AOO General Notes. [October 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Little Black Rail {Porzana jamaicensis) at Key West, Florida. — 

 Mr. John W. Atkins secured on March n, 1S90, an adult male of this 

 species which he kindly gave to me. The bird in question was caught on 

 one of the principal and most frequented wharves of the water front of the 

 city. It was evidently migrating, and had but just arrived at the point in 

 question in a very fatigued condition, and was observed by a passer by, 

 trying tohide among some loosely piled brick. This person secured it 

 easily and brought it to Mr. Atkins alive. So far as I am aware this is 

 the first absolute record of the occurrence of this species on the Island of 

 Key West.— W. E. D. Scott, New Tork City. 



The Dowitcher at Ottawa. — On May 9, 1890, I shot a female Macro- 

 rhatnphus griseus feeding in a moist meadow within a mile of this city. 

 It is now in my collection. — Geo. R. White, Ottawa, Ontario. 



The American Barn Owl near Troy, New York. — In my collection is a 

 specimen of Strix pratincola in rather dark plumage, lately received from 

 Mr. A. E. Weinbender of West Troy, who informed me that he shot the 

 Owl November 19, 18SS, in a clump of poplar trees, where it had just been 

 mobbed by Crows, on Weinbender's Hill, about one mile west of the Hud- 

 son River at Troy, N. Y.— Austin F. Park, Troy, N. T. 



Strix pratincola in Western New York. — On July 5, 1890, a live Barn 

 Owl was captured in Buffalo in the warehouse of a large tannery close to 

 the New York Central R. R. Station. The bird had probably entered the 

 building during the preceding night through an open window, and fail- 

 ing to find the same means of exit was captured in the morning. It was 

 a fine full-plumed male. It was kept by its captor for a number of days 

 before it came into my possession. It is interesting to note that the few 

 days preceding the bird's capture were very hot, and that the nights were 

 also warm. I know of only one previous record of the capture of this 

 Owl in Erie County, and of but few elsewhere in this region. — W. H. 

 Bergtold, M. D., Buffalo. 



A Correction. — In the current volume of 'The Auk,' page 91, Dr. R. W. 

 Shufeldt records the capture of the Hawk Owl near Washington, D. C. 

 The undersigned called at the studio of Mr. F. S. Webster to see the spec- 

 imen, and found it to be a Short-eared Owl (A.sio accipitrinus) instead of 

 the above named species. — A. K. Fisher, Washington, D. C. 



Breeding of the Pileated Woodpecker in Worcester County, Massachu- 

 setts : — In a recent paper* I noticed the fact that a few Pileated Wood- 



* Notes on the Birds of Winchendon, Worcester Co., Mass. 'The Auk,' Vol. V 

 No. 4, Oct. 1888, pp. 386-393. 



