iSSS.l General Notes. 20C 



date of May 2, 1864, Mr. Allen says, "The Wild Turkey is now probably 

 extinct in this State. Within a few years it has been said to occur wild on 

 Mts. Tom and Holyoke, but I can find no authentic instances of its 

 recent capture in this State. It is well known that the domestic turkej' 

 will sometimes take to the woods, assuming the habits of the wild bird. 

 Hence these reports may well be received with considerable caution." 



In Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway's 'Land Birds,' Vol. Ill, 1874, we find 

 the following : "It has probably become an extinct species in New Eng- 

 land, though within a few years, individuals have been shot in Montague, 

 Mass., and in other towns in Franklin County." 



We must consider, then, that the fate of this noble bird, not only in 

 Massachusetts but in New England, has been decided for many years, and 

 the same fate awaits it in all the other States, where it still lingers, unless 

 means are early adopted to prevent its complete annihilation. — D. D. 

 Slade, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 



The European Kestril in Massachusetts — A Correction. — In 'The Auk' 

 for January last (Vol. V, p. no), the locality of capture for the specimen 

 of this species there recorded should read Strawberry Hill, Nantasket 

 Beach, Mass., instead of "Nantucket," Mass. — Charles B. Cory, Boston, 

 Mass. 



First Occurrence of the Western Red-tail in Ontario. — I have obtained 

 from M. J. Dodds, St. Thomas, Ont., a fine adult of the Western Red-tail 

 (^Buteo borealis calurus)^ which was killed near there in the fall of 1SS5, 

 by John Oxford. This appears to be the first recorded occurrence of this 

 species in Ontario. At the same time I procured from him an Ontario 

 specimen of the Sandhill Crane, killed at Roudeau in 1869 by the same 

 man, which is interesting from the probability that Ontarians have seen 

 their last living examples of this species in the Province, and there are 

 but very few native specimens in existence. — W. E. Saunders, Zowffow, 

 Ont. 



Dichromatism in the Genus Nyctidromus. — During my examination of 

 this group, Mr. J. A. Allen called my attention to a number of particularly 

 red or rich cinnamon colored birds, among the twenty-seven specimens 

 from Matto Grosso, Brazil, which belong to the American Museum of 

 Natural History, and were collected by Mr. Herbert H. Smith. 



Having before me a number of specimens from other localities belong- 

 ing to the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History 

 (the Lawrence collection in particular), I also find this dichromatism, 

 though to a less extent. Judging from the material at my command, it 

 seems to be prevalent only about and south of the equator, although it 

 may be looked for in a lesser degree in Mexico and Texas. These two 

 phases — the red and gray — are analogous to those so well known to exist 

 in our common Screech Owls of the genus Megascops. I find that in 

 Matto Grosso, Brazil, one out of every three are in the red phase; in 



