204 General Nutes. [April 



Note on Rostratulinae. — It would appear that Vieillot instituted the 

 <;enus Rostratida in 1816, before Cuvier proposed RhyjtchcEu for the same 

 Painted-snipe, though the former name has never become current. These 

 Snipes are peculiar in several respects, and especially in those secondary 

 sexual characters for which the female is conspicuous, among which are 

 the tracheal convolutions. In any system which recognizes several 

 families of charadriomorphic birds, such characters would seem to be of 

 more than generic value. — Elliott Coues, Washington^ D. C. 



The Wild Turkey in Massachusetts. — When a pupil of the Public Latin 

 School in Boston in 1S37-3S, I spent a portion of my summer vacations in 

 Northampton. I distinctly remember conversing with some of the town's 

 people at those times in regard to the existence of a flock of Wild Turkeys 

 {Meleag-ris gallopavo) which had frequently been seen in the neighbor- 

 hood of Mount Holyoke. I was much interested in the circumstance, 

 which even then was deemed very unusual. 



These birds had the range of a large tract of wild mountainous country, 

 in some parts almost inaccessible and impassable, lying at the base of and 

 comprising Mount Holyoke, and to the southwest also including Mount 

 Tom and its surroundings. An incident occurring at this period 

 serves to show the character of this district. A stranger ascended Mount 

 Holyoke to enjoy the view from its summit. In descending he missed 

 the path, and becoming bewildered, wandered awaj' into the forests at the 

 base. Here he passed two or three days before he succeeded in extricat- 

 ing himself in a famished condition, and having upon his person only a 

 small portion of the holiday attire in which he ascended the mountain. 



I am unable to state the exact period at which this flock became exter- 

 minated, but should say that it must have been in 1840, or thereabouts. 



My friend, Mr. J. A. Allen, has kindly given me the following references 

 on this subject, which I have looked up. 



Hitchcock in his 'Geological Report of Massachusetts,' 1883, says, 

 "Wild Turkeys are frequently met with on Mount Holyoke." In the 

 same volume, Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, in his list of the birds, says. "The 

 Wild Turkeys have now become scarce and nearly extinct." 



In a communication to the 'Bulletin' of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 

 (Vol. I, 1876), Mr. J. A. Allen says, "According to John Josselyn the Wild 

 Turkeys began early to decline." This author, writing in 1672 ('New 

 England's Rarities') says, "I have also seen three score bi'oods of young 

 Turkies on the side of a marsh sunning of themselves in a morning 

 betimes, but this was thirty years since, the English and the Indians have 

 now destroyed the breed so that it is very rare to meet with a wild Turkey 

 in the Woods, but some of the English bring up great stores of the wild 

 kind which remain about their Houses as tame as ours in New England." 



Thompson, in his 'History of Vermont,' says, under date of 1842, "A 

 few of the Wild Turkeys continue still to visit and breed upon the moun- 

 tains in the southern part of the state." 



In a communication to the 'Proceedings' of the Essex Institute, under 



