'^^3-] General Notes. Co 



The Cardinal Grosbeak in Massachusetts. — On November 14, 

 1880, Ml". J. E. Fowle took a Cardinal Grosbeak {Cardhtalis virginiana) 

 in this place. It was with Chickadees {Parus atricafillus) hopping 

 around on low bushes. It did not have the appearance of an escaped cage 

 bird, such as worn tail feathers, long claws, etc. — E. H. Richards, 'Wo- 

 bttrn, Mass. 



Crows Fishing. — A pro_pos of some notes recently published bj Mr. 

 Chamberlain on the fish-eating propensities of the Crows of New Bruns- 

 wick, Mr. Manly Hardy writes me that he has twice seen Crows fishing in 

 the Penobscot River near Bangor. On one occasion several of them were 

 flying about over the water occasionally dipping down like Swallows, and 

 seizing some floating matter which he thought might be offal from ves- 

 sels. At another time they were making frequent forays from a boom- 

 pier, to which they returned after each flight. They often struck the 

 water with suflicient force to violently agitate its surface but never 

 actually dove. 



Mr. Hardv also speaks of their eating sea-urchins and other shell-fish, 

 a habit which, of course, has been already reported ; and he has known 

 them to devour a string of twenty good-sized trout which had been left 

 in a spring under water, well concealed, as he supposed, by the over- 

 hanging alders. — William Brewster, Cambridge. Mass. 



The ScissoR-TAlL {Milvuliis forjicatus) at Norfolk, Virginia. — In 

 January. 1882, there was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, by Mr. R. B. 

 Taylor, of Norfolk, Va., a fine specimen of this species which that gentle- 

 man had shot January 2 in his door-yard in that city. The specimen 

 was sent in the flesh, and being too much, decomposed to skin, is now 

 preserved in alcohol in the U. S. National Museum (Catal. No. 85,934). 

 — Robert Ridgway, Washington, D. C. 



The Calliope Hummingbird and Pygmy Owl in Montana. — The 

 past season I had the pleasure of capturing in the Belt Mountains, the two 

 following western birds: Stelluta calliope Go\x\d, $ Gold Run. May 24, 

 1882; Glaticidium gno7naWsLg\., $ Gold Run, April 14, 1882. They are 

 the only individuals of the species I have ever seen, and are certainly rare 

 in this part of the Territory. — R. S. Williams, Gold Run, Mont. 



On some Remarkable Points of Relationship between the Amer- 

 ican Kingfishers. — In handling specimens of the American Kingfishers 

 the writer has often been impressed with some very curious features of 

 relationship which he does not remember to have seen noticed, and which, 

 therefore, he takes this opportunity of bringing before the readers of the 

 Bulletin. 



The American Kingfishers, so far as known, comprise six species,* all 

 belonging to the genus Ceryle. These six species fall into three very 



* Two geographical races, which pass current for "species" are not included, these 

 being C.stellata, Meyen, and C. cabanisi, Tschudi, the former belonging to C. torguata, 

 Linn., and the latter to C. americana, Gm. 



