242 General Notes. [^'^ 



are males. This is true of all the subspecies, except that in the West 

 Indian forms these white tips are much less distinct, sometimes nearly 

 obsolete " (p. 707, footnote b). 



In a series of Black Swifts collected by myself in southeastern Alaska in 

 June and July, 1909 (see Swarth, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 5, 1911, 71) there 

 is one female (no. 936-3 Univ. Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool.) that in color and 

 markings is absolutely indistinguishable from the males. The underparts 

 are uniformly dark (except for one pure white feather on the throat), of 

 exactly the same sooty hue as the males, and with not the slightest trace 

 of the scale-like white markings on the abdomen, which Mr. Ridgway 

 believes to be invariably present in the female. Like the others, however, 

 it differs from the males in having a square, rather than a forked tail. 

 The birds collected by me were all carefully dissected to ascertain the sex, 

 and the possibility of there having been a mistake made in this specimen, is 

 precluded by the fact that this particular female contained within it an egg 

 that would have been laid, probably within twenty-four hours. There is 

 no doubt, therefore, that in this case we have a female indistinguishable 

 in coloration from the male, so that sometimes, at least, the sexes are alike 

 in coloration, as Mr. Drew affirmed. 



It is with some reluctance that the above statements are offered. The 

 writer is unwilling to appear to be hypercritical of a work so comprehensive, 

 and so admirably carried out, that it should be spared carping comment on 

 immaterial points, and these remarks should not be taken in that sense. 

 They are merely the contribution of an additional fact that may modify 

 previous conceptions of this particular species. — H. S. Swarth, Museum 

 of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California. 



A Crested Flycatcher in December at Cambridge, Mass. — On 



December 20, 1911, in the Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, I saw a 

 Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus). It was at midday in the warm 

 sunshine. The bird was among shrub growth planted on a bank of some 

 extent on the northwestern border of the reservation. As I followed along 

 at the foot of the ridge, my attention was quickened by hearing call-notes 

 which could not be ascribed to any bird that might be expected to be heard 

 at this season. When shortly my glasses covered it, it was immediately 

 recognized to be a Crested Flycatcher. The pale reddish wing and sul- 

 phur-yellow side were plainly presented to view, also the pale margining 

 of the wing-coverts. Later the pearl-gray breast was seen and the sulphur- 

 yellow of the entire under parts. The bird took short flights from one 

 shrub to another and frequently dropped to the ground for an instant, at 

 once returning to a near perch. Apparently it was procuring its food from 

 the ground, perhaps discerning and obtaining the bodies of dead insects. 

 The ground was bare and had been so up to this time. No perch taken was 

 more than two or three feet high, and usually they were only a few inches 

 above the ground. I followed the flycatcher along the shrubbery for five 

 hundred feet or more, while it was thus engaged and remained with it for 



