-^ZO General Notes. [July 



ino.sl part typically Piciiic in character, though we are to note that the 

 sub-median longitudinal capital apteriuni is but barely discernible, while 

 I utterly failed to iletect the presence of any naked temporal spaces what- 

 ever. In these particulars, M. forquatns nearly agrees with Sphyrapiciii. 

 The uropygial papilla is tufted, but the glands lying beneath the skin are 

 small and elongateil. 



After ha\ing removed the integuments, it is seen that the free extremi- 

 ties of the limbs of the hyoid extend only as far forward as the middle of 

 the parietal region, or the vault of the cranium; otherwise the lingual 

 apparatus of this species seems to be as we find it in other Woodpeckers. 

 It has a markedly small heart for the size of the bird, and the tissue of the 

 liver is of a very friable nature. The gizzard is large and muscular, its 

 periphery being raised into bounding muscidar ridges, and the miisciili 

 ////(•/ ///((//V very prominent. Making a section through it, I find a fii-m, 

 lugose, horny lining, and its contents consisting of a cjuantity of small- 

 sized hard-wingeii beetles, of a species unknown to me. Intestinal cceca 

 are alisent, and the intestinal tract, for its lo\\er j>art. is of a very large 

 calibre. Even at this time of the year, the ovaries in this specimen are 

 small, the largest ova being no bigger than No. 4shot. An account of the 

 skeleton of this species will be given by the writer in another connection, 

 when it will be fully compared with the skeletons of other North American 

 species of the same group. — R. W. Siiufeldt, Fort Winoa/e, Nerv 

 Mcx/co. 



Early nesting of Octocoris alpestris praticola. — March 26, 18SS, while 

 returning from a trip after Crossbills, I flushed a female Iloined Lark 

 within one hundred feet of where I found my first nest last season (April 

 II. 1SS7), anti as she acted as they usually do when nesting, out of curi- 

 osity T began to search, and was rewarded by finding the nest, a mere 

 ca\ it\ in the side of a sandy knoll, lined with dead grasses, a little thistle 

 liown, and a few mayweed blossoms. The eggs had been incubated a few 

 days. On the 21^1, 22A. and 2_]d tiic thermometer ranged in the vicinity 

 of zero, and in fact the spring has been very backward. When \oi\ ap- 

 pioach the nest. //s/ta/Zy the female sneaks from two to thi-ee rods before 

 flying, Ihen flics to a short distance, observes you closely, begins to pick 

 on the ground, and then flics to a distant part of the field to be joined by 

 her mate. Occasionally a female will hover for a moment over you, if 

 you are close to the nest, but they vary so in actions that it is hard to 

 describe the different peculiarities. 



Since the above I have taken othei- sets. April 3, three nests of three 

 eggs each in stublile fields on knolls. April 4, one set of four eggs, much 

 incubated, in oat stubble. April 6, set of four fresh eggs in stubble, and 

 the same day a nest with one young fledgling, which I should judge to 

 have been two or three days old, on the side of a knoll in a newly seeded 

 meadow. The young bird was about a foot outside of the nest, and very 

 cold, but alive, for which I cannot account as the old birds were flushed 

 about a rod from the nest. April 7, nest of four nearly fresh eggs, in oat 



