voi.xxvun „ 7 ,* t aq-i 



19H General Aofcs. 4ol 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Dovekie in Maine in Summer. — On July 15, 1911, while Mr. G. 

 Gilbert Pearson and the writer were taking passage, with a local fisherman, 

 from Machias Seal Island, which is about twelve miles south from Cutler, 

 Maine, when about half way between the Seal Island and Cross Island, 

 Me., or about six miles from either point, we came upon a pair of Dovekies 

 (Alle alle) swimming in close company. We found them in one of the 

 eddies of the numerous tide rips, caused by the tidal currents of the Bay 

 of Fundy. 



They proved to be a male and female in an interesting stage of plumage. 

 The head, neck, underparts, interscapular region, and tertials of the male 

 were of the nuptial plumage, the neck entirely around being uniformly 

 velvety, sooty brown. The rump and tail were of the winter plumage, 

 faded grayish, and worn. The wings were much worn, some of the pri- 

 maries with bare shafts for half their length. 



The female was similar, except that the winter plumage remained over 

 the entire back behind (caudad) the scapular region; the rectrices had been 

 renewed. The throat and sides of the neck, at the place of the winter 

 half-collar of white, were well sprinkled with white. 



Though two leading manuals make no distinction between the sexes, 

 this last feature had the appearance of a sex character, and the female was 

 noticeably smaller than the male. 



Though the birds were in fair bodily condition and had not been crippled 

 they showed no indication of breeding, and it is doubtful if they could have 

 flown. 



I am told by Capt. Merton Tolman, until recently keeper of Matinicus 

 Rock light station, a man whose word in such a matter is not to be doubted, 

 that during the summer of 1910, one of these birds was frequently seen near 

 Matinicus Rock. 



So far as known to me, these are the only instances recorded, of the 

 verified occurrence of the bird in summer south of Newfoundland. (Cf. 

 Townsend and Allen, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H., XXXIII, p. 309.)— Arthur 

 H. Norton, Portland, Me. 



The Greater Shearwater on the Coast of Georgia. — On June 11, 

 1911, I found a dead bird on the beach at Tybee in an advanced state of 

 decomposition. The head only was saved and has been identified by Prof. 

 W. W. Cooke as the Greater Shearwater (Puffinus major). As this is the 

 first record of the species in this State he suggests my sending the record 

 for publication in ' The Auk.' 



It may be of interest, too, to note a second breeding record of the Savan- 

 nah Sparrow on Tybee Island. The locality was about half a mile from 

 the nest recorded last year (Auk, XXVII, p. 45S), and, as in that case, 



