68 General Notes. f^ul^ 



LJan. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo's Egg in a Robin's Nest. — On July 2, 1902, while 

 examining various nests in a lot back of my house in Granbj, Conn., as 

 was my almost daily habit, I found in a Robin's nest with two eggs, an 

 egg of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo {Coccyzus americatins). The nest proved 

 to be deserted, although early on the ist of July, when the Robin's eggs 

 were the sole contents, both birds were about. There is no mistaking the 

 egg; light greenish blue, 1.31 X -93, elliptical. — Stanley W. Edwards, 

 Gra7tby, Cotui. 



Breeding of the Alder Flycatcher {Entpidonax traillii ahiorum) near 

 Plainfield, New Jersey. — In ' The Auk ' for January, 1901, I recorded the 

 probable iMceding of the Alder Flycatcher in Ash Swamp near Plainfield, 

 New Jersey. 



The question was settled the following summer by finding two nests in 

 that locality. The first, which I found on June 16, contained three eggs, 

 which proved to be the full set. On the 20th I discovered another nest 

 with three eggs, which had increased to four on the 23rd. These two 

 nests were only a few rods apart, both placed in wild rose bushes within 

 three feet of the ground. The sitting birds would slip away at vay ap- 

 proach and it was with some difficulty that I at length succeeded in seeing 

 one of them actually on the nest. This nest and eggs I took and they are 

 at present in m}' collection. 



The above dates show the Alder Flycatcher to be one of our latest 

 breeders, ranking in this respect with the Goldfinch and the Cedar Wax- 

 wing. 



I found this bird at two other localities in July, 1901 — a small swampy 

 tract a mile west of Ash Swamp, and Great Swamp, Morris County, New 

 Jersey — in each of which it undoubtedly nests. It seems probable, 

 therefore, that it breeds in suitable localities all through northern New 

 Jersey, and it will be of interest to learn how much, if any, further south 

 its breeding range extends. It is not included in Thurber's 'List of the 

 Birds of Morris County,' and in the recent 'Birds of Princeton' it is 

 given as a transient only. 



While studying this little flycatcher in its haunts I recorded the ordinary 

 song note as kra-teal or great deal. Later I found that Mr. P. B. Peabody 

 had written it grea' deal. This is, to my ear, the best representative of 

 the note that I have seen. Sometimes, as stated by Mr. J. A. Farley in 

 his recent article, it is given in almost one syllable as hrreal, but I do not 

 think that the apparent length or number of syllables is dependent on the 

 distance of the bird, for I have heard the gred' deal when within a few feet 

 of the performer. — W. D. W. Miller, Plainfield, N.J. 



Western Evening Grosbeaks Nesting in Mexico. — Out some 200 

 miles from the city of Chihuahua and close to the Sonora line, I saw 

 different bunches of Western Evening Grosbeaks {Coccot/traustes vesper- 



