212 General Notes. \_K%i 



about such a common bird as the European Redshank or Pool-snipe. 

 There is also no inherent improbability of the alleged occurrence at 

 Hudson Bay of so wide-ranging a species, but quite the reverse ; the 

 probabilit}- is entirely in favor of the case as alleged. Under the circum- 

 stances the proper place for the h^rd would seem to be our Hypothetical 

 List ; and as a candidate for that position its claims are quite as good as 

 those of various birds which have already found rest there. I would 

 therefore propose the following addition, ex hypothesi, to the Check-List, 

 p. 326: 



II. 2. Totanus totanus (Linn.). 

 Common Redshank. 



Scolopax totanus Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 175S, p. 145. 



Totanus totanus 



Geog. Dist. — Europe, Asia, and Africa. Described as North American 

 from a specimen said to have been taken on Hudson Bay and transmitted 

 to the British Museum (Sw. and Rich., Fn. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, p. 391). 



I have only to add that this record is clear of all confusion with the case 

 of the "White Redshank from Hudson's Bay" figured by Edwards, pi. 139, 

 and by him considered as an albino. But if this be admitted in evidence, 

 it supports the case now presented. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



The Avocet {Recurvirostra americana) at Ipswich, Mass. — I take 

 pleasure in reporting the capture of three American Avocets, on Sept. 13, 

 1896, at Ipswich Neck, Ipswich, Mass., by Mr. A. B. Clark of Peabody, 

 Mass. The birds were brought into the ta.Kidermist establishment of Mr. 

 L. W. Newell in Boston, where I saw them, and where I at last found out 

 about their capture. There were but three birds in the bunch. They 

 were not sexed when skinned. — Fred. H. Kennard, Brookline, Mass. 



The 1896 Migration of Charadrius dominicus and Numenmsborealis in 

 Massachusetts. — The prevailing winds on Nantucket Island during the 

 greater portion of the migrating period was as follows : August 13, east 

 and southwest; 14, east; 15, northeast; 16, southwest; 17, northwest; 

 18, west; 19 and 20, north; 21, 22, and 23, south; 24, southwest; 25, 

 east; 26, southeast; 27, north; 28 and 29, southeast; 30, southwest; 

 31, southAvest, with squall from the north in late p.m.; Sept. i, north 

 by west. There was' no severe blow or storm during this period. 



On August 22, at night, a few Golden Plovers were heard passing over 

 Tuckernuck Island, where on the 28th the first one of the season was 

 shot. Five were also seen on this same date at the eastern part of Nan- 

 tucket. On the 31st sixteen Plovers arrived in a certain preserved field 

 on the Kimball farm, where in a short time their number was somewhat 

 augmented, at which time some were shot. When I visited the remainder, 

 a little later in September, I counted twenty-two, the greater part of 



