58 



Gcj/eral Notes. [January 



was fljnng in a north-westerly direction, at a short distance from the shore, 

 and all kept on without stopping as far as we could watch them. Mr. De 

 L. Berier, who was with me, had never met with the species before. Bj 

 posting ourselves in their line of flight we secured as many as we wanted. 

 One shot brought down four and a Goldfinch (C. tristis). there being a 

 few of the latter occasionally mingled with them. Later in the day we 

 found C. piniis everywhere, usuallj' feeding in corn-fields. They were 

 equally abundant on the 22nd, but their morning flight was not repeated. 

 The weather on the 3ist was fair; on the 22nd, threatening rain. I can 

 think of no satisfactoi-y explanation of this mysterious migration, unless 

 it be that the birds were intending to cross the Narrows ; but if so, why 

 did they not stop.?" — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



On Lecon'te's Bunting (^Coturnicidus leconiei) and other Birds 

 OBSERVED in South-eastern ILLINOIS. — While hunting Prairie Chick- 

 ens on Sugar Creek Prairie, in the southern portion of Richland Co., 

 Illinois. October 27 and 28, 18S2, 1 was somewhat surprised to find Leconte's 

 Bunting there in great abundance; also Henslow's, which, however, 

 was less numerous. The locality where the Leconte's Buntings were first 

 observed consisted of a patch of "open" prairie 160 acres in extent, en- 

 tirely overgrown with iron-weeds ( Vernonia ?ioveboracensis) mixed with 

 occasional patches of prairie grasses — the only part of the prairie not 

 under cultivation. They were found, however, almost everywhere, grassy 

 places being mostly affected. In flushing them it was almost necessary to 

 kick them from the grass, and it was very rarely one would start up farther 

 in front than a dozen feet. Their flight, like that of C. henslowi, was .very 

 irregular, making it diflicult to shoot them, but they could be easily dis- 

 tinguished from individuals of that species by the conspicuously lighter, 

 more yellowish coloration. A few individuals of PeuccBa illlnoensis 

 were also noticed in weedy places, along fences, etc., but being provided 

 onlv with heavy charges of coarse shot no specimens were secured. Near 

 a farm house a pair of Mocking-birds was observed on the date mentioned, 

 and I was informed they nested in the orchard every season, while the 

 species was of regular if not common occurrence in the vicinity. — Robert 

 RiDGwAY, Washington, D. C. 



Note on '-Passerculus caboti." — This name onh- occurs in Baird. 

 Brewer, and Ridgway's Hist, of N. A.. Birds, Vol. II, plate xlvi, fig. 9 — 

 there being no description or text accompanying the figure, which is taken 

 for specimen No. 62,373, Mus. Smiths. Inst., from Nahant, Mass. The 

 bird is in in.ct& young AIelosJ)iza palust7-is, in a plumage hitherto unrecog- 

 nized, in which there is a decided yellow loral spot, and a vague yellowish 

 suffusion of the cheeks and throat. I lately received a Swamp Span-ow 

 from S. W. Willard, of West DePere, Wisconsin, who was in doubt of the 

 identification, as my "Key" says of the species, "no yellow anywhere.' 

 The yellow spot is quite strong — about as in Ammodromus maritimus, and 

 nearly as bright as in Zonotrichia albicollis. On examining the type of 

 '-Passerculus caboti,'' through Mr. Ridgway's attentions, I find it to be the 

 same thing. — Elliott Coues. Was/iington, D. C. 



