General Notes . 
239 
Sclater, in his “ Note on the Sixteen Species of Texan Birds named by 
Mr. Giraud of New York, in 1841 ” (P. Z. S., XXIII, 1855, pp. 65, 66), 
decides that the bird should be called Basileuterus brasieri. The specific 
name, however, needs correction. Mr. Giraud named his bird in honor 
of my ever-regretted friend, Mr. Philip Brasher, of Brooklyn. Through 
some unaccountable mistake Mr. Giraud quoted the name as Philip Brasier. 
That it was an unintentional error may be seen by referring to Giraud’s 
“ Birds of Long Island,” where the name frequently occurs, and is cor- 
rectly spelled. The name of the species in question should therefore be 
written Basileuterus brasheri. I wish to make the correction in order that 
the bird may correctly perpetuate the name of my honored friend. — 
DeL. Berier, Fort Hamilton , N. Y. 
Additional Notes concerning the Black-capped Yireo in 
Texas. — On June 16, 1880, on one of the highest peaks of the bluffs of 
Red River, near Warren’s Bend, in Cook County, I heard the song of a 
strange bird to me, which I recognized at once, however, as that of some 
Yireo. After following one of the birds for an hour through tangled vines 
and underbrush on a steep hillside, I finally killed it, and found it to be 
the Black-capped Yireo ( Vireo atricapillus). I thus had the pleasure of 
adding this rare bird to my Cook County list, although I had previously 
surmised its presence here (see this Bulletin, Yol. IV, p. 58). During the 
16th and 17th I shot twelve specimens, eleven of which were preserved, — 
six males, three females, and two young just from the nest. While the 
females are all identical, and have the head grayish, the males range from 
jet-black on the head to a little darker than the females, although they are 
all full-grown or second-year birds, as shown by their song and by dissec- 
tion. 1 find a faint buffy tinge on the throat and breast of the females, 
while the males are all pure white on these parts. I further noticed a 
considerable variation in the length of the bill. The young are olive- 
green and yellowish, with the head ashy or grayish. I think my success 
in securing so many specimens due to the fact that the parents would not 
leave the young. — George H. Ragsdale, Gainesville, Texas. 
The Philadelphia Yireo in Eastern New York. — On May 15, 
1879, I took, near Troy, N. Y., a male and a female Brotherly-love Yireo 
{Vireo philadelphicus) , in a briery, bushy thicket, where Yellow-breasted 
Chats commonly breed. — Austin F. Park, Troy, N. Y. 
Unusual Nesting Site of the Snowbird. — In the town of Otis, 
Berkshire County, Massachusetts, while rummaging on August 10, 1874, 
through an old barn from which a part of the roof had recently been blown, 
my attention was attracted by the chirping of a female Junco hyemalis. 
After watching her I found she had a nest in which were three or four 
young birds, but a few days old. The nest was placed on the edge of a 
scaffold under some hay which projected several inches beyond the cavity 
where the nest was placed. No extra material was used in making the 
