General Notes. 11^ 



'•About the first week in May. 1S76. a pair of Chats [fcteria vtrens] 

 began building in a Wren box attached to one of the pillars of the south 

 piazza which partly fronts towards a small rayine. They seemed to be 

 very little disturbed by the occasional presence of members of the family, 

 but appeared to be considerably annoyed by the belligerent attentions of 

 a pair of Wrens {Troglodytes aedon) yvho had taken up their quarters in 

 another box on an adjacent pillar, and who were inclined to be very quar- 

 relsome with their strange neighbors. 



" They — the Chats — had been at work nearly a week, when a violent 

 wind-storm blew the box down and thus rudely upset their domestic plans. 

 The box was replaced in hopes that they would try it again, but their per- 

 severance was not equal to the occasion, and they never returned. In view 

 of the generally shy and secretive nature of the Chat, this incident of 

 abnormal nidification seems rather curious." — Charles F. Batchelder, 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



Song of the White-bellied Swallow {Iridoprocne bicolor). — I 

 have seen no account of the song of this species, nor, indeed, was I aware 

 of its musical powers until the past summer. May 24. at an elevation of 

 8000 feet, I found a little colony just beginning house-keeping in a cotton- 

 wood grove on an island in the San Antonio River. Colorado. When at 

 rest they uttered a peculiar chirrupy warble, bearing resemblance to a 

 Sparrow's song in some respects, and strikingly like a Robin's in some of 

 the half whistles. 



The species breeds as high as 10.000 feet. and. I believe, always in trees. 

 — F. M. Drew, Hoivardsville, Colorado. 



The White-bellied Swallow- (Tachycineta bicolor) on the New 

 Jersey Coast in November. — Mr. Gerard R. Hardenbergh of New 

 Brunswick, New Jersey, tells me of the great abundance of the White- 

 bellied Swallow at Square Beach. New Jersey, on November 16, 1880. 

 The Swallows had been abundant for the previous two days, though the 

 temperature was unusually low for the time of year. They were feeding 

 on the bavberrv (Myrica cerifcra) in such numbers that Mr. Hardenbergh 

 secured fifteen birds at a single shot. The birds were brought to me, 

 and at least three quarters are in immature plumage. — \V. E. D. Scott, 

 Princeton. JVczv Jersey. 



A New Bird {Plectrophancs Rictus) for South Carolina. — In the 

 town of Chester. S. C while walking, on December 1. 1S80. through a 

 stubble field overgrown with short grass, my attention was arrested by the 

 undulating flight and peculiar chirping notes of a small bird, some thirty 

 or forty feet in the air. flying towards me. When within about twenty 

 yards of the place where I stood, it suddenly darted to the ground ; and, 

 when approached, ran nimbly off through the grass, stopping occasionally 

 to watch my movements, and, finally, when too closely pressed took wing, 

 continuing its flight, only, however, for a few yards. After being flushed 

 several times, and apparently growing less shy, it allowed me to advance 



