196 



General N'ofes. I ^pril 



Halifax. I examined the bird before it was skinned. Death had evi- 

 dently been largely caused by starvation, as the bodj was very thin. 

 The occurrence of this European bird upon our coast is most remark- 

 able. It is perhaps doubtful if there is another well-authenticated record 

 of the capture of the bird in temperate America, for Mr. Ridgway queries 

 "Long Island" in the list of localities given in his 'Manual.' There 

 cannot be the slightest doubt about the identification of the present 

 specimen. 



Black Vulture (Catharista atrata). — A Black Vulture was shot at 

 Pugwash, Cumberland County, N. S-, on January 12, 1896, and was 

 brought to Halifax where I identified it. Mr. Chamberlain (Nuttall's 

 Ornithology, 1S91) states that it has been killed on Grand Manan in 

 the Bay of Fundy. I think it has not been elsewhere met with in the 

 Dominion of Canada. As in the case of the Least Bittern, the Little 

 Blue Heron, the Gallinule, and the Lapwing, it will be observed that the 

 present bird was taken at a very early period of the year. 



American Crow (Corvus americanus). — ^An albinistic Crow was 

 killed near Halifax on October 6, 1896. Its general colour was brown, 

 darker on the throat, cheeks and belly ; scapulars and feathers of back 

 margined obscurel}^ -with whitish ; primaries mostly whitish ; tertials 

 white; tail-feathers light reddish brown margined with whitish on outer 

 edge ; legs, bill and iris, brown. 



Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis). — My brother and myself 

 found a nest of this species, containing a number of young, at Spry- 

 field, near Halifax, on June 11, 1S94. It was simply a cavity in moss, in 

 situ upon the face of a rock close to the shore of a small lake. This moss 

 ■was constajitly saturated with w«/e^ which trickled from a bank above and 

 slowly flowed over the stone on which the moss grew. There is not the 

 least doubt as to identification, for one of the parent birds was seen 

 entering and leaving the exit several times. We were close alongside and 

 could distinctly see the bird. In May, 1891, we found a nest of the same 

 species only a couple of feet from the site of the one just mentioned. It 

 precisely resembled the latter in form, construction and materials, as well 

 as in being saturated with moisture. A full description of the nest of 

 1891, which contained a number of eggs, will be found in the ' Trans- 

 actions ' of the N. S. Institute of Science, VIII, 203. — Harry Piers, 

 Halifax, N. S. 



Occasional Visitants at San Geronimo (Nicasio Township), Marin 

 Co., California. — Dryobates nuttallii. Nuttall's Woodpecker.— 

 This bird is a common resident, though never numerous, about thirty 

 miles north of this place, but only one specimen has been seen in this 

 locality. This was a female taken Feb. 14, J884. 



Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis. Red-naped Sapsucker. — Two speci- 

 mens taken in 1894 and one in 1897 — all three shot in the family orchard 

 adjoining the house. 



