■^o^-J^^] General Notes. ^39 



warbler — -the rarest of southern warblers. — Dr. M. T. Cleckley, 

 Augusta, Ga. 



Springfield, Mass., Bird Notes. — Branta bernicla. On the nth of 

 April last a Brant was taken on the river near Northampton ; this bird is 

 rarely observed in this part of the Connecticut Valley. 



Aquila chrysaetos. In November, 1902, a Golden Eagle was captured 

 alive in a steel trap at Belchertown by Edgar E. Mead ; the bird is now in 

 captivity in the city park in Springfield. There is no other record of the 

 appearance of an individual of this species near here for more than 

 twentj'-five years, and there are only three instances recorded previous to 

 that time. 



Lanius ludovicianus migrans. A Migrant Shrike Avas taken at Long- 

 meadow Dec. 19, 1901. 



Podilymbus podiceps. In this section of the country the Pied-billed 

 Grebe has been a rare breeder, usually locating its nest in remote places 

 away from the habitations of man. In the spring of this year, a pair 

 chose as their home a small pond in the suburbs of Springfield near a 

 number of houses, and at a place which was a rendezvous for boys, and 

 there nested and succeeded in raising two young. 



Branta canadensis. For more than ten years Canada Geese have been 

 successfully bred in the public park, in Springfield, and until last year, 

 one of the wings of each of the young has been cut to prevent their 

 flying, but last autumn about twenty-five individuals of those raised 

 during 1902 were left uncut. In the early spring of this year these birds 

 became very noisy and uneasy and beginning with short flights soon 

 would go off for many hours. Several are known to have been killed, 

 and others disappeared, probably' joining migrating flocks. Although the 

 path to the regular breeding grounds of its kind, to the north, was free 

 for it to follow, one preferred to return to the park and there mated with 

 one of those with a crippled wing, and the pair successfully raised a 

 brood of young. — Robert O. Morris, Sp ring-field .^ Mass. 



Some New Records for Nova Scotia. — Among a small lot of bird skins 

 sent to me from Sable Island, Nova Scotia, by Mr. Jas. McL. Boutcher, 

 I find no less than five species that are new to the Province and two 

 others whose presence is purely accidental although previously recorded. 

 Almost without exception the birds are young of the year, which goes to 

 prove that young birds are most frequently lost, and as all of them were 

 captured in the fall, it is extremely probable that they were carried along 

 far out of their bearings by autumnal storms. It is well established that 

 most accidental visitors in the East are taken in the fall, and the move- 

 ment of storm centres in a northeasterly track east of the Mississippi 

 undoubtedly has a close bearing upon such captures. 



Geothlypis formosa. Kentucky Warbler. — A young male taken 



