1S90.] General Notes. 2uC 



from Mr. Marcus Dunham, a local sportsman, that a few winter here 

 every year, the number varying from a dozen to fifty or sixty. 



^Egialitis vocifera. — One Killdeer was shot on Muskeget. Feb. 2S, 1S90, 

 the only one seen. I have preserved the skin. — George H. Mackay, 

 Boston, Mass. 



Notes on Several Birds in the Catskill Mountains. — In the summer of 

 1SS9 I spent a few days among the Catskill Mountains, and though I was 

 unfortunately prevented from giving much time to ornithology, I noted 

 one or two things that are worth mentioning because they differ from the 

 experience of Mr. E. P. Bicknell as recorded in his well-known paper on 

 the birds of that region. * Mr. Bicknell's work, which was done almost 

 entirely in the Big Indian Valley and on Slide Mountain, covered but a 

 small portion of the whole Catskill Mountain region, and a rich field still 

 awaits the ornithological surveyor who will undertake a thorough, de- 

 tailed exploration of all its mountains and valleys. 



Zonotrichia albicollis. — Mr. Bicknell did not meet with the White- 

 throated Sparrow at all in the Catskills, and it is very likely nowhere 

 abundant in the region. I found one singing, however, on the afternoon 

 of July iS, on the Plaaterkill Turnpike between the foot of Overlook 

 Mountain and Tannersville. It was in low, rather wet ground, a half- 

 wooded pasture on the head waters of Schoharie Creek, and at an eleva- 

 tion probably of about 1800 feet. Along the same road, and at similar 

 altitudes, I saw Galeoscoptcs carolincnsis and Harporhynchus rufus. 



Pipilo erythrophthalmus. — What I saw of the Towhee was very differ- 

 ent from Mr. Bicknell's experience with it. He says : "Except on mv 

 latest trip to the Catskills, when it was twice noted in the Big Indian 

 Valley, this bird was not observed." During my stay at Overlook Moun- 

 tain (July 14-18) I found Towhees plenty all over the top of the moun- 

 tain (altitude 3150 ft.), perhaps most so in a tract, burnt over some time 

 ago, where a second growth of scrub oak five or six feet high had grown 

 up among the dead oaks most of which were still standing. I heard them 

 singing every day of my stay. July 15 I shot a full-grown young in first 

 plumage, attended by both its parents. 



Geothlypis Philadelphia. — At Overlook Mountain I found Mourning 

 Warblers, adults and young, near the top of the steep upper slopes of the 

 mountain, in woods consisting mainly of scrub-oaks twenty or thiity feet 

 high, with a good deal of underbrush of oaks and other shrubs, and with 

 here and there a fallen tree. I mention this, as it seems contrary to the 

 usual habits of the species which is apt to frequent such places as Mr. 

 Bicknell found it in, — burnt land grown up with willow herb, wild red 

 cherry, etc. 



T-urdus aonalaschkae pallasii. — The Hermit Thrush does not seem to 

 have been found by Mr. Bicknell except on the higher parts of Slide Moun- 

 tain. It was common in the hard woods on the upper slopes of Overlook 

 Mountain and also on the hills (altitude 2300-2600 ft.) near the Cats- 

 kill Mountain House. — C. F. Batchelder, Cambridge, Mass. 



* Transactions ol the Linna,-aii Society of New York, Vol. I, pp. 1 13-168, 1882. 



