126 General Notes. 



alighting in the midst of Rouseville Village, in Cherry Run, was soon 

 killed by Dave Phillips, the balance flying a little further, alighting 

 in Oil Creek. A general stampede of men and boys now took place, the 

 greater part armed with some weapon of warfare ; but Charley Clark, a 

 noted sportsman and accurate shot, led the van, and was successful in 

 laying over two of the splendid birds, and badly wounded a third, at the 

 first shot. He afterward shot the third and a fourth, and the vociferous 

 crowd returned to town, four men bearing the burdens of the victor's 

 spoils. The larger of the birds shot by Clark was a magnificent creature, 

 measuring fifty-one inches from tip of bill to tail, and eighty-six inches 

 in extent, and weighing over sixteen pounds; it is said the one shot by 

 l^hillips was larger, weighing twenty pounds." 



I think all were Cygnus americanus. I have never heard of C. buccinator 

 being seen in this neighborhood. — George B. Sennett, Meadville, Pa. 



The European Widgeon in the United States. — Although 

 several captures of Mareca penelope have been recorded for the United 

 States, yet I do not think that it has been generally considered as, occur- 

 ring regularly on our coast. In a communication recently received from 

 Mr. George O. Welch, of Lynn, Mass., he writes that in Decembei', 1879, 

 he received a male in perfect plumage, which was shot at Currituck, N. C, 

 and that he receives one or more adult or immature birds from the same 

 locality nearly every winter. He also states that they are well known to 

 the gunners along the coast of Virginia, who suppose them to be a cross 

 between the American Widgeon and Green-winged Teal. — Ruthvkn 

 Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 



On the Moult of the Bill, or Parts of its Covering, in 

 certain AlciD/E. — It is now about two years since attention was first 

 called to the deciduous nature of portions of the bill, and the palpebral 

 ornaments, in the Common Puffin {Fratercula arctica), by Dr. Louis 

 Bureau, in a very interesting paper in the " Bulletin de la Societe Zoolo- 

 gique de France" (1877, pp. 1-21, pU. iv, v), a translation of which, 

 with notes, by Dr. Elliott Coues, was given in this Bulletin for April, 

 1878 (pp. 87-91). Having in mind Dr. Bureau's discovery, together 

 with Dr. Coues's hint that " new incjuiry into the various curious North 

 Pacific species " might " yield up similar secrets," I gave this matter 

 special attention during the past summer, while engaged in a study of 

 the North American Alcidce. The result of my investigations is the con- 

 clusion that a similar change from the breeding to the winter condition 

 exists in the North Pacific species of Fratercula {F. cornicidata), in Lunda 

 cirrhata, Ceratorhina monocerata, the species of Simorhynchus (5. cristatellus 

 and S. pygnueus), and in Ciceronia microceros, but probably not in any 

 other of the North Pacific forms, except, perhaps, Phaleris psittacula and 

 Plychorhamphus aleuticus. In Fratercida corniculata and Lunda cirrhata, 

 the change is very much the same as in F. arctica, only the basal rim of the 

 bill, and the nasal shield or saddle, being cast. In Ceratorhina the nasal 



