260 General Notes. l/w'v 



male H. lawrencii are black, are in this specimen dusky olive-green. The 

 specimen is quite similar to the one taken by Mr. II. W. Flint in New 

 Haven several years ago. 



The young in first plumage which this bird was attending when shot 

 were in every respect typical //. fiinus. The male parent was not found 

 but I feel confident that it was H. firms, as the young were well feathered 

 and showed clearly the well defined black lores of the latter. — Clark 

 Greenwood Voorhees, New York City. 



Notes on Kansas Birds. — Mr. H. W. Menke, of Finney County, 

 Kansas, at present a student in the University of Kansas, has noted in the 

 county of his home four birds new to the bird fauna of Kansas. Finney 

 County lies in the western and dryer portion of the State, and comprises 

 chiefly high, dry plains. It is traversed by the Arkansas River flowing 

 east from Colorado, but there is practically no timbered land in the 

 county. The additions to the Kansas bird list are as follows : — 



Carpodacus frontalis. House Finch. — Five were taken by Mr. Menke 

 out of a flock of fifteen on Jan. 5, 1892. The remnant of the flock was 

 seen on the following day and again on the 7th. The birds were found 

 about some stacks of alfalfa in a field of this western forage plant. 



Piranga ludoviciana Louisiana Tanager. — A male was shot on May 

 20, 1893. On June 1, 1893, several pairs were seen in a small cotton wood 

 grove in Kearney County (a county adjoining Finney). 



Dendroica caerulescens. Black-thkoated Blue Warbler. — A male 

 was taken in a deserted farm-house Oct. 17, 1891. 



Hesperocichla naevia. Varied Thrush. — A single specimen was 

 taken Oct. 17, 189 1. 



Mr. Menke has also taken in Finney County the Cinnamon Teal, the 

 Red-breasted Merganser and the American Golden-eye, all rare Ducks in 

 Kansas. A brother of Mr. Menke (Mr. G. G. Menke) took a set of nine 

 eggs of the Black Rail (Porza/ia jamaicensis) on June 6, 1SS9. The 

 IMack Rail is a rare summer resident in Kansas. On April 23, 1S93, Mr. 

 Menke shot a Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerfies torguatus), the second 

 reported occurrence of this bird in the State. He also records the second 

 occurrence of Clarke's Nutcracker (Picicorvus columbianus). Three 

 birds were seen on Oct. 10, 1891. Mr. Menke also reports that the Pinon 

 Jay (Cyanoccphalns cyanocephalus) which Col. Goss in his 'Birds of 

 Kansas' (1891) calls a rare visitant, with but one authentic record of 

 occurrence, was a common winter resident up to 1S91, appearing in large 

 flocks in the autumns of 18S9, 1S90 and 1S91. — V. L. Kellogg, Univer- 

 sity of Kansas, Lazvrencc, Kans. 



Temperature and Nest-building. — On or about March 1, 1894, I saw a 

 Blue Jay pressing its breast upon a few twigs in the crotch of a large post- 

 oak limb. This tree, standing almost directly in the path of my daily 

 walks, was watched for some two weeks and no birds being seen nor any 



