72 General Notes. [ January 
to suggest that this form might prove to be a regular if rare migrant 
through the eastern portions of our State. Some added probability is 
given this surmise by the fact that I have just taken two more perfectly 
typical examples of Arazicola at Great Island near Hyannis, Mass., Dec. 
15, 1888. Both are males, one an old, the other a young bird. They 
were in flocks of O. alpestrzs which very possibly contained still other 
specimens of praticola, but I had neither time nor inclination to settle 
this point definitely by shooting a large number of birds, the only possi- 
sible way, for the two forms could not be distinguished when living. As 
it was I killed twenty-three alfestrzs to get the two pratzcola, but none of 
the former were wasted.— WILLIAM BREWSTER, Cambridge, Mass. 
Molothrus ater in Massachusetts in December.—On Dec. 8, 1888, I 
shot two female Cowbirds in Belmont, Mass. For records of this bird in 
Massachusetts in January, see ‘The Auk,’ Vol.V, 1888, p. 207.—WALTER 
Faxon, Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, Mass. 
The Cowbird (Molothrus afer) as a Fly-destroyer. — On the 20th of 
October my little son shot a male Cowbird, winging it slightly; the 
bird was exceedingly active and fought most vigorously when taken in 
the hand, pecking savagely, but the moment it was placed on the floor, or 
on a table, it quieted down, and would step promptly and fearlessly up to 
an extended hand. and if a fly were presented, pick it off and stand patient- 
ly to wait for more. It caught flies with unerring snaps of its beak, as 
they flew around its head, buzzed against the window panes, or rested on 
the floor or table top; it drank freely of water, and delighted in picking up 
fine grains of earth and sand between its meals of flies. My children 
began to feed it promiscuously, butit refused everything except flies. They 
took it from room to room, when it was turned loose, and at once began 
its incessant war upon flies, soon catching every one that was not roosting 
on the ceiling. Finally after six or seven days of this captivity the supply 
of live flies gave out, and the bird was taken into the summer kitchen 
where these insects were in the greatest abundance and where large 
numbers were dead, having been whipped by the servants and the chil- 
dren; the Cowbird ate very heartily of these dead flies, and the next 
morning was found dead in its cage, in which it had been regularly shut 
up and covered every night. 
It became fearless, and was easily taken up in the hand, after it had 
been in the children’s hands about a day; it would stand facing them on 
a table top, and take flies from their hands as rapidly as they could be 
passed over.—HeEeNrRy W. ELLiott, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 
DG: 
Notes upon the Sudden Appearance in Numbers of the Evening Gros- 
beak at Fort Wingate, New Mexico.—For four years and more (1884-1888) 
I have made constant and careful observations during all seasons upon 
the birds that are to be found in the country about Fort Wingate, New 
