 the primaries, so that it was unable to fly more than about 15 yards at a 

 time. The fact that the specimen was moulting after having migrated 

 instead of moulting before the migration period is quite unusual. — J. A. 

 Weber, Palisades Park, N. J. 



Phsetusa magnirostris Licht. in Cuba. — On May 28, 1909, 1 secured 

 an immature specimen of Phcetusa iiiagtiirostris Licht. in the Laguna del 

 Centeno, Nipe Bay, Oriente Province, Cuba. This is the first record for 

 the species in Cuba, there being no doubt as to its identity, for it has been 

 compared by Messrs. Frank M. Chapman and W. DeW. Miller at the 

 American Museum of Natural History. This tern was the only one seen 

 in the lagoon at the time. — Charles T. Ramsden, Guantanamo, Cuba. 



Ixobrychus exilis in Texas. — On March 24, 1911, I received a Least 

 Bittern (coll. H. K. C No. 15026 ad. cf ) in the Hesh from Capt. S. W. F. 

 Hase, U. S. A., Fort Crockett, Texas, with the interesting information: 

 " This moi-ning while on a hike I ran across a flock of birds. One of them, 

 apparently a young one, froze himself to the ground, stretching his long 

 bill upward, and I had difficulty in seeing him among the yellow flowers. 

 I placed my sabre across his feet, and picking him up, stuck him through 

 the head.'' — Henry K. Coale, Highland Park, III. 



Egret in Northern New Jersey. — On August 7, 1911, as I was motoring 

 past a meadow at Coleville, N. J., which is a small village situated five 

 miles from Sussex, N. J., I saw an Egret. The altitude of Coleville is 

 800 feet. Three and a half miles distant is the highest point in the State, 

 the height of which is 1809 feet. Coleville is four and a half miles from 

 the New York and New Jersey state line, and six miles from the Delaware 

 River. — John Dryden Kuser, Bernardsville, N. J . 



Yellow Rail {Coturnicops noveboracensis) . — I recently examined a 

 specimen of this somewhat obscurely known rail that was secured April 22, 

 1911, in Ecorse Township, Wayne County, Michigan. Mr. Arthur 



