190 General Notes. 



bird: — Rump, upper and under tail-coverts, and outer tail-feathers, 

 white, very indistinctly marked with irregularly-transverse bars of pale 

 grayish-brown ; breast and abdomen very faintly washed Avith the same ; 

 residue of plumage, including back, and dorsal surface of wings, entirely 

 pure white ; shafts of quills, straw-yellow. Irides, white. Bill, flesh-col- 

 ored on basal half, succeeded by a wide band of blue-black, with extreme 

 tip whitish. Legs and feet flesh-colored ; nails black, tipped with horn- 

 color. Dimensions: Length, 29.00 inches; extent of wings, 6 7.00; wino- 

 from carpal joint, 18.00; tail, 7.55; bill along culmen, 2.50; gape, 3.70; 

 depth opposite nostrils, .82 ; tarsus, 2.88 ; middle toe and claw, 2.90 ; toe 

 alone, 2.45 ; claw, .55. — Edgar A. Mearns, Highland Falls, N. Y. 



Occurrence of the Gannet (Sula bassana) in Northern New 

 York. — On the 10th of last December a strange bird was seen swim- 

 ming in the Grasse River at Canton, New York, about eighteen miles 

 from the St. Lawrence River. It was apparently in an exhausted con- 

 dition. It remained in the vicinity, and was soon caught alive by a person 

 who sold it to my brother, J. C. Lee. By him it was identified as the 

 Common Gannet (Sula bassana). It was very weak and unable to fly, 

 but would walk across the floor, and occasionally stretch and flap its 

 wings. It was evidently suffering from hunger, but it refused to eat any- 

 thing placed before it, fish being unobtainable. It died during the follow- 

 ing night. It was a male, and not more than two or three years old, 

 according to DeKay's description. The measurements almost exactly 

 coincided with those given by DeKay. 



The occurrence of this sea-bird in a region so far from the ocean is 

 remarkable, but he evidently followed up the course of the St. Lawrence 

 River from the Gulf and the breeding places of the species in Labrador. 

 — Leslie A. Lee, Brunswick, Me. 



Capture of Leach's Petrel 160 miles from the Sea. — In 

 October, 1879, a Leach's Petrel (Cymochorea leucorrhoa) was shot in the 

 Hudson River, about six miles north of Troy, by AVilliam Clark, of 

 Waterford. The bird was mounted by William Gibson, of Lansingburg, 

 and is in his collection. — Austin F. Park, Troy, N. Y. 



The Winter Change of Plumage of the Bl.4Ck Guillemot. — 

 Years ago, when I spent my winters North, I had si^ecimens of the Black 

 Guillemot (Uria fjrylle) sent me in midwinter in full dark summer 

 plumage. I was inclined to think some did not change into light plumage, 

 but from specimens sent me this winter I find that the change is very 

 early, and some are in full summer plumage by the 1st of February. One 

 specimen, shot the first week in February, had but few light feathers. 

 This winter change appears different from the fall moult, when the bird loses 

 all his pinion-feathers, so that it cannot fly, since in winter the feathers 

 appear to change from white to black without much of a moult. — George 

 A. Boardman, Milltown, N. B. 



