Fragments of Natural History. 21 



An hyperborean phalarope, [Phalaropus hypej-boreiis,) was shot 

 on Lake Erie, near the pier of Cleveland harbor, last November, 

 by a voung man in my employment, while pursuing a wounded 

 gull. ' 



The phalarope was a young bird in its winter plumage. It is 

 preserved in my cabinet. 



Little could be learned of its habits. It was a solitary indi- 

 vidual, and when first discovered was resting on the water, where 

 it seemed to be as much at home as any of the gulls with which 

 it was associating. 



The yellow throated gray warbler, (Sylvia pensilis,) must be 

 considered not a rare annual visitor, even to the northern parts of 

 Ohio, though Mr. Audubon informs his readers that " they con- 

 fine themselves to the southern states, seldom moving farther 

 towards the middle district than North Carolina," and " do not 

 ascend the Mississippi further than the Wahiut Hills," and Mr. 

 Nuttall says, that they "very rarely venture as far north as Penn- 

 sylvania." I have in my possession a specimen that I shot on 

 the banks of the Mahoning river, in Trumbull county, on the 

 5th of May, 1839 ; and during the last week of April of the pre- 

 sent year, I killed three near the Cuyahoga river, three miles 

 from Lake Erie. Early in July I also saw an old one feeding 

 her young on the banks of the Mahoning. They were two 

 thirds of their full size, and were perched on a small bush over 

 the water. A full grown individual was seen on the first of Au- 

 gust on the shore of the Lake within the limits of this city. 



In every instance in which I have met with them, they seem- 

 ed to have a strong predilection to the vicinity of water, and were 

 generally engaged in capturing insects. 



The Sylvia rara is common in the woods about the banks of 

 the Cuyahoga during the spring and summer. Its habits are ac- 

 curately described by Mr. Audubon. 



The same locality is a favorite resort and breeding place for 

 the purple breasted grossbeak, {Fringilla Ludoviciana.) 



A flock of unusual birds, which I suppose to be the willow 

 wrens, [Sylvia trochilus,) was discovered in Septemberj 1839, on 



