vol i90* IV ] General Notes - 103 



This song, unusually sweet and plaintive, was constantly repeated, and 

 was occasionally answered from the neighborhood woods by the song 

 which I have indicated as the normal White-throat song in that locality. 



There are two rather unusual features in this song: first, its descend- 

 ing character, and, secondly, the fact that its last notes are in groups of 

 4 instead of 3. Both of these features have been noted by Mr. Oldys, 

 but never combined in precisely the same form as that which I secured. 

 For example, he notes the following song which has the same descending 

 character as mine, but differs from it in having triplets instead of quadru- 

 plets at the end: 



■#■■ -* m 



-P H P- #- ? — • — • 0- s — — 0- 



Again, he secured a song containing 4-note groups at the end, but differ- 

 ing from mine at the beginning, thus: 



From these and other similar examples, the diversity ot form which the 

 White-throated Sparrow's song assumes is apparent, and the melody 

 which I chanced to secure is merely one of a great variety of songs with 

 which the woods are doubtless constantly echoing, but which pass unno- 

 ticed until some tram per happens to catch the air and preserve it. — Alfred 

 M. Dame, Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass. 



Scarlet Tanager {Piranga erythromelas) at Ottawa, Canada. — This 

 handsome bird is becoming decidedly more abundant here than formerly. 

 This was plainly noticeable the last spring. There were about ten around 

 a house at Blueberry Point, a few miles from here, early in May, and at 

 Bushwood, at the city limits — a place where a few were seen every spring, 

 if nowhere else — the ir unusual abundance was noted by the most casual 

 observer. I was told that one poor specimen of the human kind had about 

 ten of these beauties in a trap cage. They even invaded the tree-lined 

 streets of our city. On May 26 I noticed a female in a large willow tree 

 next to my house, and on the 29th a fine male put a streak of color into the 

 scene. This specimen condescended so low as to drink out of a common 

 mudpuddle on the street, together with the English Sparrows, who, for 

 once, stood back, awestruck and wondering as it seemed, at this great 

 beauty. Farmers also from many points to the north, east, and west 

 of here asked me about these birds, some saying they had seen them this 

 spring for the first time. — G. Eifrig, Ottawa, Canada. 



The Nesting of Stelgidopteryx serripennis in Norwich, Vt. — May 

 6, 1905, I was walking along the bank of the Connecticut River in Nor- 



