'^^3'] -' General Notes. 6^ 



many others of the same species thej were found on an "ice-pond" a few 

 miles north of the Garden. The three secured were all killed at one shot. 

 Mr. Thompson also writes that Mr. Dui-y has a fourth example which was 

 taken on the Little Miami River about Oct. 15, 1882. Such dates and lo- 

 cality Avould both appear to be exceptional. — Elliott Coues, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



Polygamy among Oscines. — A letter received from Prof. F. E. L. 

 Beal, of the Iowa Agricultural College, gives some interesting data upon 

 this subject, in the cases of AgelcEus fhcEniceus and Sialia sialis. Having 

 often been struck with the numerical preponderance of female Marsh 

 Blackbirds, Professor Beal made in the spring of i88i special examination 

 of a small piece of swamp in which he always found one male and three 

 to seven females. For two weeks, during which the place was carefully 

 watched, only one other male made his appearance upon the scene, and he 

 was at once attacked and routed by the one in charge of the premises. 

 This past spring Professor Beal found one male and two females domiciled 

 on a small prairie slough. Both nests were discovered, each containing 

 four eggs, and the course of events was watched until the young were 

 fledged — the arrangement remaining always the same. 



The case of the Bluebird is given on hearsay, but seems perfectly authen- 

 tic. A trio of these birds occupied two niches in the chimneys of the gas 

 works at the college there, and raised two broods. The male paid equal 

 attention to both females, often passing directly from one nest to the other, 

 and was seen in congress with each of the females in the course of a few 

 minutes. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



The Prescient Power in Birds. — I wish to take friendly issue with 

 Mr. Henshaw over one of the statements made in his recent article "On 

 the Decrease of Birds." Alluding to the extermination of Purple Martins 

 one season at Cambridge, soon after their arrival, Mr. Henshaw says * in 

 substance that facts of this sort sufficiently refute the superstition that 

 birds are able to foretell the weather. I do not believe that a majority of 

 observers are with him in that opinion. Because the Martins apparently 

 missed it on the occasion cited, does it follow that they are wholly without 

 that "mysterious faculty" which enables them to avoid tempestuous 

 weather, if they xvish to? And granting that this occurrence does prove 

 the Martins incapable of taking an anticipative view of the weather, I 

 refuse to admit that all migratory species, or even a majority of them, are 

 similarly lacking. My own field of experience has gradually confirmed 

 me in the belief f that at least many of our birds are able, by a faculty 

 which most emphatically is "mysterious," to foresee a coming storm 

 hours before any signs of such a storm are visible to human eyes. 



Let me instance a circumstance bearing upon this matter: Oct. 26, 



*Bull., Vol. VI, No. 4, p. 193, foot-note. 



t So eminent an authority as Mr. J. A. Allen has reached the same conclusion. See 

 "Century Magazine," Oct., 1881, p. 938. 



