° 1912 J General Notes. 101 



Borck and a companion were gunning through a piece of tangled weedy 

 low ground when the rail flushed from almost under their feet, and, by 

 a lucky shot, was secured. The bird was mounted when I saw it and the 

 sex is not known. This is the second recorded Michigan specimen, and the 

 third noted in Wayne County, as a female was secured aUve by a dog, 

 and another flushed March 25, 1908 (see Taverner, Auk, 1908, p. 327). 



I do not, however, consider that the species is as rare as these few records 

 would seem to demonstrate, but that its skulking habits and the almost total 

 inability to flush it render observation very unlikely. Here on Grosse 

 Isle, a few miles below Detroit, I am positive that it occurs. Since May, 

 1907, I have heard, during April-June, notes that are so similar to those 

 described for this species, which, taken together with the kind of marsh 

 occupied, render it highly probable that the notes belong to a Yellow Rail. 

 The territory in question is a wet low field, grown up with a coarse tangled 

 mass of grasses, weeds, and sedges, similar to the kind of ground usually 

 occupied by Henslow's Sparrows. Repeated attempts to flush the birds 

 have failed but the services of a good dog would probably be more effective. 

 The notes are somewhat similar to the effect produced bj' taking a small 

 bottle in one hand, and tapping it lightly and slowly with a stone twice, 

 with a short interval, repeated half a dozen times. 



This species has been found in June in the low marshy territory at the 

 mouth of the Thames River, Lake St. Clair, Ont., by Mr. W. E. Saunders. 

 On this ground, on June 10, 1905, we heard notes which Saunders declared 

 to be those of a Yellow Rail. We made several attempts to flush the bird 

 by dashing quickly at the spot from different directions, but failed. — 

 B. H. Swales, Grosse Isle, Mich. 



The Semipalmated Sandpiper in Philadelphia County, Pa.— 



On October 3, 1910, the writer examined three Semipalmated Sandpipers 

 (Ereunetes pusillus) in the possession of a gunner, who shot the birds on 

 the Delaware River meadows, at Bridesburg, Philadelphia County, Pa. 

 One of these birds, a male, which is now in my collection, was generouslj'" 

 given to me by the gunner, who, however, refused to part with the others,, 

 and what eventually became of them I do not know, but doubt if they were- 

 preserved. 



This is the only authenic record of the occurrence of the Semipalmated! 

 Sandpiper in Philadelphia County, to my knowledge. There are, however,, 

 numerous unreliable records of birds seen, but this species so closely re- 

 semble the Least Sandpiper, with which it intimately associates, in colora- 

 tion and habits, that it is practically impossible to distinguish between the 

 two species in the field. — Richard F. Miller, Harrowgale, Philadelphia, 

 Pa. 



The Golden Plover (Charadrius dominicus dominicus) on the Coast 

 of South Carolina. — I shot on November 4, 1911, near Mount Pleasant, 

 a fine adult male specimen of this now rare species, which was searching 



