Vol 



ol.XT General Notes. 87 



1893 J 



As both names are derived from the same roots, have the same meaning, 

 and are practically identical, it is questionable whether the difference in 

 the connecting vowel is sufficient 'ground for considering them distinct. 

 Incase Campylorhynchus Spix is rejected its first synonym, Heleodytes 

 Cabanis, 1 seems to be the earliest name available for the genus of birds 

 commonly known as the Cactus Wrens.— T. S. Palmer, Washington, 

 B.C. 



Salpinctes obsoletus in Washington and Oregon.— In his ' Notes on 

 some Birds of Gray's Harbor, Washington ' (Auk, IX, 310) Mr. Palmer 

 quotes R. H. Lawrence as giving the Rock Wren a place in his list of the 

 birds of Gray's Harbor, and considers its occurrence west of the Cascades 

 as somewhat doubtful. In 'The Auk' for October, 1892 (p. 357), Mr. 

 Lawrence repeats his statement that Salpinctes obsoletus was the species 

 observed at Gray's Harbor and adds that it was also met with at Seattle. 

 It certainly seems rather out of place to meet with this species in the 

 heavy fir forests of the Northwest, but that it occurs cannot be questioned. 

 I took a specimen on May 21, 1885, at the edge of a clearing in the heavy 

 fir timber, a few miles west of Portland, Oregon, a country very similar 

 to that about Gray's Harbor, where Mr. Lawrence met with the species.— 

 A. W. Anthony, Denver, Colorado. 



The Carolina Wren in the Lower Hudson Valley.— The occurrence of 

 the Carolina Wren on the eastern slope of the Palisades furnishes a 

 marked illustration of the influence exerted by river valleys in extending 

 the range of species. While as abundant during the summer in this local- 

 ity as in any part of its range, it is as yet a comparatively rare bird on the 

 eastern shore of the river, and on the western shore is seldom found far 

 from the cliffs of the Palisades. I have observed it at Fort Lee, New 

 Jersey, and just below Piermont, New York, but for the most part my 

 observations have been confined to the ' Under Cliff' road at Englewood. 

 Here on July 3 a nest containing young was found. It was placed in a 

 small pocket-like opening in the face of a perpendicular cliff fifteen feet 

 from the crest of the Palisades and an equal distance from a ledge below, 

 On the same day within a distance of a mile no less than ten Carolina 

 Wrens were seen, and on returning to the place a week later six birds were 

 seen. But, as before remarked, although so abundant here, the birds are 

 comparatively rare in the adjoining country. My friend Mr. Evan Evans, 

 who lives less than a mile west of the spot where the nest was found, tells 

 me that he rarely sees this species except in the immediate vicinity of the 

 cliffs. At West Englewood, distant three and a half miles, I have found 

 one or two individuals each spring and fall, and it has seemed to me that 

 the species was slowly becoming more regular. During 1892 I noted 

 single individuals at West Englewood on May 20 and October 23, and also 



1 Mus. Hein. I, 1850, p. 80. 



