General Notes. 239 



Sclater, in his " Note on the Sixteen Species of Texan Birds named by- 

 Mr. Giraud of New York, in 1841 " (P. Z. S., XXIII, 1855, pp. 65, 66), 

 decides that the bird should be called Basileuterus hrasieri. The specific 

 name, however, needs correction. Mr. Giraud named his bird in honor 

 of my ever-regretted friend, Mr. Philip Brasher, of Brooklyn. Through 

 some unaccountable mistake Mr. Giraud quoted the name as Philip Brasier. 

 That it was an unintentional error may be seen by referring to Giraud's 

 " Birds of Long Island," where the name frequently occurs, and is cor- 

 rectly spelled. The name of the species in question should therefore be 

 written Basileuterus brasheri. I wish to make the correction in order that 

 the bird may correctly perpetuate the name of my honored friend. — 

 DeL. Berier, Fort Hamilton, N. Y. 



Additional Notes concerning the Black-capped Vireo in 

 Texas. — On June 16, 1880, on one of the highest peaks of the bluffs of 

 Red River, near Warren's Bend, in Cook County, I heard the song of a 

 strange bird to me, which I recognized at once, however, as that of some 

 Vireo. After following one of the birds for an hour through tangled vines 

 and underbrush on a steep hillside, I finally killed it, and found it to be 

 the Black-capped Vireo ( Vireo atricapillus). I thus had the pleasure of 

 adding this rare bird to my Cook County list, although I had previously 

 surmised its presence here (see this Bulletin, Vol. IV, p. 58). During the 

 16th and 17th I shot twelve specimens, eleven of which were preserved, — 

 six males, three females, and two young just from the nest. While the 

 females are all identical, and have the head grayish, the males range from 

 jet-black on the head to a little darker than the females, although they are 

 all full-grown or second-year birds, as shown by their song and by dissec- 

 tion. 1 find a faint buffy tinge on the throat and breast of the females, 

 ■while the males are all pure white on these parts. I further noticed a 

 considerable variation in the length of the bill. The young are olive- 

 green and yellowish, with the head ashy or grayish. I think my success 

 in securing so many specimens due to the fact that the parents would not 

 leave the young. — George II. Ragsdale, Gainesville, Texas. 



The Philadelphia Vireo IN Eastern New York. — On May 15, 

 1879, I took, near Troy, N. Y., a male and a female Brotherly-love Vireo 

 (Vireo philadelphicus), in a briery, bushy thicket, where Yellow-breasted 

 Chats commonly breed. — Austin F. Park, Troy, N. Y. 



Unusual Nesting Site of the Snowbird. — In the town of Otis, 

 Berkshii'e County, Massachusetts, while rummaging on August 10, 1874, 

 through an old barn from which a part of the roof had recently been blown, 

 my attention was attracted by the chirping of a female Junco hjemalis. 

 After watching her I found she had a nest in which were three or four 

 young birds, but a few days old. The nest was placed on the edge of a 

 scaffold under some hay which projected several inches beyond the cavity 

 where the nest was placed. No extra material was used in making the 



