General Notes. 121 



similar habits, were once introduced here in numbers, they would soon be- 

 come firmly established as extraneous members of our fauna, with perhaps 

 little less readiness than has been the case with the European Field 

 Sparrow {Pyrgita montana) at St. Louis, Mo. As is well known, two 

 species of African Finches {EMrilda melpoda and Spermestes cucullata) , 

 introduced many years since to the island of Porto Eico, have multi- 

 plied to an excessive degree, while the report comes from New Zealand 

 that quite a large number of British song and game birds, not long since 

 introduced there, are already numerous and well established. The island 

 of Mauritius, and the Sandwich Islands, as well as other places that might 

 be mentioned, afford a similar record. 



There seems to be one other noteworthy point in connection with the 

 capture in this country of foreign species in an apparently wild state ; 

 namely, that a little caution should be exercised in respect to the nature 

 of their occurrence, lest escaped cage-birds be entered on our lists as legiti- 

 mate additions to our avian fauna. — J. A. Allen, Cambridge, Mass. 



The Ipswich Sparrow {Passercuhis princeps) at New Haven, 

 Conn. — I secured a fine male specimen of this species, November 22, 

 1879, while collecting along the shore at " South End," near New Haven. 

 Two specimens were seen, but the other, probably its mate, escaped cap- 

 ture. The only other specimen of this bird that kas been taken in this 

 State, so far as I am aware, was taken by Mr. Merriam, at nearly the 

 same place, and recorded by him in the Bulletin, Vol. I, p. 52. — Geokge 

 WoOLSEY, Neiv Haven, Conn. 



Breeding of the Snowbird (Junco hyemalis) in the Mountains of 

 Pennsylvania. — About the middle of August last, while spending a 

 short time at Ralston, Lycoming County, Pa., in the spurs of the Alle- 

 ghanies, I found the common Snowb'rd (J. hiiemalis) very abundant. 

 Both adult birds and the young of the year were noticed, thus verifying the 

 fact, already well established, of the Snowbird's breeding among the moun- 

 tains of Northern Pennsylvania. — Spencer Trotter, Philadelphia, Pa. 



The Flammulated Owl (Scops flammeoki) in Colorado. — The 

 following well-authenticated note, which appeared anonymously in the 

 " Colorado Springs Gazette " of September 3, 1879, seems well worthy of 

 a place in the Bulletin : — 



" A gentleman who has been summering in Colorado, and who returned 

 to Colorado Springs a few days ago from a trip South, brought with him 

 a specimen of the Scops ftainmeola, or Flammulated Owl, which Mr. C. E. 

 Aiken has mounted. This is a rare specimen, being the fourth that was 

 ever taken in the United States. It was shot during the third week in 

 August, 1879, near Mosca Pass, Colorado. It is regarded as one of the 

 rarest of North American Owls, dispersed more generally, however, 

 throughout Mexico and Central America. It has been obtained in the 



