4o6 



General Notes. \_o^^. 



handsome nest, built directly against the wall of rock, five feet above the 

 floor of the cave. The bird was sitting when I found the nest, and 

 returned as soon as I left the cave. There were three eggs, two evidently 

 much incubated and one infertile, which latter I took. These eggs were 

 creamy white, with pale reddish specks and dots about the larger end. 

 The specimen which I secured is now in the collection of Brown Univer- 

 sity, Providence, R. I. 



The Island Flycatchers had nearly all left Santa Cruz (or retreated to 

 distant parts of the island) by the first of August, and I saw none after 

 August lo. — Eli Whitney Black, Syracuse, N. Y. 



The White-throated Sparrow Breeding at Hubbardston, Mass. — A few- 

 pairs of Zonotrichia albicollis breed each year, or have for the last two 

 years, among the lower hills (about looo feet elevation) about Wachu- 

 sett Mountain in Hubbardston, Mass. — Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., 

 Longivood, Mass. 



Henslow's Sparrow in Michigan — A Correction. — Dr. Charles W. 

 Richmond, Assistant Curator, Department of Birds, U. S. National 

 Museum, calls my attention to a misprint in rcvy article on this species in 

 the April 'Auk' (XIV, p. 220) where, in an extract from his letter, he is 

 made to say "this species ought not to be seen in Michigan." " Seen" 

 should read "rare." I think, however, that Henslow's Sparrow may very 

 properly be termed rare in this State. Should one otter a reward for 

 specimens of this bird taken here he would be surprised at the very few 

 he would obtain. A young ornithologist, in reporting his observations, 

 might easily mistake the Grasshopper Sparrow for this species. — James 

 B. PuRDY, Plymouth, Mich. 



Nesting of Cardinalis cardinalis at Nyack, N. Y. — During the spring 

 of 1897 there have been not less than six instances of the breeding of 

 Cardinalis cardinalis at Nyack, N. Y. Mr. Rowley, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, tells me that a pair of this species nested at 

 Hastings, N. Y. So far as is known, I believe this constitutes the north- 

 ernmost breeding record of this bird. — C. L. Brownell, Nyack., N. Y. 



Notes on the Moult and certain Plumage Phases of Piranga rubra. — 

 In ' The Auk ' for July, 1891 (pp. 315, 316) I described an instance wherein 

 the Summer Tanager {P. rubra), a female, had assumed the plumage of 

 the male. That specimen w^as collected by my son, Percy Shufeldt, and 

 has since been added to the collections of the U. S. National Museum. 

 Since that date the same collector has added to his private series, thirteen 

 more specimens of this species, and as some of these exhibit certain nota- 

 ble conditions of the moult and plumage, it is my intention here to pass 

 a few remarks'upon the more interesting of these. Twelve of the skins 

 are from male birds, while the thirteenth is from an adult female, taken in 



