^'°^i9lf ^^] General Notes. ' 539 



A rancher from Twin Falls, 100 miles south and 145 miles east of Vale, 

 Ore., tells me the ' Blue Quail ' appeared there several years agO; while 

 a report from Shoshone, 75 m. south and 150 east of Vale, says they are 

 becoming plentiful near that place. I am unable to verify by personal 

 observation either of these last reports, but have no reason to doubt them. 



It is a fair supposition that the birds taken near Nampa were ' explorers,' 

 merely crossing the valley to the hills beyond, where they will doubtless 

 be found soon if indeed they are not already established there. 



I have examined numerous birds in the flesh from the Owyhee section 

 and would pronounce them typical plumifera, though I have not the 

 material in my collection for a comparison. Hunters insist that they 

 find another variety, similar in coloring but smaller and with shorter 

 plumes. — L. E. Wyman, Nampa, Ida. 



Passenger Pigeon {Ectopisles migratorius) in Alberta. — The records 

 of the Passenger Pigeon printed of late in 'The Auk,'i cover practically all 

 of its former range except the extreme northwest. The account of its 

 occurrence in Alberta is contained in a little known book entitled ' Sas- 

 katchewan and the Rocky Mountains. A diary and narrative of travel, 

 sport, and adventure, during a journey through the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's Territories in 1859 and 1860. By the Earl of Southesk.' Edin- 

 burgh, 1875, 1-448. On May 28, 1859, when in northwestern Minnesota 

 near Pembina, he says, " I stalked and shot some pigeons." When near 

 Qu' Appelle Fort, Saskatchewan, Jnly 2, they " discovered a few pigeons in 

 a little grove." From Edmonton, Alberta, the party went westward and 

 August 22, when near the Lobstick River the record reads, " We also saw 

 a good many pigeons, one of which I shot with my rifle. They were plump, 

 compact little birds, and made deUcious eating." The next day, when a 

 few miles further west, two were shot. 



These are apparently the first and only records of the Passenger Pigeon 

 in Alberta. — Wells W. Cooke, Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 



The Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata fasciata) in North 

 Dakota. — Recently I have been having some interesting correspondence 

 with Mr. C. J. Campbell, whose home is at Englevale, North Dakota. 

 From the Editor of ' Outer's Book ' I learned that Mr. Campbell had shot 

 a specimen of the Band-tailed Pigeon near Englevale, and I investigated 

 the matter until I was satisfied of the truth of the statement; and now, with 

 his permission, I publish his last letter to me on the subject, it being dated 

 at his home on the 1st of July, 1912, and runs as follows: — "Dear Sir: — ■ 

 In reply to your letter of June 27th I am perfectly willing you should 

 publish the facts as stated in any of my letters. The Band-tailed Pigeon 

 referred to was shot by me on the evening of June 2nd in this village, which 

 is situated in Ransom Co., N. D., about 50 miles from the Minnesota State 



1 1910, 428; 1911, 346 and 427. 



