JO General Notes. [j^^}" 



Ohio Notes. — The Red-headed Woodpeckers [Alcla/ierpes erythro- 

 cepJialus) have practically deserted this section. Prior to 1S99 they were 

 numerous, but during the past three years they have become less and less 

 common, until now they are almost extinct as far as this locality is con- 

 cerned. Formerly almost every telegraph pole contained one or more 

 nests, but this year I examined poles extending over sixteen miles but 

 found only eleven nests. 



The only cause that can be assigned for their disappeaiance is the 

 erection of new poles which were, perhaps, too solid for the construction 

 of nests. The other species of woodpeckers, which usually nest in trees, 

 show no decrease. 



There has been a noticeable increase in the numbers of Baltimore 

 Orioles in the past two years and now they are as common as Catbirds 

 and Bluebirds. The Bluebirds (Sialia fialis) have decreased to some 

 extent, but are still common. Cowbirds ha\e deserted this immediate 

 vicinity, while ten miles west they are numerous. — Nat S. Green, 

 Camp Dennison, Ohio. 



Birds Killed by Hailstones. — On September 20, 1902, we had in 'The 

 Highlands ' of this city a se\ere hail-storm, lasting from 6.00-6.25 p- m-» 

 during which time hail from in. to % in. in diameter fell hard and fast. 

 On the following morning, when the storm had cleared away, beneath the 

 tall Cottonwood trees at the intersection of West Twenty-fourth Avenue 

 and Boulevard F, lay scores of little bodies of feathered dead. There 

 were beneath fourteen trees eighty-four birds by actual count, one tree 

 alone, the largest of them all, spreading its arms above the forms of 

 twenty-five sleeping songsters. House Finches and English Sparrows, 

 that on previous days had battled among the branches above now lay side 

 by side, with half a dozen Robins interspersed. — A. H. Felger, Denver, 

 Colo. 



Vernacular Names of Birds. — In the present number of 'The Auk' 

 (pp. 38-42) Dr. Edwin W. Doran proposes certain rules for the construc- 

 tion of vernacular names of birds, relating mainly to the use or non-use 

 of the hyphen in certain classes of names. If the use of the hyphen could 

 be permanently regulated by the formulation of a set of rules, how great 

 a boon would be conferred upon writers, and particularly upon editors! 

 As, however, the use of the hyphen varies within wide limits, in accord- 

 ance with the radically different rules enforced by editors or publishing 

 houses, from its practical non-use to its employment to connect remote 

 elements into a compound word, there is little hope of securing a imiform 

 system of hyphenization in the construction of bird names. Every observ- 

 ing person knows that manj' of the current magazines have adopted what 

 may fairly be termed an anti-hyphen fad, this greatly abused but very use- 

 ful sign being practically tabooed by them as a connective between the 



