190 General Notes. [^gj 



as to whether this influx of birds was attributable to excessively hot 

 weather. To this I would say emphatically, no. The Egret, it is true, 

 is now a very rare species in either Pennsylvania or New Jersey but the 

 Little Blue Heron invades both States periodically during late summer. 

 Though personally I have seen but few birds, yet records have come to 

 me with great regularity of their occurrence during the last four years at 

 numerous localities in widely separated parts of New Jersey (barring the 

 mountains), while in Pennsylvania they are even taken occasionally in the 

 Alleghanies. At certain periods in late August they may even be called 

 abundant. It would seem that each year after the breeding season they 

 wander north, usually in flocks, and spend August and the first half of 

 September on northern feeding grounds. — R. C. Harlow, State College, Pa. 



The Yellow Rail at Salem, New Jersey. — I have recently secured from a 

 Mr. McKee of Philadelphia a mounted specimen of the Yellow Rail, with 

 full data, which Mr. McKee took at Salem, New Jersey, on October 24, 

 1908. The bird is an adult female in fine plumage but very poorly prepared. 

 This is the most recent capture of the Yellow Rail in the State and the 

 fourth record for the State. — R. C. Harlow, State College, Pa. 



The Black Rail (Creciscus jamaicensis) in the District of Columbia. — 

 Through the courtesy of Mr. H. M. Darling, of Washington, D. C, the 

 Biological Survey has recently received a specimen of the little Black Rail 

 (Creciscus jamaicensis), collected on the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, 

 September 1, 1908. The specimen is adult, mounted, but with the sex 

 unmarked. At least three earlier records of the occurrence of this species 

 in the District of Columbia have been published. In September, 1861, 

 the bird was reported as seen by Coues and Prentiss. 1 On June 6, 1879, a 

 male (No. 78,384, U. S. National Museum) was collected by Shekells near 

 Washington 2 ; and on May 29, 1891, a specimen was taken by R. L. Jones 

 and recorded by E. J. Brown. 3 The specimen collected by Mr. Darling is 

 apparently the third actually captured, and the fourth record for Washing- 

 ton. 



The Black Rail has also been taken by John Dowell at Piscataway, Prince 

 George County, Maryland, Sept. 25, 1877 (No. 97,717, U. S. National Mu- 

 seum), 2 and several specimens are said to have been taken on the Patuxent 

 River in Maryland, not far from the northeasten boundary of the District. — ■ 

 T. S. Palmer, Washington, D. C. 



Occurrence of the Whimbrel (Numenius phwopus) off the coast of Nova 

 Scotia. — In October, 1907, I secured an adult female specimen of this 

 small European Curlew which has an interesting history. On May 23, 

 1906, it came aboard the steamship 'Bostonian' when she was westward 



1 Avifauna Columbiana, p. 101, 1883. 



2 Auk, Vol. XXIV, p. 209, 1907. 



3 Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. XVI, p. 108, 1891. 



