°'i9ii J General Notes. o67 



On the morning of April 19, 1911, a single female teal was found in the 

 pond, none of the other fowl having yet been released from winter quarters. 

 This teal was perfectly at home and absolutely tame. She allowed close 

 approach, and when actually flushed made the same characteristic flight 

 to the lake, keeping only a few yards off the ground. In a short time she 

 returned: At the present date, May 17, she is still with us. 



All that can be said is that this bird is a female green-winged teal, 

 further identification being impossible as the plumage of the females of 

 the American and European species is similar. I believe however that 

 this returned bird is one of those that hatched in our pond, for the following 

 reasons. 



First, its actions are exactly similar to the birds of the previous summer, 

 and very different from those which a strange teal would exhibit. 



Second, it returned to a spot that no wild water-fowl have ever used. 



Third, it shows no disposition to migrate north. 



Fourth, the occurrence of Green-winged Teal in this locality in the 

 spring is so rare that I have never met with one. 



It seems also far more likely that our bird migrated to at least a much 

 warmer latitude, for it could not possibly have wintered here, especially 

 during such a severe winter as that of 1910-11. It returned nearly four 

 weeks after the ice was out of the ponds and rivers. 



Such cases, granted we are not mistaken, and also those where birds 

 have successfully returned to their nests, when transported far beyond 

 their natural range (see Watson, Carnegie Institute Publication No. 103, 

 p. 227) force one to assume a directive sense in birds far beyond any- 

 thing at present conceivable. — J. C. Phillips, Wenham, Mass. 



Records of Butorides brunnescens in Cuba. — I beg to report 

 the capture on January 19, 1911, of a specimen of Ardea brunnescens 

 Gundl., in a small lagoon on the San Carlos Sugar Plantation at Guanta- 

 narao, Cuba. The specimen is an adult female in fine plumage and was 

 the only heron about the lagoon at the time. 



I believe this is the first record for eastern Cuba. Dr. Gundlach in his 

 work on Cuban birds states having taken it once in western Cuba on the 

 Siguagua Creek between Moron and Jucaro, when he found a family of 

 them, but mentions no date. He also says that he heard of another 

 specimen being taken near Havana which was sold to a taxidermist of 

 that city. I am also informed that Prof. Bangs records having taken two 

 specimens in the Isle of Pines, so mine is the fifth Cuban record for the 

 species. — Charles T. Ramsden, Guantanamo, Cuba. 



"Nuptial Plumes" of the American Bittern. — The writer read 

 with peculiar interest the account by Mr. Brewster ' of the " nuptial 

 plumes " worn by certain bitterns, as he had himself witnessed the display 



i Auk, XXVIII, 1911, pp. 90-100. 



