^''^Qif ^^] General Notes. 245 



D. Sherrerd. The bird seems to have passed its second autumn, having 

 attained the black throat of the adult, but only a clouded suffusion of 

 orange on the breast and rump. This is the first winter record of the 

 species for New Jersey. I have to thank Mr. Witmer Stone for identifying 

 the specimen and the Division of Birds, United States National Museum 

 for corroborating that identification and supplying additional information. 

 During the preparation of the skin no wounds were discovered, but the 

 stomach proved empty and the body's supply of fat absolutely exhausted. 

 The upper mandible is almost broken through near the tip and the plumage 

 of the under parts very dark, as if stained by contact with the earth. 

 However, snow had covered the ground for twelve days and was accom- 

 panied by constant cold weather. Although the bird may have been in a 

 starved condition previous to the 5th, when the first snow arrived, I am 

 sure it did not die until about the time it was found, for several snow- 

 storms occurred between the 5th and the 16th and these would have covered 

 the body up, which on the contrary was found on top of the snow. It is 

 likely that the mild early winter lured the bird to stay with us, that the 

 accident to the bill rendered the procuring of food difficult, and that the 

 sudden and bitter cold of the 5th and subsequent days completed the work 

 starvation had begun. — Robert Thomas Moore, Haddonfield, N. J. 



Many Purple Finches at Portland, Maine, in February. — The 



mountain ash trees in the Western Promenade section of Portland at- 

 tracted no Robins,' under my observation, during the very cold winter of 

 1911-1912; but they nourished an extraordinary number of Purple Finches 

 {Carpodacus purpuretis purp^ireus) in the month of February. On Feb. 2 

 I saw four birds together, at least one of them being in rosy plumage. 

 On Feb. 28, about 9.30 a. m., I counted fourteen birds in one tree, most 

 of which were in rosy plumage. On Feb. 29, about 2.30 p. m., I counted 

 fifty-five birds in and about seven mountain ash trees, twenty-two of them 

 being at one tree and a majority of the total number, apparently, in rosy 

 plumage. On each one of these occasions all the birds were sluggish and 

 rather silent. 



Since the first announcement,^ of the wintering of this species at Portland, 

 twenty-four years ago, it has been seen by several observers, and there are 

 winter records which need not here be cited, for other localities in Maine; 

 but I believe it has not hitherto been noted except in small numbers. — 

 Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Me. 



Crossbills {Loxia curvirostra minor) in Chester Co., Pa., in Summer. 

 — I spent June 16-17, 1911, incompany with John D. Carter of Lansdowne, 

 Pa., on and near the Pine barrens of a serpentine ridge in the extreme south- 

 west corner of Chester County, Pa., bordering on the Maryland line. In 



1 Auk, XXVIIl, pp. 270-272. 



2 John Cliflford Brown, Auk, V, p. 209. 



