g6 General Notes. Y^l^ 



lowed out crannies and caves. In one of these latter, which penetrated 

 the granite wall to a depth of some twenty feet, I found four or five Barn 

 Swallows' nests, some containing Aoung, and two, although it was so 

 late in the season (Juljg; 1895), contained eggs. Others were to be found 

 in neighboring crannies outside the cave. Another visit paid to this spot 

 on August 10 of this j'ear (1896) discovered one nest still occupied, which 

 contained four eggs. Although breeding thus in a perfectly primitive 

 state there was no important difference observed in the birds' methods of 

 construction. The nests were either affixed to the vertical walls of the 

 cavern or else rested slightly on rockv knobs and pi'ojections. The 

 feathery linings of the nests consisted of copious collections of the 

 feathers of wild fowl, such as Ducks, Grouse, etc. 



The only other place in Okanogan County where I recall having seen 

 Barn Swallows was at Malott, some 60 miles distant, where the birds had 

 adopted the manners of civilization and were breeding in a large barn. — 

 WiLLiAiM L. Dawson, Oberlin, Ohio. 



Characters of Dendroica caerulescens cairnsi. — Cairns's Warbler is 

 named by me as a new subspecies in the work entitled : ' Papers Presented 

 to the World's Congress on Ornithology,' pub. Chicago, Nov. 8, 1S96, p. 

 13S. It is a local race of the Black-throated Blue Warbler, breeding in the 

 mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where the 

 individuals arrive a week or ten days in advance of those that pass 

 onward in their migration, and may be observed building and rearing 

 their young while the migration in the same region is still going on. At 

 the time I named the subspecies I had seen no specimens, but was satis- 

 fied that the bird could not have thus been localized for many generations 

 without developing distinctive characteristics. At the recent meeting of 

 the A. O. U. in Cambridge, I examined several specimens in the cabinet 

 of Mr. William Brewster, collected by the late Mr. Cairns, and was 

 pleased to find my prescience in the case confirmed upon comparison with 

 a large series of the ordinary form from many different localities. The 

 examination was made in company with Mr. Brewster, Dr. Allen, Mr. 

 Chapman and others, who were immediately persuaded of the subspecific 

 validity of the new form ; and the Committee on Classification and 

 Nomenclature at once voted unanimously to accept it. The bird is some- 

 what smaller tlian the average of D. ccsriilcscens, and has the middle of 

 the back nearly or quite black, instead of blue, or blue with only a feu- 

 black touches. Some specimens in the large series were fortunately found 

 to be intermediate, showing intergradation with the typical form, and 

 thus relieving me from the necessity of recognizing cairnsi as a full 

 species. The diagnosis of the new subspecies may be given as : $ D. 

 ccBrulescenti simillima, sed tnitior, dorsoque medio nigra. It is dedicated to 

 its discoverer and original describer, Mr. John S. Cairns, of Weaverville, 

 N. C, Avhose lamented death was recently noticed in these pages, and 

 whose interesting article upon the sunimer home and nidification of tlie 



