General Notes. 
59 
species which differs notably in plumage from any example hitherto 
described, the following description may prove acceptable. In this con- 
nection, we would respectfully call attention to the fact that a record of 
the specimens of this obscure, yet most “ excellent ” species, contained in 
private collections in this country, is very desirable. We have several 
located, but no doubt there are some extant of which we have no knowl- 
edge. The specimen upon which Audubon based his well-known original 
description and figure of the species is now in the British Museum ; two 
specimens only (including the one described below) are in the collection 
of the United States National Museum ; there is one in the Museum of the 
Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, and one (a very fine adult male) in 
the Museum of the University of Kansas. These (with the exception of 
Audubon’s type and the Ragsdale specimen) are all described in detail 
in Hist. N. Am. B., Vol. Ill, pp. 293, 294. Should any one have in his 
possession an example unquestionably of this species, which differs notably 
from any of those described, we should be very glad to be made aware of 
the fact. 
Buteo harlani (Aud.) : Adult female , No. 79084 (U. S. Nat. Mus.), 
Gainesville , Texas, March 3, 1879, G. H. Ragsdale. — Prevailing color 
of the upper parts blackish brown, relieved by streaks of pure white on 
the head and neck (where the whole concealed portion of the feathers 
is snow-white), the wings mottled or clouded with lighter brown ; prima- 
ries marked, anterior to their emarginations, with broad bars of dusky 
black and brownish slate, the terminal portion being uniform brownish 
black. Upper tail-coverts irregularly spotted, chiefly toward edges, with 
clear ochraceous. Tail white , sparsely mottled, chiefly towards ends and 
along edges of the feathers, with hoary brown and dusky, with scarcely 
any admixture of ochraceous ; crossed near the end by a tolerably well 
defined subterminal band of brownish black. Chin , throat, jugulum, and 
whole breast, pure white , marked with sharply defined tear-shaped longi- 
tudinal spots of brownish black ; rest of lower parts brownish black, more 
or less barred and spotted with pure white, beneath the surface. “ Eye 
brown ; cere and gape green ; legs pale yellow.” “Length, 22^ wing, 
15.75; tail, 10.00; culmen, 1.05; tarsus, 3.20; middle toe, 1.70. — R. Ridg- 
way, Washington, D. C. 
Note on Limosa ieemastica. — The Hudsonian Godwit being still a 
bird none too well known, I have pleasure in presenting some notes re- 
specting its habits, and the dissimilarity of the sexes, received from G. S. 
Ageesberg, of Vermilion, Dakota, who also sends me specimens of a very 
dark female and of a light-colored male. Regarding the habits of the 
bird, my correspondent states that they are very similar to those of Macro- 
rhamphus griseus ; and any one who will examine the latter genus closely 
will see how very near Limosa it is in form and proportions. He found 
these God wits abundant about Vermilion, where they were very unsus- 
