442 General Notes. [§£* 



season these are the only definite notes connected with the nesting of the 

 crossbills in all the 278 pages. I may add that although I spend a little 

 time in the coniferous forests of our mountains up to timber line each year 

 I have never seen any crossbills. Dr. Ridgway, in Part 1 of his new 

 work on 'Birds of North and Middle America,' notes several breeding 

 records of L. c. bendirei, published under the names L. c. americana and 

 L. c. mexicana. — Junius Henderson, Boulder, Col. 



Occurrence of a White-winged Crossbill at Oxen Hill, Md. .in August.— 

 On August 13, 1907, Mr. Ernest Kletsch, of the Department of Agriculture, 

 brought me a White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera) that had been 

 accidentally killed the day previous at Oxen Hill, Maryland, about four 

 or five miles southeast of Washington, D. C. Taken in connection with 

 the record (mentioned elsewhere in these notes by Nelson R. Wood) of 

 a White-throated Sparrow in the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution 

 at about the same time, this occurrence of a northern bird in midsummer 

 in the vicinity of Washington suggested a possibility of special significance, 

 but no further unusual records have come to my attention and I merely 

 mention the incident as a curious instance of irregularity. It would 

 be of interest to know if similar observations were made elsewhere. — 

 Henry Oldys, Washington, D. C. 



The Vesper Sparrow (Pocecctes gramineus) on Long Island, N. Y., in 

 Winter. — In order to confirm Mr. J. T. Nichols's observation published in 

 'The Auk,' Vol. XXIV, p. 220, I wish to record four specimens in my 

 collection taken on Feb. 7, 1905, near the northern part of Jamaica Bay, 

 from a flock of these birds found roaming the snow covered fields. — J. A. 

 Weber, New York City. 



A White-throated Sparrow in Washington. D. C. in August. — On the 

 morning of August 9 a White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 

 flew down into the grass near where I was sitting and remained in plain 

 view for some time, about fifteen feet from me. It was in moult, as a part- 

 of its tail was gone. Wishing other witness to this, I asked Mr. William 

 Palmer to visit the spot. He, too, saw it. The next morning found me, 

 with field glass in hand, again at the place, and to my joy the bird was still 

 there. I called Mr. Oldys, who was passing, and handed him the glass. 

 He also saw and identified the bird. Is it not unusual for this bird to be 

 here in this season, and does it not point to the fact that birds migrate 

 when in moult? — Nelson R. Wood, Washington, D. C. 



Nesting of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Philadelphia County, Pa. — 

 The Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Zamelodia ludoviciana) was formerly regarded 

 as a migrant of transient occurrence in the Lower Delaware Valley (see 

 Stone's ' Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey,' page 6), and not 

 until late years was it found to be a summer resident of the Carolinian 



