General Notes. 
187 
retained as birds that have occurred here ? ” Dr. Brewer, on page 91, same 
volume, replies by saying ie these names should remain on the list of those 
requiring more evidence.” Mr. Purdie answers, on page 13, Yol. II, 
with proofs, among others the following, quoted from Mr. Allen : “ Dr. 
Wood informs me that Wilson’s Plover is abundant in August on Long 
Island.” In Yol. IY, page 242, the writer records having shot a single speci- 
men (female) on Long Island in May, 1879. A few facts regarding this 
occurrence may be of interest as proof of the rarity of this bird even there. 
This specimen was secured while spending a few days at “ Lane’s ” on 
Shinnecock Bay. His son George, who has been on the bay for nearly 
fifteen years, was in the blind with the writer the morning it was pro- 
cured. The instant George saw it, he requested the writer to secure it, 
as he had never seen such a bird, and wished to examine it. After looking 
at it closely he was positive he had never seen one on the bay before. 
It was shown to an older son of Lane’s, and to Lane himself, both of whom 
have been baymen from youth (the latter about forty years), and neither 
had ever seen a bird of this species before. They are unusually intelligent 
and observing gunners, and know every bird that is a common or even 
rare migrant or summer resident. On its being submitted to Mr. J. G. 
Bell, he identified it as “ JEgialitis wilsonia , in summer plumage.” It 
seems to the writer that the testimony offered is almost conclusive, as it is 
unbiased ; the Lanes not knowing of the difference of opinion referred to 
above, nor in fact did the writer until a few weeks since, when he procured 
a complete set of the Bulletin. — William Dutcher, New York City. 
Number of Eggs of Ardea herodias. — A letter from M. K. 
Barnum, of Syracuse, N. Y., states : “ I have lately collected a large 
number of eggs of the Great Blue Heron, and nearly every nest examined 
contained five, instead of the ‘ two or three ’ given by you as the number 
(Birds N. W., p. 519). In one case there were six. When less than four 
were found in a nest, they were invariably fresh ; whence I infer that in 
such instances the birds had not finished laying. Audubon, I believe, also 
gives the number as only three : if his observations were correct, the birds 
laying in this vicinity offer an exception to the rule.” — Elliott Coues, 
Washington, D. C. 
The Llttle Brown Crane (Grus frater cuius , Cassin). — It had not 
occurred to me, until Mr. Allen’s note in the last number of the Bulletin 
called my attention to the matter, that this species still rested solely upon 
the original description in “ Birds of North America,” so far as general 
knowledge of it was concerned, else I might sooner have announced the 
fact that the National Museum had received numerous specimens of it, 
chiefly from Arctic America, where it is abundant, and where it seems to 
entirely replace G. canadensis. Indeed, it is probable that all far-northern 
citations of the latter refer to fraterculus. Many specimens have been 
received from various parts of Alaska, — from Kadiak (Bischoff), from 
St. Michael’s (Messrs. Dali and Bannister, Turner, and Nelson), — as 
