1 86 General Notes. 



Early Arrival in New England of the Least Bittern. — On 

 March i of the present year while at Providence, Rhode Tsland, I saw a 

 freshly-killed Least Bittern at the natural history store of Messrs. South- 

 wick and Jencks. It was brought in by a boy who said that he shot it on 

 the shore of the bay near the city. It was an adult male, thin in flesh 

 even for the shadowy pattern of its race, but in very perfect plumage. — 

 William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



The Least Bittern in Northwestern Minnesota. — It is said in 

 Dr. Coues's ' ; Birds of the Northwest" that the Least Bittern {Ardrtta 

 exilis) "does not appear to be anywhere abundant." In this vicinity is 

 a small lake or pond, covering thirty or forty acres, whose very reedy 

 shores furnished last summer nesting room for eighteen or twenty pairs 

 of these birds. The other ponds near here, some dozen in number, each 

 had their complement. So that I think I am fairly entitled to regard it as 

 abundant. The nests were all placed on floating bog, a few feet from open 

 water, and the eggs average larger than the measurements given in the 

 above-mentioned work, specimens 1.30 inches by 1.00 inch being not 

 uncommon. The habits of this bird have been compared to those of the 

 Rails, but to my mind it more frequently calls up the Marsh Wren. As 

 it laboriously fixes itself on the stem of a long reed, one foot above the 

 other, in the position taken with such airy lightness by the Wren, one is 

 reminded of the lapdog and the donkey. It climbs awkwardly and with 

 much effort, foot over foot, up two neighboring reeds, until at a convenient 

 height, it stands with legs wide apart, or, after a squawk or two, launches 

 into the air. My first acquaintance with the bird was at Ripon, Wise, 

 where it was rare and shy. Here, on the contrary, it is quite tame. It 

 arrived this year May 10, making the eights-sixth on my list of spring 

 arrivals. — W. W. Cooke. White Earth. Minn. 



Occurrence of the Purple and Florida Gallinules near St. 

 John, New Brunswick. — M. Chamberlain, Esq., of St. John, New- 

 Brunswick, has very kindly furnished me with the following notes for 

 publication in the Bulletin. 



On April 6, 1S81, a Purple Gallinule {Porphyria martinica) was shot at 

 Irishtown. a few miles west of St. John. It was taken in a meadow a 

 short distance from the shore of the Bay of Fundy. A Florida Gallinule 

 {Gallinula galeata) was also captured by Henry Ketchum, Esq., at Dick's 

 Lake, in September, 1SS0. 



There is a record {Jones, Am. Nat., IV, 253) of the occurrence of the 

 Purple Gallinule at Halifax, Nova Scotia. January 30, 1870, but I cannot 

 learn that the Florida Gallinule has previously been detected so far to the 

 eastward as St. John. — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



The Yellow Rail {Porzana noveboracensis) in Massachusetts. — 

 Mr. Charles I. Goodale. the Boston taxidermist, tells me that he once 

 found Yellow Rails actually abundant at Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 



