484 General Notes. LOct. 



against the dark background. We observed the Egrets for over an hour 

 and have no doubt of their identification. They were not albino Blue 

 Herons. 



After I had returned home to Jamaica Plain, Mr. Hagar wrote me a 

 letter, dated August 13, from which I take the following: " Two days later, 

 on August 14, I was fortunate enough to approach them (the Egrets) 

 within one hundred and thirty feet by actual measurement, first on foot 

 and then in a ducking boat. This time they were feeding along the bank 

 of the river and were much less wild. The night of August 1 they changed 

 their feeding grounds to the Scituate side of North River, about five miles 

 north of where we first saw them. They were reported by various persons 

 for almost a week before I saw them again. They were usually seen 

 feeding on the marshes or perched in some large dead tree along the edge 

 of the marsh. On August 5 I saw them late in the afternoon and for the 

 first time heard their note, a harsh guttural ' squawk,' not unlike the note 

 of the Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax ncevius). 



" On August 8, while out in a dense fog on the marshes, I heard a hoarse 

 squawk and looking up, saw the Egrets directly overhead. That day 

 either they parted company or one was shot, for the next morning one was 

 seen on the marshes and another (or perhaps the same one, in the former 

 case) on the shore of a little pond seven or eight miles back from the coast. 

 The next night they disappeared, nor have I heard of them since." 



The 24th of July a local gunner told Mr. Hagar that a few days pre- 

 viously he had seen a pair of " White Herons " with several Great Blue 

 Herons near the mouth of the North and South Rivers in Scituate. This 

 would indicate that the Egrets had been in the vicinity for about a month 

 at least. 



From the ' Birds of Massachusetts,' by Howe and Allen (1901), page 45: 

 " Ardea egretta. American Egret. An occasional summer visitant. 

 Records from: Ashland, Dedham, Hudson, Ipswich, Lynn, Nantucket, 

 North Hadley, Plymouth, Quincy, Springfield, Topsfield, Wellesley, West 

 Brookfield, and Westford. Last record: Nantucket, one taken Sept. 23, 

 1890 (Auk, Vol. VII, Jan., 1891). Apr., May, Aug., Sept., Nov." 



Marshfield is a new town and July a new month for their appearance, 

 and 1890 is the latest year that I find any authentic record of Egrets in 

 Massachusetts. — Harold L. Barrett, Jamaica Plain, Mass. 



The Black-bellied Plover in Center County, Pa. — The rarity of 

 the Black-bellied Plover in the interior counties of Pennsylvania makes it 

 desirable to place on record the capture of a specimen near State College, 

 Pa., on Sept. 3, 1909. At the time of its capture the bird was in com- 

 pany with a small flock of Killdeers on a small hillside above a swamp. 

 The bird is a young male and is at present in the collection of the writer. — 

 Richard C. Harlow, State College, Pa. 



