32 2 General Notes. \_]^y 



In 1896 Mr. Ridgway (Man. N. A. Birds, 2d ed., p. 602) separated the 

 Louisiana Seaside Sparrows from A. in. feninsiilcE as a distinct race, 

 wliose habitat is given as " coast of Louisiana (and coast of Texas during 

 migration)." For this race he appropriates, in a subspecitic sense, 

 Audubon's name macgillivraii, — an obvious wrong, since tlie original 

 description of Fringilla incjcgillivran was based exclusively on South 

 Carolina specimens. 



The dark-complexioned Seaside Sparrows from the coast of Georgia 

 and South Carolina are certainly very like those found on the western 

 coast of Florida. If, as implied in the range accorded to A. m. poiinstilce 

 by the A. O. U. Check-List, they are identical, and if MacGillivray's Finch 

 is to be revived, then the name macgillivraii will have to supplant 

 peyiinsulcB. In any ise, the Louisiana Seaside Sparrow, recognized as a 

 valid subspecies in "^-ighth Supplement to the A. O. U. Check-List, 



remains without a na — Walter Faxon, Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, Cambridge, Ma.. . 



The Seaside Sparrow {Ammodramus maritimus) at Middletown, R. I. — 

 I shot an adult male Seaside Sparrow on the Second Beach Marshes at 

 Middletown, R. I., on May 31, 1S97, therefore confirming Mr. Reginald 

 Heber Howe, Jr's. supposition that they breed there. (See Auk Vol. 

 XIV, page 219.) This makes three birds of this species that I have taken 

 on these marshes. — Edward Sturtevant, Boston, Mass. 



Breeding of the Seaside Sparrow in Massachusetts. — On July 17, 

 1S96, I took a set of four partly incubated eggs of the Seaside Sparrow 

 (Ammodramus maritimus), together with the female bird, at Westport, 

 Mass. The nest was cleverly hidden within a tussock of the salt marsh. 



The Seaside Sparrow is not rare as a suinmer resident in the Westport 

 River marshes. It is, however, rather colonial, and confines itself closely 

 in the breeding season to certain sections of the marshes. — J. A. Farley, 

 Neixitoii, Mass. 



Bachman's Sparrow in Virginia. — On May 12, 1897, while collecting 

 on a slope along the Blackwater Creek in West Lynchburg, Campbell 

 County, Mr. John W. Daniels, Jr., of Lynchburg, collected two specimens 

 of Peuccea cestivalis bachmaiiii, together with the nest and five eggs well 

 advanced in incubation. He writes : " The nest was on the ground among 

 the roots of a tuft of grass and well concealed by the numerous grass 

 tops which overhung it. It was quite domed, with the entrance facing 

 the southeast and was composed chiefly of grasses, strips of weed bark 

 and weed stalks, lined with fine grasses and a few light colored rootlets." 

 Mr. Daniels kindly presented the male to me (No. 4571, W. P. Coll.). It 

 is in very fair plumage, being very much less worn than the Maryland 

 specimen obtained by Mr. Figgins, which is now in the U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 Collection. This record adds a species to the Virginia avifauna and 

 doubtless it will be found to occur in summer over most of the eastern 

 portion of the State. — William Palmer, Washington, D. C. 



