General Notes. 253 



unhear4 of numbers, stopping awhile to feed, and then hurrying on. The 

 next morning the host was even greater, and the trees fairly swarmed 

 with Warblers. Before noon of that day most of the birds had passed on, 

 but for a day or two afterward the number of loiterers was sufficient to 

 be noticeable, compared with ordinary migrations, though they seemed 

 but a few stragglers after the army that had swept over the country 

 during the previous days. Almost all the species of Warblers that occur 

 in the spring migration through New England were observed. Among 

 the rarer ones were Helmiiithophila pcregrina^ Dcndrceca tigri)ia, D. 

 castanea, and Geothlyfis Philadelphia. A White-crowned Sparrow w-as 

 also shot in Cambridge. 



Dr. Coues suggests that the cold wave spoken of by Mr. King* w-as the 

 cause of this accumulation of birds. Such could hardly have been the 

 case, as that occurred on the 21st and 22d, whereas by that lime the accu- 

 mulated hosts had reached Massachusetts. 



It would be interesting to hear further of the course and magnitude of 

 this "bird wave" as observed at other points. — Charles F. Batchelder, 

 Cambridge, 3fass. 



Birds new to or rare in the District of Columbia. 



1. Bewick's Wren {Thryomanes be-ivicki). An adult J, taken at 

 Arlington. Virginia (immediately opposite Washington), April 10, 1SS2, 

 by W. Palmer, is in the collection of the U. S. National Museum (No. 

 86,2x8). • 



2. Yellow-throated Warbler {^Dendroeca dominica). The Na- 

 tional Museum also possesses a fine young $ of this species, taken at 

 Arlington by Mr. Palmer, September 7th, 1881 (No. 84,858). 



3. Loggerhead Shrike {Lani/is ludovicianus). Several specimens 

 of this irregularly distributed, and everywhere more or less local, species, 

 have within the last few years been taken in the vicinity of Washington, 

 and are now in the collection of the National Museum. Most if not all 

 of them were obtained in winter. 



4. Sharp-tailed Finch {Ammodromus caudacutns). In the mounted 

 collection of the National Museum there is a fine adult of this species 

 labeled, "Washington City, September, 1862; C Drexler." (Nat. Mus. 

 CataU No. 25,905.) — Robert Ridgway, Washington, D. C. 



Notes on some Birds and Eggs from the Magdalen Islands, 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. — The following notes, made by Mr. M. A. 

 Frazar during a collecting trip to the Magdalen Islands in June and July, 

 1882, seem of sufficient importance to merit publication, although many of 

 them are not absolutely new. Some of the points which they cover, how- 

 ever, have been previously involved in more or less obscurity, while the 

 others will be none the worse for fresh data. The specimens described, 

 and most of those mentioned, are now in the writer's collection, and the 

 descriptions are on his authority. 



I. Dendroeca striata. Black-poll Warbler.— A set of three fresh 

 eggs, identified by the capture of the female parent, was taken June 33. 



* This Bulletin, Vol. VII, p. 185. 



