T20 General Notes. \\^s 



represented by any consonant in our alphabet. It was also perfectly 

 smooth in execution and mellow, flute-like in tone. The French u if 

 dwelt upon, with inflections and modulations, as uttered by a sweet voiced 

 Parisienne might closely, I imagine, represent the sound. After a while 

 this singer came from his concealment, and, poising on an outer spray, 

 there sang for eight or ten minutes, before flitting off, to be again 

 hidden by the neighboring foliage. — Thomas Proctor, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Spring Molt in Spinus pinus. — In a paper published in the Proceedings 

 of the Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia, 1896, p. 141, I stated 

 that so far as I could judge from available material the Pine Finch had 

 no spring molt. A series of specimens taken at West Chester, Chester 

 Co., Pa., in May, 1897, by Dr. T. H. Montgomery shows, however, that 

 quite an extensive renewal of the feathers occurs at this season. It of 

 course does not extend to the remiges and rectrices. As my former state- 

 ment was liable to be misleading, I take this opportunity to correct it. — 

 WiTMER Stone, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa. 



An Earlier Name for Ammodramus leconteii. — Fringilla caudacuta 

 Latham (Index Orn. I, 1790, 459) is usually cited as a doubtful sj'nonym 

 of F. passerina Wilson, but reference to the description shows that 

 Latham's bird is Leconte's Sparrow. The description, though brief, fits 

 the latter bird very exactly, both as to coloration and dimensions, and 

 the locality, interior of Georgia, is within the regular winter range of 

 the species. Fortunately no change of specific name is, in this instance, 

 necessary, the Oriolus caudacutus of Gmelin, described two years before, 

 being a member of the same genus, even if it should be found desirable 

 to recognize Cottcrniciiliis as a separate genus from Ammodramus ; for 

 A. leconteii is certainly more nearly related to A. caudacutus than to 

 either Coturniculus passerinus or C /^cw^/ozt'//. — Robert Ridgway, U. S. 

 National Museum, Washington, D. C. 



The Seaside Sparrow {^Ammodramus maritimus) in Massachusetts. — 



In a small private collection of mounted birds in Arlington, Mass., I find 

 an adult Seaside Sparrow with the following history : shot by Mr. 

 Eugene H. Freeman on the bank of the Neponset River, at high tide, 

 about half wav between Milton Lower Mills and Granite Bridge, on the 

 Milton side of the river. Unfortunately the date of capture is not 

 recorded; it was in the earlv autumn, however, something over twenty 

 years ago, so Mr. Freeman tells me. 



In most of the older lists of the birds of Massachusetts the Seaside 

 Sparrow is said to be a common summer resident of the salt marshes 

 along the coast. This opinion doubtless arose from confounding the 

 Seaside Sparrow with the Sharp-tailed Sparrow i^Amtnodramus cauda- 

 cutus'). That such a confusion prevailed is shown by the fact that many 

 of the old lists (e.^'-., Emmons's ' Birds of Mass.,' Holder's ' Birds of Lynn,' 



