3i6 



General Notes. Yl^^ 



Rectrices of Cormorants. — Phalacrocorax carbo has 14 rectrices, but 

 none ot our other species of this genus is known to have more than 12. 

 This is the primary basis of the analysis which has stood in the 'Key' 

 since 1872. I was therefore surprised to find Ridgway's 'Manual' 

 crediting both P. penicillatus and P. perspicillattis with 14. On confer- 

 ring with him about it, P. penicillatus was found to have no more than 

 12, as I had always supposed. The only statement regarding P. perspi- 

 cillatus that I know of — being Brandt's, as first published in Pr. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus., XII, 1SS9, p. 86 — gives the tail as "e pennis 12 composita. " — 

 Elliott Coues, Washittgton, D. C. 



Concordance of Merganser americanus. — lam sorry to point out an 

 extraordinary oversight in the 2d ed. of the A. O. U. Check-List, where 

 the concordance of the common American Merganser is given as " B — , 

 C — , R — , C — ," as if neither Prof. Baird, nor Mr. Ridgway, nor myself 

 had given this bird in our respective Lists. The dashes should be replaced 

 by figures, as B 611, C 521, R 636, C 743, which so stand, correctly, in the 

 ist ed. of the A. O. U. List. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



The Scarlet Ibis in Colorado. — On page 60 of my 'Birds of Colorado' 

 it is stated that but four instances are known of the occurrence in the 

 United States of the Scarlet Ibis {Guara rubra). To this short list is 

 now to be added a fifth and most remarkable record. A flock of six of 

 these magnificent birds was seen April 23, 1897 on the Arkansas River 

 near Rocky Ford, Colorado. Three specimens were secured, a male and 

 two females and have been mounted by a local taxidermist. 



In this connection it will be well to call attention to a mis-print under 

 the notes on this species in ' Birds of Colorado.' The specimen noted 

 from "Texas" should be '"New Mexico," the reference being to the 

 record of Dr. Coues of a fragment of one seen at Los Pinos. Dr. Coues 

 has recently informed the present writer that there can be no question of 

 the correctness of this record. — W. W. Cooke, Fort Collins, Colorado. 



Little Blue Heron in New Hampshire. — I have recently had a Little 

 Blue Heron (Ardea aerulea), in perfect plumage, with maroon neck, 

 brought in, killed in Amherst, New Hampshire, i\pril 28, (1897). Is it not 

 rare to take a bird of this species in New Hampshire.' — Jas. P. Melzer, 

 Milford, N. H. 



Bob-white in Northwestern New York. — Several Qiiail {Colinus virgin- 

 ianus) have been reported from different parts of the Counties of Oneida 

 and Lewis the past winter. It is very seldom they are seen in this 

 locality. The winter has not been so severe as usual. — W. S. Johnson, 

 Boonville, N. V. 



Additional Records of the Passenger Pigeon {Ectopistes migratorius). 

 — Most of the notes on the Passenger Pigeon recorded in the past year 



