Fragments of Natural History. 21 
An hyperborean phalarope, (Phalaropus hyperboreus,) was shot 
on Lake Erie, near the pier of Cleveland harbor, last November, 
by a young man in my employment, while pursuing a wounded 
gull. 
‘The phalarope was a young bird in its winter plumage. It is 
preserved in my cabinet. 
Little could be learned of its habits. It was a solitary indi- 
vidual, and when first discovered was resting on the water, where 
it seemed to be as much at home as any of the gulls with which 
it was associating. ! 
The yellow throated gray warbler, (Sylvia pensilis,) must be 
considered not a rare annual visitor, even to the northern parts of 
Ohio, though Mr. Audubon informs his readers that “ they con- 
fine themselves to the southern states, seldom moving farther 
towards the middle district than North Carolina,” and “do not 
ascend the Mississippi further than the Walnut Hills,” and Mr. 
Nuttall says, that they “very rarely venture as far north as Penn- 
sylvania.” I have in my possession a specimen that I shot on 
the banks of the Mahoning river, in Trumbull county, on the 
5th of May, 1839 ; and during the last week of April of the pre- 
Sent year, I killed three near the Cuyahoga river, three miles 
from Lake Erie. Early in July I also saw an old one feeding 
her young on the banks of the Mahoning. (They were two 
thirds of their full size, and were perched on a small bush over 
the water. A full grown individual was seen on the first of Au- 
gust on the shore of the Lake within the limits of this city. 
In every instance in which I have met with them, they seem- 
ed to havea strong predilection to the vicinity of water, and were 
generally engaged in capturing insects. ; 
The Sylvia rara is common in the woods about the banks of 
the Cuyahoga during the spring and summer. Its habits are ac- 
curately described by Mr. Audubon. 
The same locality is a favorite resort and breeding place for 
the purple breasted grossbeak, (E'ringilla Ludoviciana.) 
A flock of unusual birds, which I suppose to be erm 
Wrens, (Sylvia trochilus,) was discovered in September, 1839, o 
