48 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



Connecticut, he speaks of " its record of occurrence having been as good 

 as any of those just cited" ; that is, a suhsequcnt occurrence can establish 

 a prior record ! 



The same indefensible claim is made in behalf of Dendrceca crerulea. 

 This was given by Mr. Putnam as a bird of Essex County, on the supposed 

 authority of Mr. Brickett of Portland. Mr. Brickett, when appealed to, 

 wrote me that he had been misunderstood, that he only referred to D. 

 ccerulcscens. So D. ccerulea fell to the ground, and was left with absolutely 

 no record. Its record is now wholly ex 20ost facto. The fact remains in- 

 disputable that there was no authentic record of its appearance in New 

 England at the time I so stated. 



Having exhausted the all too insufficient limits to which I am re- 

 stricted, I am compelled to omit nearly all that I have written in refer- 

 ence ta Micropalaina himantopus. I will only state that in characterizing 

 it as " migratory, Mass.," I should have added " N. H.," in which it has 

 been taken twelve miles from our boundary line. Though invited to do 

 so, your correspondent is unable to give any data to show that it is migra- 

 tory along the entire New England coast. It has not been found in any 

 part of that coast from St. Andrew's to Rittery, or from Buzzard's Bay to 

 East Eiver, and the sweeping statement of your correspondent still re- 

 mains an entirely unsupported assumption. 



Here all controversy, on my part, with your correspondent ends. What- 

 ever reference I may hereafter make to any facts or opinions bearing upon 

 any of our New England birds, will be without any reference to a contro- 

 versy that has been forced upon me, but in which I cannot do full justice 

 to myself without becoming an infliction upon your readers.* 



^tcttxt ilittnttttr^ 



BuRROUGHs's " Wake-Robin." — Hurd and Houghton have reprinted 

 Mr. John Burroughs's charming little volume "Wake-Robin," wherein 

 the wild wood-life of the birds, from Washington to the Adirondacks, is 

 picturesquely sketched. Mr. Burroughs has a keen eye and a loving heart 

 towards the birds, and it is encouraging to know that this volume of his 

 ornithological essays finds a continued sale. The present edition differs 

 from the original (although it is labelled " revised ") only in the addition 

 of a chapter on the Bluebird, the addition of a copious index, and in the 



* By some oversight, which I can neither explain nor excuse, Dendrceca black- 

 hurnicc is omitted in my catalogue. It should have been given as breeding at 

 least as far south as Massachusetts. The hitest instance was noticed by Mr. 

 Geo. 0. Welch of Lynn last summer. 



