290 



General Notes. [ July 



an adult female, was moulting about the head and lower neck. Dr. 

 Bishop saw several others but not thinking that they were rare shot only 

 the above specimen. I visited the marshes several days after and hunted 

 it carefully without seeing a bird, although I saw several Sharp-tailed 

 Sparrows. From my own observation I am inclined to believe that this 

 bird is rare in Massachusetts, at least on the Cape coast. — John C 

 Cahoon, Taunton, Mass. 



Young Cedarbirds and Great Crested Flycatchers in Captivity. — 

 While in Tamworth, N. H., last July, I imprisoned two broods of young 

 birds when just ready to fly, with a view to seeing what their parents 

 would do about it. One brood consisted of five Cedarbirds and the other 

 of four Great Crested Flycatchers. I imprisoned the Cedarbirds on July 

 10, placing them in an ordinary wire canary cage. Their cries, when be- 

 ing caged, brought the mother, who first flew in my face and then perched 

 on the outer edge of the cage as it rested on my knees. I put the cage 

 very near the house, and it was only a short time before the parent birds 

 began consoling the young with cherries (Primus pennsylvanica) . During 

 the twelve days of their captivity the young were supplied with 8400 cher- 

 ries, or one cherry a bird every six minutes. I ascertained the number by 

 counting and weighing the stones left by them in the bottom of their cage. 

 On an average the old bird or birds made 140 visits a day, bringing five 

 cherries, each time. One was carried in the beak, and the others were 

 jerked up from the throat one by one until all of the five young were fed. 

 At their release the young were so tame that they returned to take cher- 

 ries, from my fingers, but the old birds soon enticed them away. 



The young Great Crested Flycatchers were taken from their cavern in 

 an apple tree on July 21, and placed in a wire cage which I hung in the 

 next tree. I could see it from my barn door. The old birds would never 

 go near the young if I was in sight. Concealed, I watched them with a 

 -la^s and occasionally saw the young fed. They were given harvest flies, 

 dragon flies, and various beetles, and also smaller insects of which they left 

 no fragments. I kept them caged until early in August. They were as 

 wild on the last day as on the first, and if the parents changed their feel- 

 ings towards me, it was only by intensifying their hatred. — Frank 

 Bollks, Cambridge, A/ass. 



Song of the Female Butcher Bird. — On the morning of April 8, 1S90, 

 when walking through the Fresh Pond Swamps at Cambridge, I heard a 

 Butcher Bird (Lanins borealis) in full song. The bird was an unusually 

 fine singer, and quite a mimic, its medley of notes suggesting a combina- 

 tion of the Brown Thrasher and as the Blue Jay, with an occasional 'mew- 

 ing' sound much like the common Catbird. It was shot, and on sexing 

 proved a female, the ovary being considerably enlarged. — ArthurChad- 

 bourne,M. D., Cambridge, Mass. 



Helminthophila celata at Montreal. — On May 21, 1890, I shot an Or-' 

 ange-crowned Warbler at Montreal. This is, I believe, the first record of 

 its occurrence here. — Ernest D. Wintle, Montreal, Canada. 



