4^0 General Notes. \_0^. 



September i, 1902, is in lirst winter plumage as determined by softening 

 the skin and examining the bones. Tlie nearest point at which the species 

 regularly breeds is New Jersey. 



Chondestes grammacus. Lark Sparrow. — A young male taken 

 September 4, 1902. This bird, still showing remains of the juvenal plum- 

 age, had wandered at least a thousand miles from where it was probably 

 hatched in the Mississippi Valley. 



Spiza americana. Dickcissel. — A joung male in first winter plum- 

 age taken September 13, 1902. Another wanderer from the Mississippi 

 Valley, perhaps. 



Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Black Tern. — A young male 

 in juvenal plumage taken September 9, 1902. Tliis species has been so 

 often recorded along the New England coast that its occurrence at Sable 

 Island is not imexpected. 



Micropalama himantopus. Stilt Sandpiper. — An adult female, 

 secured August iS, 1902, seems to establish a first record for Nova Scotia. 



Icterus galbula. Baltimore Oriole. — A young male in first winter 

 plumage, taken October 4, 1902, is the second only that has been recorded 

 (see Auk, IV, 18S7, p. 256, for earlier record) and Mr. Boutcher comments 

 that it "came during a heavy gale." 



Mimus polyglottos. Mockingbird. — A young male in juvenal plum- 

 age was captured September 3, 1902, "hopping about a woodpile." It is 

 the second from Sable Island (see Auk, XIII, 1896, p. 344) in this plumage. 

 — Jonathan Dwight, Jr., M. D., Neiv York City. 



Formalin Fails as an Insecticide for Dermestes. — Wishing to test the 

 efficacy of this chemical which has been advocated as a protection against 

 ' moths,' I placed five larv?e of Dermestes and a couple of teaspoonfuls of 

 Schering's formalin in a new nearly air-tight ' Cambridge bird-can ' 

 leaving it closed for twenty-four hours. On opening the can I found 

 the formalin had not entirely evaporated while the larv;e were unharmed. 

 They had run about freely in the can and quickly revived in the fresh air. 

 Even a bath in the liquid produced no permanent ill-effects, so the next day 

 they and five more of their brethren were again placed in the can and a 

 teaspoonful of carbon disulphide poured in. When the can was opened at 

 the end of only ten hours, the larvse lay dead in the little tray in which 

 they had been placed. Although extremely offensive to the nose and 

 dangerous because volatile and inflammable, there is no surer insecticide 

 than the disulphide. It is penetrating and destroys life even in the eggs 

 of ' moths ' of all kin^is, and its bad odor is offset by its rapid evaporation. 

 Formalin is constantly irritating to nose and eyes and if, as I have shown, 

 it fails to promptly destroy one of the naturalist's greatest enemies its 

 use even as an insectifuge is not to be encouraged. — Jonathan Dwight, 

 Jr., M. D., Ne-dj York City. 



