General Notes. 45 



I may further add that I have searched the Reports and record of dona- 

 tions to the Academy from 1862 to 1875, without finding any reference to 

 this specimen. — Spencer Trotter, Philadelphia, Pa. 



The Black-throated Bunting {Eiispiza americana) nesting in Mas- 

 sachusetts. — Mr. Frank E. Bean of Medford has called my attention to 

 a nest and four eggs of this bird found by him in the above town on the 

 9th of June, 1877, at which date the eggs were fresh. The nest, seem- 

 ingly larfje for the species, was supported about a foot from the ground by 

 the stem of a bush and the blades of the grass-clump in which it was 

 placed. Both nest and eggs are quite typical. Towards the last of June 

 he found, in another locality, a second nest containing four young. This 

 was in a field bordering the highway ; the song of the male bird perched 

 on the fence-rails hard by first attracted his attention, and both birds 

 were soon seen feeding the nestlings. Mr. Bean thinks that more than 

 these two pairs may have raised young in his vicinity, as he has heard 

 other birds in this and previous years. But few instances of the nesting 

 of the Black-throated Bunting in Massachusetts are known, and it is to be 

 hoped that this bird of "neat plumage" and "trim form," so common in 

 the Middle and Western States, where it is known as the " Little Field 

 Lark," " Dick-sissel" and "Judas-Bird," will gradually become a perma- 

 nent resident of our_fields and bushy pastures. — H. A. Purdie, Newton, 



The Blue-grat Gnatcatcher (Polioptila ccBrulea) in Massachu- 

 setts. — Through the kindness of Mr. Arthur Smith of Brookline I am 

 enabled to add this species to our list of Massachusetts Birds. On the 18th 

 of November, 1877, he noticed a bird flying about in a small orchard at 

 Chatham (Cape Cod), but was unable to identify it, and failed to procure 

 the specimen. A few days later his friend, Mr. Stephen Decatur, shot a 

 female P. ccerulea in the same locality, which was undoubtedly the same 

 specimen, as Mr. Smith has preserved it and recognizes it as the species 

 seen by himself. 



A few specimens have been taken in Rhode Island, though it is but re- 

 cently that the Gnatcatcher has been recorded as a bird of New England. 

 — Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 



The Capture of several Rare Birds near West Point, New 

 York. — 1. Corvus ossifragus, Wilson. On the 7th of May, 1877, as I 

 was walking up from the river, my attention was attracted to the very 

 singular utterance of a Crow that sat on an oak-tree in front of Mr. Pell's 

 house. Its note was a hollow, guttural croak, quite unlike the cawing of 

 the common species (Corvus americanus). I regarded the bird curiously 

 for several moments, but as I had never before heard the note of the Fish 

 Crow, I passed on, attributing this singular vocal demonstration to some 

 uncommonly strong emotion, — perhaps it was a parent bird whose nest 

 I had spoiled, not far from that place, several days previous. Accepting 



