Vol i907 IV ] General Notes. 341 



A Correction: Concerning the Occurrence of Numenius borealis on Long 

 Island. — In 'The Auk,' XXI, 1904, p. 289, two specimens of the Eskimo 

 Curlew were erroneously recorded from Long Island. Both were evi- 

 dently the young of the Hudsonian Curlew (Numenius hudsonicus). 

 That reported as in the collection of Mr. Robt. L. Peavey is certainly this 

 species. The bill of this curlew was under 3' inches in length and it was 

 carelessly referred to borealis. The elimination of these records apparently 

 shifts the date of the last known occurrence of this species on Long Island 

 to September 26, 1884, when two were killed at The Rockaway by Mr. 

 Newbold T. Lawrence (Auk, II, 1885, p. 273).— William C. Braislint 

 M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. 



The English Sparrow in Texas. — Prof. Estabrook in his paper on the 

 English Sparrow in the last number of 'The Auk' (April, 1907) states: 

 "The English Sparrow exists in enormous numbers in the whole region 

 east of the Rocky Mountains; with the exception of Florida, where it is 

 found in a few places, and in Texas, Oklahoma, and the northern part of 

 Montana where it is reported absent." With regard to Texas Prof. Esta- 

 brook is misinformed, for Merriam and Barrows in their Bulletin on this 

 species mention that it first appeared at Galveston in 1867, at Jefferson in 

 1882, at Houston in 1884, and at San Saba in 1886. In 1892 Attwater 

 (Auk, IX) wrote "it is unknown as a resident in San Antonio or any of 

 the surrounding country"; and Lloyd in 1887 (Auk, IV) does not mention 

 it from Tom Green and Concho Counties. Finally, Judd and Beal, in 1901, 

 simply say that it is found in certain parts of the State. When I reached 

 Texas in 1903 I found it common in Austin and San Antonio, both near 

 the center of the State, and learned that it had been there for a number 

 of years; in 1904 I found it in Alpine, a small town near the southwestern 

 border of the State, and in the year following at Corpus Christi on the Gulf 

 Coast below Galveston, as well as at Brownsville at the extreme southeast- 

 ern corner. The facts are that it is now common in all the larger towns of 

 the State, and is so widely distributed and abundant that the farmers 

 are beginning to seek measures to combat it. — Thos. H. Montgomery, 

 Jr., University of Texas, Austin, Texas. 



Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolni) at Portland, Maine. — On June 1, 

 1907, Mr. Nathan Clifford Brown brought, and donated, to the Society of 

 Natural History a perfectly fresh specimen of Lincoln's Sparrow. It 

 was found dead by Mr. Brown on Congress Street, the principal thorough- 

 fare of Portland. 



It was prepared as a skin by the writer, when it was found to have a 

 skull fracture, a little to the left of the median line, extending the length 

 of the brain case, indicating the nature of its death. It is a female, show- 

 ing some traces of moult, and having one ovarian ovum about as large as a 

 No. 12 shot. 



