General Notes. 39 



CoTURNicuLTJS HENSLOWi IN New HAMPSHIRE. — As the northern 

 range of Henslow's Sparrow has not previously been recorded beyond the 

 Massachusetts line, the following notes, which have been kindly placed at 

 my disposal l)y Mr. Chas. F. Goodhue of Webster, N. H., will be of interest. 

 He writes : " I detected my first specimen on April 17, 1874, in Webster, 

 N. H., and shot another on April 26, 1875, in Boscawen, N. H. On Au- 

 gust 16, 1877, I found several pairs in a large meadow in Salisbury, 

 N. H. They were all apparently breeding, and I was so fortunate as to dis- 

 cover a nest containing four young large enough to fly. The nest, which 

 was a bulky structure composed externally of coarse grass and lined with 

 finer of the same, was placed in a bunch of grass where the water was 

 about two inches in depth. These birds were not at all shy, but remained 

 singing on some low bushes until I approached them Avithin a feAv yards." 



I have a specimen which Mr. Goodhue shot on Salisbury meadows, and 

 kindly presented me. — Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 



Breeding Habits of Geococctx californianus. — In 1872, while in 

 Southern Arizona, I found some twenty nests of Geococcyx californianus, the 

 first nest on April 8, the last on September 10. During the month of April, 

 in which I found several nests, not one contained more than three eggs, 

 although I allowed incubation to begin before taking the eggs, as I ex- 

 pected the birds to lay more. Nearly every nest I found after the middle 

 of May contained four or five eggs, and I account for the greater number 

 laid later in the season by the fact that insect food during the dry season, 

 which includes April and May, is comparatively scarce. The birds be- 

 ing aware of this content themselves with rearing a small brood the 

 first time, and a larger one at the second laying, when the young are 

 hatched about the beginning of the rainy season, which sets in in June. 

 At this time all kinds of insects and reptiles become exceedingly abun- 

 dant, and the birds have less trouble in providing for a family of five than 

 earlier in the season for one of thi-ee. Only occasionally have I found 

 eggs in different stages of incubation, and I do not believe that there was 

 over a week's difference in the time of laying of the eggs in any nests I 

 found. 



The food of this species consists chiefly of 'insects, particularly grass- 

 hoppers, but embraces occasionallj' a lizard or a field mouse. I do not 

 believe they kill and eat rattlesnakes, as has been sometimes reported. — 

 Charles Bendire, Camp Harney, Oregon. 



Occurrence op a Second Specimen op Swainson's Buzzard (Buteo 

 swainsoni) in Massachusetts. — The claim of the above-named species 

 to be regarded as a bird of New England has hitherto rested solely upon 

 a specimen in melanistic plumage (formerly specifically separated as B. in- 

 signatus, Cassin) shot a few years since at Salem, Mass., and now in the 

 museum of the Peabody Academy. 



It is with much pleasure that I can now announce the capture of 

 a second individual at Wayland, Mass., on or about September 12, 



