V °^ XI ] General Notes. 259 



willow brush. I tried a charge of the small shot but did not reach him. 

 He flew out and I killed him with No. 6 shot on tbe wing, the bird falling 

 about seventy yards from where I stood. The individual killed on the 

 evening of the 10th was a female and the other two were males. All 

 were fat and their stomachs were well filled with worms and water grubs, 

 larvas, etc. Their feet were perfect in every way, the claws being sharp 

 and showing not the slightest indication of having grasped the perch of 

 a bird cage ; and besides, the birds were exceedingly wild and shy. Then 

 again cage birds as rare as the Mockingbird is in this latitude, and espe- 

 cially locality, do not go about in flocks, so, on the whole, I am satisfied 

 that the birds came north with a flock of Brown Thrashers with which they 

 were associating at the time I found them. I am not at all familiar with 

 Mimus polyglottos, but one feature presented by the specimens captured 

 appeared a little odd. The iris of the female was brown while that of 

 botli males was greenish yellow, much like the iris of Oroscoptes monta- 

 nus, but not quite so yellow. — Frank Bond, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 



Bird Notes from Virginia. — The writer, in company with Messrs. 

 C. VV. Richmond and E. M. Ilasbrouck, spent from May 14 to May 28, 1894, 

 on Smith's Island, Northampton Co., Virginia, observing the bird life of 

 that place. During our stay we identified sixty-two species of birds on 

 the island, and noted a number on the adjacent mainland which were not 

 seen on the island. The writer shot two females and one male Tringa 

 ftiscicollis, the first recorded instance of its occurrence in Virginia. 



Terns, especially Sterna antillarum and Gclochelidon nilotica, seem to 

 be rapidly diminishing in numbers, being far less common than I observed 

 them on two previous trips in 1S91 and 1892, when I was collecting in the 

 vicinity of Smith's Island. 



Tringa canutus was quite numerous, occurring in large flocks. May 25 

 hundreds of these birds were seen feeding along the extensive mud flats 

 on the outer sea beach; some were in very highly colored plumage. 



Ammodramus maritimus was breeding, and quite numerous ; we secured 

 forty-three specimens of this bird, and several sets of eggs. — Edward J. 

 Brown, Washington, D. C. 



Connecticut Notes. — While collecting in a piece of thick woods near 

 Greenwich, Fairfield Co., Conn., on the 25th of June, 1893, I found what 

 at first appeared to be a nest of the Red-eyed Vireo, but which on closer 

 inspection proved to be that of the Acadian Flycatcher {Empidonax acad- 

 icus). The nest contained three young several days old. The parent 

 kept to the nest until I was within a yard of her, thus giving a good 

 chance for identification. I think there are but two or three records of 

 this species occurring in Connecticut. 



On the I2th of July, while looking for Helminthophila, I took an adult 

 female H. lawrencii. The bird is in every way like the female H. piuus 

 excepting that the throat patch and stripe through the eye, which in the 



