188 General Notes. 



3. Picus pubescens, Linn. Downy AVooupf.cker. — During the 

 winter of 1878-79 the Downy Woodpecker was several times seen in the 

 sheltered timber in the vicinity of the post, and a few specimens were 

 secured. Not observed during previous winters. 



4. Ceryle alcyon, Boie. Belted Kixgfishkr. — On April 14 and 

 16, 1879, I saw a pair of Belted Kingfishers hovering over one of the 

 lakes near the post in search of food, the first observation of this bird 

 here. — Charles E. McChksnky, Fort Sisselon, D. T. 



Capture of a Third Spkcimen of the Flammulated Owl {Scops 

 Jiammeoki) IN the United States, and first Discovery of its 

 Nest. — This rare Owl was first added to our fauna by Captain John 

 Feilner, who obtained a specimen at Fort Crook, Cal., August 23, I860.* 

 A second specimen was collected by Dr. C. C. Newberry, thirty miles 

 south of Camp Apache, Arizona, September 11, 1873.f 



I am indebted to jNIr. Charles G. Brewster of Boston for the opportu- 

 nity to examine a third specimen, which he recently received from Mr. 

 Charles E. Aiken, who obtnined it in Fremont County, Col., June 15, 

 1875. The bird, an adult female, was taken from its nest, which was 

 in a dead pine-tree and contained one egg. The egg is now in possession 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, and Mr. H. W. Henshaw has kindly sent 

 me the following description : In color and shape it resentbles those of 

 other species of its genus, and measures 1.12 X .95. — Ruthven Deane, 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



MacFarlane's Gkrfai.con (Falco (jyrfalco sacer) in Maine. — 

 Visiting Providence, R. I., in April last, my friend Mr. Frederick T. 

 Jencks mentioned that there was a specimen of some form of Gei-falcon 

 in the Museum of Brown University in that city. I soon had the satisfac- 

 tion of gazing at the bird. It was labelled " var. sacer" and I think correctly 

 so, for it certainly is not candicans nor luhradora,% and is darker than any 

 examples or plates of Man.du< that I have examined. Corresponding with 



* Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. Hist. N. Am. Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 58, 

 1874. 



t Re{)ort upon the Ornithological Collections made during the Yeai's 1871, 

 1872, 1873, and 1874. By H. W. Henshaw. Chapter III, Vol. V, of the Re- 

 jiorts of the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys west of the 

 One Hundredth Meridian, in Charge of Lt. George M. Wheeler, p. 406, 1875. 



X Mr. Kidgwaj', with whom I liave lately had interesting correspondence on 

 the Gerfalcon group, writes me that he agrees with Mr. J. H. Gurney (see 

 Hiis, 1876, p. 234), that Falco obsolcius of Gmelin, based on Pennant's " Plain 

 Falcon," belongs to some race of Gerfalcon, but he believes that it should be 

 assigned to the now better known dark Labrador bird, rather than to any i)lu- 

 mage of islandus or gyrftdco ; also that it cannot relate to Butco swainsoui, as 

 associated by R. B. Sharpe. Mr. Ridgway still holds that sacer can be varie- 

 tally separated from F. (/yr/alco of Northern Europe and Asia, iu contradis- 

 tinction to the later views held by English writers. 



