222 General Notes. [Jj*, 



there were one or two others of the brood under the bridge, but of this I 

 could not make sure. Two of those on the wire sat facing me, showing 

 very distinctly the rich, reddish brown or fulvous markings on the throat 

 and upper part of the breast, which are so characteristic of the young of 

 Stelgidopteryx serripennis. Their plumage was wholly free from down, 

 and their wings and tails appeared to be of full length. They must have 

 been out of the nest for a week or more, but I consider it probable that 

 they were hatched and reared in the immediate neighborhood. Although 

 from the first I had entertained no doubts as to the identity of the old 

 birds, I was glad of the opportunity here afforded for directly comparing 

 them with a number of Bank Swallows which were flying about over the 

 river just above the bridge. Whenever the two species came together 

 it was easy to distinguish them, almost at a glance, for the Rough-wings 

 looked a third larger and very much browner than the Bank Swallows, 

 and they showed no traces of the dark pectoral band so conspicuous in the 

 latter birds. — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



Another Connecticut Warbler from Maine. — The publication by Mr. 

 W. H. Brownson in the last number of 'The Auk' (p. 105) of seven records 

 of the Connecticut Warbler from Maine leads me to record another speci- 

 men of this bird which I shot in Eliot, York Co., Maine, on September 

 12, 1894. This specimen, which was a bird of the year, is now in my 

 collection. — Arthur H. Howell, Washington, D. C. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Massachusetts.— A male Blue-gray 

 Gnatcatcher (Polioptila cozruled) was shot at Hyde Park, Mass., on Sept. 

 22, 1906, by Frank E. Webster of this town. The bird was alone, feeding 

 in a clump of white birches in a yard. It was very lively in its actions, 

 continually flitting about and now and then uttering a little squeaking 

 note. The skin is now in the collection of Mr. John Thayer, Lancaster, 

 Mass. — H. G. Higbee, Hyde Park, Mass. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcather in Philadelphia County, Pa. — On April 

 19, 1904, while searching for Song Sparrows' nests in a bunch of nettles 

 at Frankford, this county, I found a dead Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Poliop- 

 tila cwrulea) lying in the weeds. An examination found it badly torn 

 and mutilated, and useless as a specimen; its skull however, was preserved. 

 It had undoubtedly been killed by boys with a sling-shot, as its condition 

 indicated such a fate, and had been dead several days as it was infested 

 with vermin. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is an extremely rare transient in the Dela- 

 ware Valley, and my record constitutes the first spring record, and the 

 second one of its occurrence in this county. In the enumerated list of 

 specimens in Stone's 'Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey' 

 (p. 148) there is one record for Pennsylvania, and that is the specimen 

 alluded to above, which was taken September 3, 1880, at Chestnut Hill, 



