148 General Notes. 



not have been made. My point of interest was the locality, the number 

 seen was to me of no moment. Remembering that he had spoken of the 

 " bird " in the singular number, I had a mistaken impression that he had 

 seen but one. Certainly the readers of the Bulletin have no occasion to 

 regret my careless mistake, since it has been the means of eliciting an in- 

 teresting and more full account of the occurrence of this? species in a before 

 unknown and unusual locality. 



My statement that not a specimen of the Micropalavm was then known 

 to have been taken along the entire coast of Maine may have been " sweep- 

 ing." It was so intended to be. At the time it was made it was literally 

 and exactly true. Of the occasional and irregular occurrence of this bird 

 in the vicinity of Portland I am well aware (see Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., Oct. 3, 1877). Its presence at a single point on the western portion 

 of the coast of Maine, so long as all the rest of the coast is destitute, does 

 not prove either that it is regular in its migrations, or that these extend 

 along the whole New England coast. — T. M. Brewer, Boston, Mass. 



The Stilt Sandpiper (Micropalama himantopus). — In a late paper 

 read before the Linnean Society of New York, Mr. N. T. Lawrence speaks 

 of this species as being common on the south side of Long Island (N. Y.). 

 He has quite often, while Bay-Snipe shooting, had parties of from three to 

 five, and very frequently a single bird or a pair, come to his decoys. And, 

 of the four specimens in his collection, two, in adult breeding plumage, 

 were taken in July, the others, in fall plumage, in September. This note 

 is interesting as presenting different conditions from any recorded in New 

 England. But one occurrence of this species is known in July, and that 

 in the last part of the month and fifteen miles from the sea. Mr. Geo. N. 

 Lawrence writes me, in reference to this same species, that he lived at Rock- 

 away for five summers, and on one occasion, when he was there, there was 

 a flight of this species and Gamhetta Jlavipes, the latter the most abundant, 

 and of the two species there were killed over one hundred and twenty 

 individuals. He remembers killing six of M. himantopus at one shot. 

 He never saw so many together as on that day, but all through the season 

 scattering ones were shot; — T. M. Brewer, Boston, Mass. 



Occurrence of three Species of Sea-Ducks at St. Louis, Mis- 

 souri. — Mr. Julius Hurtur, of St. Louis, Mo., informs me in a recent 

 letter that he has taken the following-named species of " maritime " 

 Ducks in the neighborhood of that city. They were captured in the so- 

 called " American Bottom," on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. 

 The record is of special interest as indicating how widely'- these birds wan- 

 der beyond their supposed usual range. 



1. didemia americana, Swain. American Black Scoter. " A sin- 

 gle immature bird, shot November 24, 1875." 



2. CBdemia fusca, Swain. Velvet Scoter. " Two specimens, both 

 immature, taken November 24, 1877." 



