224 General Notes. ree 
of which Polzoptila Scl., 1855, thus becomes a synonym. A pretty kettle 
of fish this, for a reductio ad absurdum! 
Sylvania must be dropped, and our choice of a name for the genus lies 
between Welsonza Bp., 1838, and Myzodzoctes Aud., 1839. Use of Welsonia 
in botany does not debar it in zodlogy, and if it is not otherwise preoc- 
cupied it must stand. Soon after its rejection by Baird in 1858 on the 
ground of botanical preoccupation, it was used by Dr. Allen, in Proc. 
Essex Inst., IV, 1864, p. 64, and in various other places in succeeding years. 
I brought it pointedly to the front in Bull. Nutt. Club, ¥, 1880, p. 95 ; and 
the same thing was done over again, without any reference to these earlier 
usages, by Dr. Stejneger, Auk, July, 1884, p. 230.—ELLIoTT CovuEs, 
Washington, D. C. 
The Carolina Wren (Tkhryothorus ludovictanus) at Inwood-on-Hudson, 
New York City. — Visiting my summer home at Inwood-on-Hudson, 
March 28, 1896, I heard a loud and beautiful song coming from the top 
of a dead elm tree. The bird sang almost continually until my efforts to 
get a good view of him frightened him away. After sitting fifteen min- 
utes on a rock near where the bird had appeared to alight, and waiting for 
the song, he broke out again, and I discovered him perching on a low 
tree not twenty-five feet distant. 
It was a new species to me, but it seemed to me it must be the Carolina 
Wren, and on studying up the bird carefully, in all my books at home, 
I felt quite sure the identification was correct. I heard him again on April 
tand 22. May 14 we went to Inwood for the summer, but only heard the 
Wren sing four times, until May 22. Then I had a fine view of one near 
some dilapidated buildings around an unoccupied house. Four days later 
loud and continued singing attracted me to a heap of dry brush near 
these buildings, and there I found the parents and five little Carolina 
Wrens. The young were able to fly nicely, and they gave a musical call, 
much like that of the old birds, and scolded beautifully. 
After that, they were seen frequently, and I heard the beautiful song at 
all hours of the day, up to Noy. 12, when we moved to town. Going to 
Inwood on Jan. 18, 1897, I heard the full song again, so it would appear 
that they wintered there. 
The old birds were quite tame, lighting and singing in shrubbery 
close to the house, and twice one was seen on the piazza, examining 
plants in pots, and even drinking from the saucer of a flower-pot. —F. 
H. Foorre, Mew York City. 
The Mockingbird at Portland, Maine, in Winter. — On January 19, 
1897, at noon, a Mockingbird (Mimus folyglottos) appeared in a gutter 
which runs beneath the south window of my study. The thermometer 
was below zero, and there was no snow, but an unclouded sun had 
softened the ice in the gutter so that the bird could moisten his tongue; 
and this he seemed to be doing when I first saw him. He was perhaps 
’ 
