'SSs-J General Notes. l8l 



work of the eggs is of a light blue green, the spots, which are numerous 

 and somewhat confluent on the larger end, are of a light brown lilac color. 

 A few large and solitary spots of dark brown are dispersed sparingly 

 over the greater part of the egg, dimishing in size towards the smaller 

 end. One egg was unfortunately broken ; the others measure as follows : 

 12^ X i6 millimeters, \2\ X i6^ mm., 12 X 17mm.— A. K. Fisher, M.D., 

 Sing Sing, ]V. T. 



Susceptibility of a Bird to Color. —A curious case of this affec- 

 tion is reported to 'me by Mr. George F. Crook, of Cambridge, Mass. 

 '•' I have a caged Red Linnet {Carj)odacus ^ur;pureus), now about two 

 years old —a cheerful fellow, unless anything blue should be pi-esented 

 to him or placed near him. Should either my wife or daughter — with 

 whom he is on the best of terms — come near him with a blue dress, 

 rib]jon, or handkerchief, he becomes terribly excited and utters painful 

 cries. No other color affects him in this way. About a year ago he 

 escaped from his cage and was away nine days ; his cage hung outside, 

 and he returned to it in a very dilapidated condition. Had he been 

 frightened by some Blue Jay.^" If not, what can be the cause of his 

 ' blue-craze'? " 



While we cannot explain the facts, we have no doubt the cause is 

 farther to seek than any such accident. The effect of colors upon animals 

 — as red upon a bull or turkey-cock — is a perfectly well-known fact, 

 though one not satisfactorily accounted for. 



This recalls a very curious case once brought to my professional notice, 

 of a little child with some obscure nervous aff'ection of the eyes, which 

 rendered him painfully sensitive to light. This child delighted in 

 anything blue, and the mental impressibility was so great that it was 

 transferred from color to sound. There is a very strange connection, as 

 musicians well know, between the two kinds of impressions derived from 

 light-vibrations and sound-waves. The mother of the child could always 

 soothe and please it by singing or playing " blue music," as it is called; 

 while a few notes of " red music" sufficed to make the child cry out as if 

 in great distress, and if continued, almost threw it into convulsions. 



As if the bird's case were not already sufffciently curious and obscure, 

 Mr. Crook later informed me that when his blue-crazed Red Linnet 

 moulted, as it did last fall, not a single red feather showed itself; the 

 former red feathers all came out yelloxv, as is so frequently the case with 

 these red birds when moulting in confinement. If Carfodacus could only 

 tell us, now, all he knows about the three primary colors, and express it 

 in the music of his song! — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



The Lark Finch again in Massachusetts.— On the 6th of April last, 

 while "hunting without a gun," I saw for a moment a bird which I was 

 confident was Chondestes grammicus. I visited the locality repeatedly 

 after that, but without result until the evening of April 29, when I heard 



