236 General Notes. 



typical species being described with elaborate detail, and figured in the 

 most perfect manner. 



The concluding chapter sets fully forth the important conclusions de- 

 ducible from the study of such ample material. The Appendix presents a 

 synopsis of the nine genera and twenty species of American Cretaceous 

 Birds. 



The thirty-four plates, with their accompanying explanatory sheets, 

 were printed in 1877 and early in 1878 ; the printing of the text was com- 

 pleted the year following, and early in 1880. — E. C. 



Cory's " Beautiful and Curious Birds of the World." * — We 

 have before us advance sheets of Part I of a work, announced to be 

 completed in twelve parts, to be devoted to such types of bird life as are 

 remarkable or interesting, either for brilliancy of plumage, peculiarities of 

 structure, etc., as the Birds of Paradise, Hummingbirds, the Dodo, 

 Apteryx, Great Auk, Labrador Duck, Lyre Bird, etc. Part I includes 

 the Dodo (DU/us ineptus) and Rifle Bird (PlUnris paradiseus). The size 

 of the work is 22 x 28 inches ; the parts will appear about once in three 

 months, and the edition will be limited to two hundred copies. The plates 

 are to be by the best artists, and colored by hand. Judged by the part 

 before us, no pains wiU'be spared to render the work, not only technically 

 accurate, but artistic. — J. A. A. 



A New Bird (Polioptila ccerulea) for Maine. — Two summers ago, 

 while I was sitting on the piazza of my father's house on Cape Elizabeth, 

 a little bluish bird suddenly showed himself in a thicket of alder, cedar, 

 and wild-cherry bushes, not twenty feet distant. Had I been a few de- 

 grees farther south, I should have let him go, unchallenged, as a PoUoptila 

 ccerulea. As it was, I could hardly believe my involuntary assumption 

 that he was of this species, and at once had recourse to my gun. I have 

 never quite convinced myself how it was that my usually trusty weapon 

 so utterly annihilated the little stranger. A few pale blue feathers were 

 all that I secured of my specimen, and to this day I have been doubtful 

 whether I might not have killed an example of Panda americana. 



I have now, howevei-, no doubt that my original identification was the 

 correct one. Not twenty minutes ago, (August 29, 1880,) in the very 



* Beautiful and Curious Birds of the World. By Charles B. Corj^ Pub- 

 lished by the Author. Part I, 1880. Elephant-folio. Two Plates, with text. 



