192 
General Notes. 
southern part of the city several years in advance of P. domesticus. In 
1877 there was no House Sparrow south of the Arsenal; but all the con- 
venient nesting-places were already taken by the Field Sparrow. I had 
put up a dozen boxes, and most of them were occupied. No House 
Sparrow was to be seen until March, 1878, when one pair settled among 
the Field Sparrows in my little colony. During summer they lived 
together in harmony, but when fall came the offspring of domesticus took 
possession of all the boxes, and montana left the premises for good. Now, 
as I am writing, the Field Sparrows are entirely driven out of this neigh- 
borhood. The nests of these Sparrows are generally very bulky, but not 
always. Last May, when they prepared for the second brood, I saw a 
pair of P. domesticus remove nesting material incessantly for several days, 
and a few days later, on opening the box, not a dozen feathers were left, 
and the nest was lined with nothing but newly-picked, fragrant hay. 
Another item of special importance concerns the qualification of our 
Purple Martin ( Progne purpurea) for mud architecture. I did not know 
Martins could construct anything of mud, until I saw a pair of mine build 
a solid wall of real mud, two inches high, six inches long, weighing eight 
ounces, placing it obliquely against the entrance of the box, in front of 
the nest, apparently to guard the latter from the water which might flow 
into the house from the little front porch. 
Only one more item shall be added. It is the repeated capture of 
Harelda glacialis in this neighborhood, one on April 1st, and the other on 
the 20th of last month ; both are females, and now in the collection of 
Mr. Hurter. The place of capture in both cases is Cantine Lake, in 
Madison Co., Illinois, about six miles from the bridge.—- Otto Widmann, 
4024 Carondelet Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 
Destruction of Birds by Drowning. — In the January Bulletin 
(Vol. Y, p. 44), Mr. Allen, in giving abstracts of ornithological notes 
which have appeared in “ Forest and Stream,” quotes an instance of the 
destruction of birds by drowning in Lake Oneida, N. Y. My friend, Mr. 
F. T. Jencks, informs me of an incident in this connection which he 
observed when collecting with Mr. E. W. Nelson at Waukegan, 111., on 
Lake Michigan. During the latter part of May, after a severe storm, 
Mr. Nelson went to the lake shore, and in the space of about two miles 
picked up forty-four recognizable specimens, including twenty-six species, 
among which were several species of Thrushes, Warblers, and .Flycatchers, 
a Night-Hawk, Carolina Bail, Wilson’s Tern, etc. Mr. Jencks says that a 
few species could not be identified, and that several were seen on the 
water, which in a few moments were washed upon the shore, and buried 
in sand. 
It is well known that many of our land birds migrate along the coast, 
and over our large lakes, from point to point, and in some instances long 
distances from shore ; and in case of sudden squalls and blows many must 
be overpowered and beaten to the surface, where they find a watery grave. 
— Ruthven Deane, Cambridge , Mass. 
