212 General Notes. \_h\^. 



at Alstead, N. H. The bird screamed loudly and when I began to search 

 for a nest, flew at me twice like a bolt, so that I instinctivelj' put up an 

 elbow to guard mj head. I found a nest containing two nearly full-grown 

 young in a smallish pine about forty feet from the ground. On the 27th 

 I saw at 4.45 A. M. a full-grown Goshawk kill and begin to devour a pullet 

 under the window of the farm-house where I lived. I therefore on the 

 29th shot one of the joung hawks from the nest and sent it to Mr. 

 Brewster, who has identified it as a young Goshawk {Accipiter atrtcafil- 

 las'). Alstead is seventeen miles from Keene, in southern New Hamp- 

 shire. According- to Mr. G. M. Allen this is the most southern breeding 

 record which he can find for this bird in New England. — Ralph Hoff- 

 mann, Belmo7it, Mass. 



Barn Owl on Long Island, N. Y. — On April 23, 1902, Mr. Jam&s 

 Forster, Superintendent on Harbeck Place at Islip, L. I., sent me a fine 

 adult American Barn Owl [Sirix pratincola) lo be mounted. The bird 

 was in fine plumage but rather thin in flesh. No further data could be 

 obtained, as Mr. Forster moved away shortly after. — Henry Mott 

 BuRTis, Babylon, L. I. 



The Short-eared Owl {Asia accipitrinus) Taken Far Out at Sea. — 

 The steamer ' Tampico,' which plies between Honolulu and Puget Sound, 

 was boarded, when 680 miles off the mainland, by a Short-eared Owl which 

 had in all probability been lured out to sea in pursuit of shore birds which 

 at this season are in full migration, and, losing its bearings, became a 

 wanderer at the mercy of the high seas. The bird was observed by the 

 mate at 8 p. m. circling about high overhead. After a time it alighted on 

 one of the yards and there remained during the night and the greater part 

 of the following forenoon, when it was captured and placed in a cage. 

 Capt. Ames, regarding the captive as a mascot, and not an ill omen, 

 decided to keep it alive, and ordered it to be carefully fed on a diet of raw 

 meat. Despite all care and attention it died Oct. 10, 1902, one day after 

 the steamer had arrived at Honolulu. Only the wings and feet were 

 preserved. I had the privilege of examining them and, together with 

 the description furnished by the captain, satisfied myself that the bird 

 was none other than an adult Asio accipitrinus. The wing measured 

 12.50, the tarsus about 1.75. 



Since it is generally believed that the stock from which the Hawaiian 

 variety of owl was derived came originally from America, the above bit 

 of evidence may be regarded as in a measure confirming that view. 

 Taken in connection with the record of the specimen observed {\x\. 

 October, 1900) by Capt. Johnson of the bark ' Roderick Dhu,' some 500 

 miles off the Hawaiian Islands, it makes a chain of evidence showing the 

 relationship of the Hawaiian ' Pueo ' to the continental form, and at the 

 same time tending strongly to invalidate the subspecies sandvicensis of 

 current writers. 



