1 86 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



Porsana Carolina. A male Carolina rail, in the plumage of an 

 adult, was shot by Mr. W. Schulz at Jamaica Bay, Long Island, 

 on December 29, 1905, and presented to the writer a few days 

 afterward. Its left leg was slightly kinked, where it had evi- 

 dently been broken, but was perfectly healed at the time of its 

 death. 



Oxyechns vociferus. The kildeer is quite unusual on our 

 island, though it breeds not uncommonly in certain parts of New 

 Jersey. The only examples I have seen on Staten Island are 

 two in number, the first of which was shot on the beach at Oak- 

 wood on November 29, 1906, and was exhibited at the meeting 

 of the Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences in De- 

 cember, 1906. The second was observed at Wolfe's Pond, 

 Princes Bay, November 22, 1908. Though not molested by the 

 writer, this bird evidently met its death soon afterward, for a kil- 

 deer in an advanced stage of decay was sent to me about a week 

 later from the same locality. None of the private collections of 

 Staten Island birds I have yet examined have contained any 

 kildeers. 



Asio wilsonianus. According to Mr. Isaac Wort, of Wood- 

 row, Staten Island, long-eared owls were formerly much more 

 common on Staten Island than now, occurring at times in large 

 flocks, and furnishing easy targets for gunners, who were fond of 

 practising on them. Mr. Wort tells me that he found a nest in 

 a cedar, near his home, about 1903 or 1904. The writer has seen 

 single long-eared owls at Great Kills, Staten Island, on April 8, 

 1906, and March 23, 1907, and their presence at such late dates 

 in the spring might indicate that a pair still nested there. 



During the past winter (1908-9) though no live owls of this 

 species were observed, the. feathers of two individuals killed 

 perhaps by barred owls (Strix varia) were found near Princes 

 Bay on December 20, 1908, and January 3, 1909. That the 

 barred owl does eat other owls of such size is shown by my find- 

 ing the bones of a long-eared or short-eared owl in some pellets 

 picked up under a barred owl's roost at Annadale, in March 1908. 



