58 



General Notes. 



The above described nest and eggs were taken in the locality where Mr. 

 Ridgway found the birds last year (see this Bulletin, Vol. IV ', p. 23S). 

 They are more or less common in all suitable places, probably a dozen 

 pairs breeding in this and the adjoining meadows. 



Since writing the above, two fully fledged young birds have been taken 

 (June 6) in the same place. The birds have been also seen and heard 

 singing at Ball's Cross Roads in Virginia, about two miles nearer the 

 District than the other locality. Besides the characteristic note of tee-wick, 

 they have epiite a song, which may fairlj be represented by the syllables 

 sts-r-r-rit-srit-srit, with the accent on the first and last parts. This song 

 is often uttered while the bird takes a short flight upward : it then drops 

 down again into the tangled weeds and grasses where it is almost impossi- 

 ble to follow it. — Pierre Louis Jouy, Washington, D.C. 



The Lark Finch on Long Island, N. V. — On August 20, 1879, ' 

 took a specimen of Chondestes grammica at Layville, Long Island, the 

 first, I believe, for this State. Strange to say. it was shot in a low. wet 

 salt-meadow. Most of the other eastern specimens have also been taken 

 near the coast. — Chari.es Earle. New Tork City. 



The Golden Eagle in New Brunswick. — When out Snipe shooting 

 October 16 (1880), a big Blue Heron flew up and almost immediately 

 dropped to the ground. Instantly a large bird came like a meteor and 

 struck the Heron with full force and in their excitement I got a line spec- 

 imen of the Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysaetus), a species not often occur- 

 ing with us. — George A. Bovrdman. Milltown, N. />'. 



The Bald Eagle (Haliaetus leucocefhaltis) as a Hunter. — In view 

 of the rather unenviable reputation that the Bald Eagle has obtained at 

 the hands of most of the later ornithological writers.* the following ex- 

 tracts from a letter from Mr. John \Y. Baker of Brooklyn. X. V.. may be 

 of interest. His observations were made during the winter and spring of 

 1S79 at Fruit Cove on the St. John's River, in Florida, fifteen or twenty 

 miles south of Jacksonville. 



"The particular Eagle of which I write (for I am sure it was always the 

 same bird) usually made two trips daily to the river in front of the house 

 where 1 lived, once in the morning, and again towards evening. I think 

 it safe to assert that he did not miss a day during my entire stay of some 

 four or five months, giving me. therefore, ample opportunity of-noting 

 the manner in which he secured his prey. 



•• As soon as he reached the river he invariably alighted on the topmost 

 branch of a tree in the immediate neighborhood of where the largest body 

 of Coots [Fulica americand\ was feeding, where he sat some minutes, 

 apparently resting and preparing himself for battle. At the first sight of 



* See, however, Vol. V, p. 57, of this Bulletin, where its habits at Cobb's Island, Va., 

 as described by Mr. Wm. Brewster, seem to agree very closely with Mr. Baker's ob- 

 servations. 



