Genei'al Notes. 
57 
shot another, the rest rose high in the air and, with an irregular, undula- 
ting flight, disappeared. My specimens proved to be in good plumage. 
I subsequently saw two more in a barn-yard some four miles from the 
first locality. I was informed that they had been frequently seen there- 
abouts of late, but the natives were unable to identify them. I shot one 
of them, — -a fine male, whose upper tail-coverts were of an unusually bril- 
liant red. I find entered in my notebook that on August 13 I saw two 
more while on a deer hunt fourteen miles from the other places. Of 
course, under the circumstances, I was unable to shoot them. This would 
seem to show that the first flock was not an accidental occurrence. 
The Tennessee Plateau is a comparatively level section of country about 
one hundred miles long and forty miles wide, with an average elevation of 
two thousand feet above the adjacent region. Its forests consist almost 
entirely of white oaks, interspersed with chestnuts, and occasionally a 
pine. This, with the above statements, indicate that the habits of my 
birds differ materially from those of others of this erratic species. 
In respect to external characters, Mr. J. A'. Allen, after having compared 
my birds with a large series of New England specimens and with examples 
of var. mexicana from Colorado, writes me that the Tennessee specimens 
present no essential difference in average measurement, but that the bill is 
considerably larger than in average New England examples, but much 
smaller than that of mexicana . The plumage of the males is much 
brighter than in northern specimens. The Tennessee birds he regards as 
almost exactly intermediate between the Red Crossbills of Northern New 
England and those of Colorado. — G. S. Smith, Boston , Mass. 
Description of the nest and eggs of Coturniculus henslowi 
obtained near Falls Church, Va. — Nest rather rude and irregularly 
shaped, composed externally of coarse grass, lined with exceedingly fine 
grass-tops circularly disposed and well finished but without any horse- 
hair; no other material than grass was used in its construction. The nest 
is about four inches in diameter, about two inches in height, and 
two inches inside diameter; it was placed in the center of a large 
clump of wild clover ( Trifolium agrarium ) and rested directly on the 
ground without any appearance of a cavity. The clover had grown up 
about a foot or more in height and completely surrounded the nest, which 
was only discovered by parting it. The female was secured as she flew 
from the nest. The eggs, four in number, are much blotched and speckled 
all over with a mixture of madder-brown and sepia, the color becoming 
more confluent on the larger end ; there are also a few dashes and dots of 
very dark sepia, almost black, scattered among the spots. One of the 
eggs has a number of large blotches of a lighter tint than the spots 
scattered all over it so as to almost form a ground tint for the spots. The 
ground color is a delicate greenish-white. The measurements, in hun- 
dredths of inches, are as follows: .75 x .60, .75 x .58, 75 x .56, .75 x .60. 
These eggs, taken June 3, contained large embryos within four or five days 
of hatching. As I took full-fledged young last year on the 12th of July, 
they undoubtedly raise two broods in a season. 
