General Notes. 
237 
same thicket, I stood within arm’s length of an unquestionable Polioptila 
ccerulea. In this case the bird first betrayed himself by his notes, — notes 
in themselves sufficiently characteristic to indicate their author. 
That either of these specimens were reared or had bred in this State, I 
do not consider probable. It is more likely that they are examples of the 
curious retrograde migration which is pretty well known to occur along 
the Atlantic coast in autumn. And color is lent to this assumption by the 
fact that strong southwesterly winds prevailed along that coast for sev- 
eral days just prior to their occurrence. 
Previous numbers of the Bulletin have noted the occurrence of some 
three or four individuals of this species in each of the three Southern 
New England States ; but Massachusetts has hitherto been the most north- 
ern locality attributed to it. — Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland , 
Maine. 
Capture of the Carolina Wren and other Rare Birds in 
Rhode Island. — A friend of mine, Mr. George M. Gray, recently 
brought me a male Great Carolina Wren ( Thryothorus ludovicianus) , which 
he shot at Bristol, R. I., August 14, 1880. On hearing its notes he at 
first thought it was some one whistling, but on answering it the bird soon 
came within shot, and he killed it. 
I took a male Stilt Sandpiper ( Micropalama himantopus) and a male 
Wilson’s Phalarope ( Steganopus wilsoni), both in spring plumage, at New- 
port, R. I., August 2. Two Bonaparte’s Gulls ( Chroicocephalm Philadel- 
phia ), an adult from Newport, and a young one from Westerly, were also 
sent in to us early in August of this year. I have also to report the recent 
capture at Newport of a fine adult Black Tern ( Hydroclielidon plumbed) by 
Dr. Henry F. Marshall. — Fred. T. Jencks, Providence, R. I. 
Note on Helminthophaga cincinnatiensis, Langdon. — Having 
had, through Dr. Coues’s courtesy, the pleasure of examining the type 
specimen of Mr. Langdon’s new Helminthophaga , recently described in 
the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, (July, 1880, 
pp. 119, 120, PL VI,*) I feel constrained to offer a few remarks con- 
cerning it, as an expression of my own views regarding its validity as a 
species. At first sight, the bird impresses one with its unique coloration, 
which on further examination is found to be a perfect combination of 
the plumage of Helminthophaga pinus and Oporornis formosa. The 
wings and tail are plain-colored, as in the latter, but the wings show a 
faint suggestion of the wing-bands of the former, in the paler olivaceous 
tips to the middle and greater coverts. The forehead is yellow, as in 
H. pinus , but behind and along the postero-lateral edge of this yellow is 
seen a portion of the black cap which characterizes 0 . formosa. The 
[Reprinted in this number of the Bulletin, pp. 208-210, PI. IV. — Eds.] 
