
RARER BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 639 
a journey and my notes were inaccessible), I state that Ac- 
todromas .Bonapartei was among the birds seen by us in 
summer on the Massachusetts coast. This I think. is an 
error of memory, as I do not find it recorded in my note 
book, and no specimens of it were taken. Arquatella mari- 
tima is also there mentioned as having been seen; though 
this is probable, I should add that it does not rest on 
positive evidence, as none were taken. 
STILT SANDPIPER. Micropalama himantopus Baird. As 
this southern species has been twice taken recently at Rye 
Beach, New Hampshire, by Mr. William Brewster, the 
question as to whether it should be included among the birds 
of New England is now settled. As it must have passed 
through Massachusetts, it is properly to be included in our 
list, though not yet recorded as actually taken in this state. 
YrrLow Raw. Porzana Noveboracensis Cass. Taken by 
Mr. C. J. Maynard, September 8th, 1868, in a dry field in 
Newton. i 
Common GALLINULE. Gallinula galeata Bon. I learn 
from Mr. Ruthford Deane of Cambridge that he shot a young 
bird of this species in Fresh Pond on the 3d of September, 
1868, and saw two others in the latter part of the same 
month. The 9th of October of the same year he informs 
me his friend William Brewster shot one which he obtained, 
and wounded another, at the same locality. Also that the 
latter observer saw an old bird there on the 3d of June, 
which Mr. Deane believes to have been the parent of these 
young. As this species regularly breeds in New Jersey, it 
is not improbable that straggling pairs may now and then 
rear their young in Massachusetts, but this is much beyond 
its usual breeding range. 
CANVAS-BACKED Duck. Aythya vallisneria Bonap. It is 
stated in my Catalogue that this species was taken near 
Springfield by Dr. Wood. This proves to be an error, as 
Dr. Wood has since informed me he never knew it taken 
nearer that locality than ten miles above the mouth of the 
