^'V.u**] General Notes. 107 



the same collection shows that this ' Mountain Stream ' was in the Wind 

 River Mountains near the head waters of the Gros Ventre River east of 

 Jackson Hole. Both of the Haydcn specimens are now in the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum. 



The Harlequin Duck has long been known to breed sparingly in the 

 Rocky Mountains in Montana and Colorado. In 1874 Coues ! found young 

 in August, unable to fly, on the streams which flow into Chief Mountain 

 Lake, Montana, and two adult females collected by the expedition at this 

 locality on August 22 are in the National Museum. In 1881 Dr. Merrill 2 

 found several pairs breeding near Fort Custer almost exactly on the Mon- 

 t ana-Wyoming boundary, although he failed to discover their nests. The 

 notes of the Biological Survey contain records of a flock of eight or ten seen 

 on St. Mary Lake by Vernon Bailey and A. H. Howell in May, 1895, and of 

 a female seen by the same observers June 19, 1895, at Java, on the line of 

 the (Iieai Northern Railway between Belton and Summit in Flathead 

 County. 



In Colorado Carter 3 collected eggs June 3, 1877, in Middle Park and also 

 found the bird breeding in the same general region in Summit County, on 

 Blue River just below Breckenridge, at an altitude of 9,200 feet. 4 In 

 1881 Drew 5 recorded it as common in San Juan County, where it was said 

 to breed. Morrison G reported in 1888 that he had often seen it through 

 the winter at Fort Lewis on the Ute reservation and believed that it bred 

 both in San Juan and La Plata counties. 



The bird is evidently a rare breeder in the Rocky Mountains south to 

 latitude 37, but the only records seem to be those in 1860, 1874, 1877, 1881, 

 about 1888, 1895 and 1908. It is interesting to note that the records show 

 that it breeds in Wyoming as well as in Montana and Colorado. The 

 first specimens collected half a century ago and so long overlooked were in 

 reality from Wyoming and the two records from that State are both from 

 the Jackson Hole region, one at the north end and the other in the moun- 

 tains east of the valley. — T. S. Palmer, Washington, D. C. 



The King Eider {Somateria spectabilis) in Massachusetts. — Four 

 years ago I had, for the first time, the pleasure of seeing this boreal species 

 alive, and of closely examining in the flesh a male in nearly full plumage. 

 It seemed to me then, as at present, the most beautiful of the Fuligulinae 

 of North America. I became interested in its past and present status in 

 Massachusetts, and made some investigations, the results of which are 

 appended. 



' 'Birds of the Northwest.' p. 579, 1874. 



« Orn. and Ool., VI, p. 41, 1881. 



> Allen, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, IV, p. 50, 1879. 



< Cooke. 'Birds of Colorado,' Bull. 56, Agri. Exp. Sta. Colo., p. 195. 1900. 



• Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club. VI, p. 142, 1881. 



•Orn. and Ool.. XIII. p. it,.-,, isss. 



