224 General Notes. r^"*?, 



^ L April 



of which Polioptila Scl., 1855, thus becomes a synonym. A prettv kettle 

 of fish this, for a reductio ad absurdum ! 



Sylvania must be dropped, and our choice of a name for the genus lies 

 between Wihonia Bp., 183S, and Myiodioctes Aud., 1S39. Use of Wilsonia 

 in botany does not debar it in zoology, and if it is not otherwise preoc- 

 cupied it must stand. Soon after its rejection by Baird in 185S on the 

 ground of botanical preoccupation, it was used by Dr. Allen, in Proc. 

 Essex Inst., IV, 1864, p. 64, and in various other places in succeeding years. 

 I brought it pointedly to the front in Bull. Nutt. Club, V, 1880, p. 95 ; and 

 the same thing was done over again, without any reference to these earlier 

 usages, by Dr. Stejneger, Auk, July, 1S84. p. 230. — Elliott Coues, 

 Washington, D. C. 



The Carolina 'Wren (T/i)yot/ior//s l/e(/oz'ictanus) at Inwood-on-Hudson, 

 New York City. — Visiting my summer home at Inwood-on-Hudson, 

 March 28, 1S96, I heard a loud and beautiful song coming from the top 

 of a dead elm tree. The bird sang almost continually until my efforts to 

 get a good view of him frightened him away. After sitting fifteen min- 

 utes on a rock near where the bird had appeared to alight, and waiting for 

 the song, he broke out again, and I discovered him perching on a low 

 tree not twenty-five feet distant. 



It was a new species to me, but it seemed to me it must be the Carolina 

 Wren, and on studying up the bird carefully, in all my books at home, 

 I felt quite sure the identification was correct. I heard him again on April 

 I and 22. May 14 we went to Inwood for the summer, but only heard the 

 Wren sing four times, until May 22. Then I had a fine view of one near 

 some dilapidated buildings around an unoccupied house. Four days later 

 loud and continued singing attracted me to a heap of drv brush near 

 these buildings, and there I found the parents and five little Carolina 

 Wrens. The young were able to fly nicely, and they gave a musical call, 

 much like that of the old birds, and scolded beautifully. 



After that, they were seen frequently, and I heard the beautiful son^r at 

 all hours of the day, up to Nov. 12, when we moved to town. Goino- to 

 Inwood on Jan. 18, 1897, I heard the full song again, so it would appear 

 that they wintered there. 



The old birds were quite tame, ligliting and singing in shrubbery 

 close to the house, and twice one was seen on the piazza, examining 

 plants in pots, and even drinking from the saucer of a flower-pot. — F. 

 H. FooTE, JVe-v 7'ork City. 



The Mockingbird at Portland, Maine, in Winter. — On January 19, 

 1897, at noon, a Mockingbird {Mimus polyglottos) appeared in a gutter 

 which runs beneath the south window of my study. The thermometer 

 was below zero, and there was no snow, but an unclouded sun had 

 softened the ice in the gutter so that the bird could moisten his tongue; 

 and this he seemed to be doing when I first saw him. He was perhaps 



