3o8 



General Notes. \ Ji'ly 



On February 7 I picked up a dead specimen on the beach at Bridge- 

 port and a few days later three more. The finding of these specimens 

 was the first indication I had of the occurrence of the bird, as I had been 

 absent from home during the winter until the above mentioned date. 



At New Haven I saw a stutTed specimen in the store of Folsom & Co. 

 and learned that it was secured at Saugatuck Harbor by Mr. D. C. 

 Sanford, a government surveyor, who had also secured another at that 

 place. 



Mr. W. F. Davis of Stony Creek writes me that hundreds could be seen 

 there from the ist to the loth of January, so tame they could be taken in 

 the hand; they could fly but seemed iiungry and fatigued, some be- 

 ing found five miles from the salt water; he thought many died of 

 starvation. He adds that he used to see great numbers of them when a 

 boy, at Nantucket Shoals, where they were called Murres. 



At Stratford I found a stufted specimen in the village drug store and 

 another in the possession of Mr. L. B. Beers. They had been seen in 

 large numbers and attracted general attention. They were described as 

 very tame but no one that I talked with seemed to think that they had 

 starved. Mr. Theodore Judson, keeper of the Stratford Light, assured me 

 that he had seen the bird occasionally before, but had regarded it as rare. 



Mr. Win. H. Hayt, an associate member of the A. O. U., v/rites me 

 from Stamford as follows : "The Murres were plentiful here from Dec. 20 

 to about Feb. 10. A large number were shot. Fourteen specimens fell 

 under my own observation. They all seemed to be in the last stages of 

 starvation. One was found by the road side at some distance from the 

 shore where it had evidently fallen from exhaustion. The stomachs of 

 those which I examined contained nothing but sand. 



I received information from several other persons at diflerent places 

 but think the above sufficient to indicate the extent of the movement. 

 As all the specimens I examined were Briinnich's Murre, I refer all the 

 notes to that species. 



Since writing the above I have been informed by Mr. D. C. Sanford 

 that from Penfield Reef Light House, off Black Rock, to the mouth of 

 Saugatuck River "there were thousands of them, and hundreds were 

 shot off Saugatuck." — C. K. Averill, Jr., Bridge fort. Conn. 



The Sandhill Crane {Grus mexicana) in South Carolina. — On October 

 iS, 1S90, I heard a most remarkable sound, something like that made by 

 blowing a large tin horn. I was told by one of the negroes on the plan- 

 tation that it was a Wild Goose. Early in the morning of the following 

 day I heard the note again and saw the bird flying in the heavens. One 

 glance was enough to show me it was a Crane. After sailing about for 

 some hours it flew down in a corn field among a drove of cows. I started 

 in pursuit with my brother-in-law: he taking a stand, and I one, about a 

 hundred yards away. The bird rose but sailed away from both of us, — 

 not near enough for a shot. It sailed about in circles until it was lost to 

 our vieWr 



