889.]. * General Notes. 45 
returning migrants. By midday the wind had subsided and the rain had 
become a mere drizzle. Shortly after 1 p.m. [ventured out, directing my 
steps to the nearest woods. But few birds were found, and I continued 
my search until I came to an extended body of scrubby black-jacks, pines, 
and red cedars about a mile and a half from home. Here I discovered a 
small gathering of Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Ruby-crowned 
Kinglets, and several species of Warblers. I drove the gathering about 
through the low growth, shooting the birds that were not instantly recog- 
ognized, until [reached an edge bordering on an old-field where I noticed 
a small bird fly into a low cedar. It was promptly shot. A glance was 
sufficient to reveal the fact that it was wholly new to me. I saw that it 
was a Warbler and a Dendroica. I began to revolve in mind the distinc- 
tive characters of each member of the genus until I had eliminated all 
save one —the one I had suspected it to be, for I had in memory Mr. 
Maynard’s illustration of the female Kirtland’s Warbler (‘The Birds of 
Eastern North America,’ pI. xvii). I hastened home to my library, and 
found that I had worked it out truly and that I had indeed ‘‘the rarest 
of all the Warblers” inhabiting the United States. 
This, if I have read the records aright, is the third instance of Den- 
droica kirtland? having been taken in the Atlantic States, and the second 
of its capture in South Carolina.—LEVERETT M. Loomis, Chester, S. C. 
A Peculiar Nest of Cinclus mexicanus.—In an exceedingly interesting 
collection of nests and eggs recently received from Mr. Denis Gale, of 
Gold Hill, Colorado, a gift to the National Museum at Washington, D. C., 
an interesting Water Ouzel’s nest, deserves mention. 
Usually the Ouzel’s nest is a domed, oven-shaped structure, ten to 
twelve inches through at its base, and from seven to eight inches high. 
The nest now before me, No. 23,685, Nat. Mus. Collection, taken in 
Boulder Co., Colorado, May 31, 1888, and containing three fresh eggs at 
the. time, was placed against one of the stringers, and close up to, and 
under the plank platform of a bridge, which saved the birds the trouble of 
doming it, in fact there was no room to do so. A full view of the interior 
can be had. The front face of this nest is five and a half inches high, by 
eight and a half inches wide. The depth of the nest gradually diminishes 
so that the rear of it is barely two inches high by eight inches wide. A 
side view of the structure gives it almost a triangular appearance. Out- 
wardly the nest is principally composed of decayed plant fibres and 
lichens (Hypzum sp.?) used in a wet condition, and considerable sandy 
clay is mixed in amongst the outer portions of the structure which is 
covered all around with this material excepting at the entrance. This is 
near the top of the nest, four inches from the base, in the centre of the 
structure, and is two and one-half inches wide and one and a half inches 
high. The inner lining ofthe nest is composed of pine needles and stalks 
- of grasses, amongst which that of the timothy grass (Phleum pratense) is 
plainly distinguishable. The inner cavity of the nest is three and a 
quarter inches wide by two and one-half inches deep, circular, and com- 
pactly built—Cuas. E. BenpirRE, Washington, D. C. 
