364 



General Notes. [^Jt. 



specimen was sent to Mr. Ridgway for examination, and was identified by 

 him. The bird is at present mounted and in the collection of the Cana- 

 dian Institute, Toronto. 



In noting that the two birds were shot at almost exactly the same date in 

 each j'ear, it would appear that their habits of migrating are very regular, 

 and that the absence of records for other years might be due to their great 

 rarity and their retiring habits, for they certainly are very rare visitants, 

 and possibly, as Mr. Cross says, "have wandered up here with our Ardctta 

 exilis." A probably parallel case is that of the capture of an Audubon's 

 Caracara {Polyborns ckeriivay), on the north shore of Lake Superior, not 

 far from Port Arthur, on July 18, 1892, reported by Mr. George E. Atkin- 

 son, to the Natural History Society of Ontario; and another similar case 

 is the taking of a Purple Gallinule {lonornis martinicd) near Toronto on 

 April 8, 1S92, reported by Dr. Brodie. 



On comparing the two Toronto specimens of Cory's Bittern, the mark- 

 ings are identical, exceptthat in the bird of 1893 there is a patch of white 

 feathers on each leg, which is entirely wanting in the other, and that the 

 dark under parts of the body proper in the 1893 bird are mixed with dark 

 chestnut, while in the other this is almost entirely wanting. Dr. Coues's 

 description agrees with each bird, excepting in the above particulars. — 

 Hubert H. Brown, Toronto, Ontario. 



[Mr. Brown has been kind enough to send me the bird above referred to 

 for examination. On comparing it with four specimens in my collection 

 from Florida, I find that it agrees very closely with a skin taken at Lake 

 Flirt by Capt. Menge and referred to by Mr. Scott (Auk, IX, 1S92, p. 142) 

 under the catalogue number "11,451." The Toronto bird is a trifle the 

 darker on the back, and the chestnut of its under parts is slightly richer, 

 but in other respects the two specimens are almost exactly alike. — 

 William Brewster.] 



Another Megascops flammeolus for Colorado. — In referring to Mr. 

 Edwin M. Ilasbrouck's article in the July 'Auk,' on 'The Geographical 

 Distribution of the Genus Megascops in North America' I may say that 

 I have a specimen of Megascops flammeolus which was shot July 17, 1884, 

 in Bear Creek Canon, near Evergreen P. O., Jefferson Co., Colorado. 

 This swells the total of known records for the United States to seventeen, 

 of which twelve are from Colorado. — Horace G. Smith, Denver, Colo. 



The Road-runner in Kansas. — In August, 1S92, Mrs. M. L. Smith 

 noticed a strange bird about her home in Comanche County, this State. 

 The bird was seen "every day or so," but it could not be caught. Finally, 

 during a heavy snowstorm at Christmas time, the bird, which proves to 

 be a Road-runner ( Geococcyx calif omianus), was caught by a son of Mrs. 

 Smith. The bird was kept in a large cage until the snow was gone and 

 was then set at liberty. It remained about the premises, however, and 

 "would come into the house," or would sit on a window-sill and receive 

 its "rations," which were regularly given it until spring. The rations 



