242 General Notes. 



As I approached the spot I saw a bird dart out from the moss and 

 fly swiftly away. I noticed a rather inconspicuous hole in the moss, 

 and looking in saw the eggs. Recognizing them by their resemblance to 

 the other set, I retired a short distance and waited for the bird to come 

 back. She returned in a few moments, and was soon joined by her mate, 

 who, however, was disposed to remain rather more in the background. 

 The female remained near the nest until I shot her, occasionally uttering 

 her characteristic note of alarm, but without showing much anxiety. 



The nest, which is very bulky for the size of the bird, is a compact mass 

 of the soft green moss that is so abundant in such places, with a few bits 

 of arbor-vitse and one or two sticks. It is thinly lined with slender stalks 

 of grass and a few very fine roots. Its external diameter is four and a 

 quarter inches, its depth four inches ; internally its diameter is two inches, 

 its depth an inch and a half. The eggs, four in number, are white with a 

 faint creamy tinge, and are marked, chiefly about the larger end, with 

 spots and blotches of two shades of light reddish-brown, together with a 

 few rather inconspicuous spots of lavender. Three of them have a few 

 fine specks of black over the other markings. They measure .70X.54, 

 .67 X .54, .67 X .53, .67 X .51. The eggs appeared to have been incubated 

 for only a day or two. 



The nests and eggs that have been found in the past two seasons agree 

 so closely in all respects as to render it probable, to say the least, that 

 future sets will not vary much from them. Their number now seems suf- 

 ficient to make one hesitate about admitting the identity of supposed nests 

 of this species that differ widely from them in situation, structure, and in 

 the appearance of the eggs. — Charles F. Batchelder, Cambridge., 

 Mass. 



A Correction. — I beg to apologize for a singular blunder recently 

 made in proposing to substitute the name Buteo aquilinus (Barton) for B. 

 borealis (Gm.). I have "always" known, of course, that Falco horealis, 

 Gm., 1 788, was the name of the bird ; but during a momentary lapse of 

 memory I attributed the specific term to Vieillot, and so gave priority 

 wrongly to Barton. (See Birds Col. Val., I, 1878, p. 573, and Bull. Nutt. 

 Club, IV, 1879, p. 84, foot-note. Also compare Proc. Phila. Acad. 1875, 

 p. 344, foot-note.) — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



Wilson's Plover on Long Island, N. Y. — On May 28, 1879, 

 at Good Ground, Suffolk Co., Long Island (Shinnecock Bay), I shot a 

 female Wilson's Plover, .^gialitis wilsonia. It was identified and mounted 

 by Mr. James Bell, who reported it very rare. He said it was about six 

 years since one had been recorded as far north as Long Island. This 

 specimen was in very poor flesh. — Wm. Dutcher, New Yorh City. 



The Black Skimmer (Rhijnchops nigra) in New England. — The 

 only record of this species occurring in New England was given by Lins- 



