VOl i90? IV ] General Notes. 97 



A Florida Gallinule on the Coast of Massachusetts. — While the barge 

 'Geo. W. Stetson' was passing over the shoals near Ppllock Rip lightship, 

 about July 30, 1906, a strange bird alighted during the night on the deck. 

 The crew tried to capture it, and it flew to sea again and out of sight, but 

 a little later returned to the vessel and was captured. It was brought 

 here and given to me for identification; it proved to be a Purple Gallinule 

 (Gallinula galeata). This would seem to be considerably out of its ordinary 

 range. I liberated it on some fresh-water marshes here (Beverly, Mass.), 

 hoping it would find its way south with some other birds in the fall migra- 

 tion. — Frank A. Brown, Beverly, Mass. 



The Short-eared Owl and Savanna Sparrow Breeding in Wayne 

 County, Michigan. — Prior to the present season of 1906 I have met with 

 the Short-eared Owl (Asio accipitrinus) and Savanna Sparrow (Passerculus 

 sandwichensis savanna) as migrants only, and there seems to be no record 

 of their occurrence in the height of the breeding season. I now take pleas- 

 ure in placing on record positive proof of both species breeding in the 

 county. 



Short-eared Owl. — On P. C. 618, Village of Grosse Pointe Farms, 

 there is a tract of about 40 acres of land which was once under cultivation, 

 but later abandoned as too low and swampy for successful crop raising. 

 This has grown to grass, weeds and rushes according to the various eleva- 

 tions. Here, on May 30, Mr. Herbert Spicer and the writer watched a 

 Marsh Hawk to her nest. She was wary and it took an hour and a quarter 

 to do it. Twice during that time a male Shot-eared Owl rose from the 

 weeds near a tongue of bushes, extending from the bordering bush land, and 

 drove the hawk from that vicinity. On each occasion he remained about 

 a half hour in the air, apparently taking delight in the exercise, some- 

 times sailing on outstretched wings but mostly pounding the air with 

 powerful strokes, the wings appearing to touch above his back and sweep 

 downward nearly the whole semicircle. We carefully marked the spot 

 where he went down and later worked toward it. When about 400 feet 

 away the female sprang into the air, just out of gunshot range, and was 

 joined by the male as she passed over him. They drifted before the wind 

 nearly two miles, then worked back and sailed above us high in the air. 

 We did not search thoroughly for the nest, as it was late in the day, and 

 when we left the owls could be seen perched on the dead top of a large elm 

 in the woods. I returned, June 10, accompanied by Messrs. Spicer, Wise- 

 ner and my brother and, as they are experienced field men, I felt certain 

 of success if a nest existed. We soon flushed both owls and this time they 

 kept on going and were seen no more. The nest was soon found on a 

 higher portion of the field, about twenty rods from the bordering bushes 

 and close to where the female was flushed. It was a mere platform of 

 dead marsh grass, half an inch thick and covering a spot of bare ground 

 ten by eighteen inches. The long ' saw-grass ' formed an arch over the nest, 



