40 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



All matter enclosed between quotation-marks is from the manu- 

 script notes of Mr. Ridgway, who has kindly furnished them for 

 use in the present connection. The remainder, with a few excep- 

 tions (where due credit is given), are from my own observations. 

 The first list comprises the fifteen species new to the State. 



1. Myiadestes townsendi, Cab. Townsend's Solitaire. — A fine 

 specimen of this bird was obtained December 16, 1875, by Mr. Charles 

 Douglas at Waukegan, Illinois. The specimen is considerably darker 

 than one in my collection from Utah, collected about the same time of year. 



2. Coturniculus lecontei, Bon. Leconte's Bunting. — A single 

 specimen of this rare bird was obtained by the writer at Riverdale, Il- 

 linois, May 13, 1875. It was flushed from a slight depression in the open 

 prairie near the Calumet River, where the moisture had caused an early 

 growth of coarse grass, about three inches in height. After darting off in 

 an erratic course for a few rods, it suddenly turned, and alighting ran 

 rapidly through the grass, from which it was with difficulty started again 

 and secured. 



3. Ammodroraus caudacutus var. nelsoni, Allen. Western 

 Short-tailed Finch. — This variety of the Sharp-tailed Finch was first 

 obtained September 17, 1874, in the Calumet Marsh, and described by Mr. 

 J. A. Allen in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 (December, 1874), with a few notes regarding its habits. Since then I have 

 learned of its capture at several widely separated localities in Northern 

 Illinois, it appearing to frequent all suitable situations. The 12th of 

 June, 1875, I saw several of these birds in the dense grass bordering 

 Calumet Lake, where they were undoubtedly breeding. They were very 

 numerous November 10, 1875, in the wild rice bordering Grass Lake, 

 in Lake County, Illinois. A sharp frost that night caused them to leave 

 so suddenly that the next afternoon not one was to be found. 



4. Chordeiles popetue var. henryi, Cassin. Western Night- 

 Hawk. — Two specimens of this variety were obtained by my friend Mr. 

 F. L. Rice near AVaukegan, Illinois, July, 1875. In the same vicinity I 

 have obtained several specimens of this variety the present season. In 

 comparing specimens from Illinois with typical specimens of henryi in 

 my collection from the Rocky Mountains, I find they agree in all the 

 characteristics upon which the variety is based. 



5. Buteo borealis var. calurus, Cassin. Black Red-Tail. — In my 

 collection is a fine adult specimen of this variety which was captured 

 near Chicago in April, 1873, by my friend, Mr. Charles Smith. 



6. Ardea rufa, Bodd. Reddish Egret. — This species was quite com- 

 mon in the vicinity of Cairo during the last week of August, 1875. The 

 unusually high water of that season caused a much larger number of herons 

 to appear along the rivers in this vicinity than usual. Although Ardea 



