1 80 General Notes. 



careless hands would become instruments of self-destruction. A long 

 account of the various paraphernalia for blowing and marking eggs is 

 given. To the novice such things mav be amusing, but are sure sources 

 of disaster. A keen eye, accuracy of hand and a mind to govern, not 

 patent scissors and forceps, are the requisites for blowing eggs. 



The list of unknown nests, which does not claim to be free from faults 

 of omission, contains faults of admission, though these are not numerous. 

 Finally, we would heartily indorse all advice for absolute identification of 

 eggs and the avoidance of gummed labels. — J. A. J. 



General Botes. 



\oTE ON MiMUs POLYGLOTTUS. — In the summer of 1S79 I found on 

 the Platte River, about a mile west of Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, in Lat. 

 42° 23' 35" N. and Long. 105° 21' 4" W., a pair of Mocking-birds {Mimtis 

 folyglottus) breeding; the nest was placed in a low cottonwood, very near 

 the river bank. In the following year these birds, undoubtedly the same 

 pair, returned and reared a brood in identically the same place. This time 

 I secured the male bird; and the specimen is now in my private collection. 



In the "Birds of the Colorado Valley" Dr. Coues tells us, when referring 

 to the limits oi^ M/'mus, that "the northermost records generally quoted fix 

 the limit in Massachusetts ; but Dr. Brewer speaks of a single individual 

 seen near Calais, Me., by Mr. George A. Boardman. Another record from 

 an extreme point, given by Dr. P. R. Hoy, is above quoted ; the extension 

 of the bird to Wisconsin, as there indicated, has been commonly over- 

 looked. Other States in which the bird is known to have occurred are 

 New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas. The 

 parallel of 40° N. has been named as its usual or normal limit," 



In view of these facts, and what I have learned from other ornithologists, 

 it seems to me that this case is entitled to record, as another interesting 

 instance, extending the limits of this bird. — R. W. Shufeldt, Wask- 

 ington.. D. C. 



The Nest of the House Wren. — Some writer speaks of tlie well 

 known habit of the House Wren of filling up an\- ca\ily within which it 

 builds its nest with sticks anti rubl)ish, as a "survival" of an oki habit 

 for which there would seem to be no present use. I think I have seen this 

 statement in some of the writings of Dr. Elliott Coues, though I cannot 

 refer to the book or page. Possibly it may have been stated by some one 

 else. But it is a generally recognized fa.ct that if a box holds half a peck 

 the little birds will fill it up full I It seems to me, however, that while this 



