VdL XXVIII] Geneml Notes 113 



dilapidated group of buildings. In the top of one of these buildings I 

 found a set of four eggs placed in a large box which was supported by 

 huge beams. As I approached the box an old Barn Owl jumped out and 

 flew through a broken window. On examining the interior of the box I 

 found that its contents were mostly old bones and feathers, while around 

 the box and below some of the rafters I saw only disgorged hair and bones, 

 indicating that the old owls tear the flesh from the bones to feed their 

 young, while they themselves swallow bones, feathers, and all. The 

 building has probably been abandoned for about fifteen years and I sup- 

 pose that the owls have been breeding in it ever since. This would account 

 for the great accumulation of bones and feathers. I also found in this 

 box parts of the Meadowlark (Stumella magna), the Green Heron (Butori- 

 des virescens), and the Marsh Hen (Rallus crepitans or R. c. ivaynei). 

 Below the box I saw the skin of a black rat, and found the skull of a spar- 

 row. Of the eggs taken, two were fresh, the third nearly so, while the 

 fourth contained a small embryo. — Rhett Chamberlain, Charlestown, 

 S. C. 



White Pelican in South Carolina.— On October 26, 1910, a White 

 Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) was shot in the Santee swamp by a 

 farmer, from whom it was obtained by Mr. William C. Smith of Charles- 

 ton, in whose possession it now is. The bird measures approximately 

 sixty-four inches in length as mounted, and the bill thirteen inches. The 

 primaries are black, and the bill, pouch, and feet are yellow. These char- 

 acters prove conclusively that the bird is not an albino Brown Pelican 

 (P. occidentalis) , and a record is thus established for a species which has 

 apparently not been taken in South Carolina for nearly a hundred years. 

 Mr. Wayne states 1 that he has never seen the White Pelican on our coast, 

 and quotes Bach man's account as given by Audubon. Dr. Bachman 

 procured two specimens on July 1, 1814, from a flock which he believed 

 had laid eggs on the banks off Bull's Island. 



The specimen in Mr. Smith's possession was apparently blown here by 

 a West Indian hurricane which passed up the coast immediately before it 

 was taken. — Paul M. Rea, The Charleston Museum, Charleston, S. C. 



The Evening Grosbeak at Boston, Mass. — On December 5, 1910, 

 two Evening Grosbeaks {Hesperiphona vespertina vespertina) were seen in 

 Olmsted Park beside Leverett Pond in a birch tree. It was at this pre- 

 cise point in the park that the Orange-crowned Warbler and the Blue- 

 grey Gnatcatcher had been seen two days previous, of which another 

 general note furnishes the record. Neither bird was in the plumage of 

 the adult male. One showed but a bit of yellowish color on the nape of 

 the neck. The other was somewhat more yellowish. Both birds had a 

 black tail tipped with white and the black upper tail-coverts also tipped 



1 Birds of South Carolina, Contr. Charleston Mus., I, 1910, p. 12. 



