ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
13 
course is rare in Connecticut.” (Rev. J. H. Linsley, Cat. of the Birds of 
Conn., in Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, Vol. XLIV, 1843, p. 249.) “Acciden- 
tal. Have heard of one that was killed in Cambridge a few years since. 
Mr. E. A. Samuels tells me that a pair bred in Cambridge in 1861.” (J. A. 
Allen, Proc. Ess. Inst., IV, p. 85, 1864.) Both these and the Connecticut 
bird are cited by Dr. Coues (Proc. Ess. Inst., V, p. 285, 1868) as valid. 
But I understand that more recently the authenticity of the specimens 
taken is doubted, they being referred to the Crow Blackbird (Q. purpureus). 
As Mr. Linsley also gives Q. purpureus as common, I see no reason for 
doubting his record. Of Mr. Samuels’s birds, I have always understood 
him, and he still avers that two of them, in the flesh, were brought to him 
by Professor Jeffries Wyman, and that to his best knowledge and belief 
they were shot in the Cambridge salt marshes ; that their rarity was com- 
mented on at the time, and that they were not Q. purpureus. 
Corvus ossifragus. Fish Crow. — “ Stratford,” Conn., Linsley (1. c.). 
“ An occasional visitor along the southern coast of the State of Massachu- 
setts.” (J. A. Allen, 1. c.) “Very rare visitor in summer” to Massachu- 
setts. (E. A. Samuels, Descriptive Catalogue of the Birds of Mass., in 
Rept. of Sec. Board of Agriculture of Mass, for 1863.) “A rare summer 
visitor, chiefly along the more southern portions of the coast” of New 
England. (Coues, Proc. Ess. Inst., V, 1868.) “Coast of the United States, 
from New England to Florida.” (Coues, Birds of the Northwest.) And 
now, as confirmatory of the above, Mr. Brewster gives an instance of his 
seeing it in Cambridge, March 16, 1875. (See this Bulletin, Vol. I, p. 19.) 
.aSgialitis wilsonius. Wilson’s Plover. — Allowing that this spe- 
cies has not yet been found in Massachusetts, we have : “ Stratford,” Conn., 
Linsley (1. c.). “ Appears to be rather rare, and perhaps only occasional, 
as far north as Massachusetts. (Coues, 1. c.) “ Dr. Wood informs me that 
Wilson’s Plover is abundant in August on Long Island, and Mr. Linsley 
has recorded it from Stratford, Conn. It hence seems unquestionable 
that they sometimes occur in Southern New England, and it would not 
be strange if they should occasionally reach the coast of Massachusetts.” 
(Allen, Am. Nat., Vol. Ill, 1869.) “North to Long Island and Con- 
necticut, probably to Massachusetts, but rare beyond New Jersey.” (Coues, 
Birds of the Northwest.) 
Nettion crecca. European Teal. — At a meeting of the Boston 
Society of Natural History, April 18, 1855, Dr. Bryant remarked that a 
specimen of the European Green-winged Teal had been sent to Mr. E. 
Samuels to be mounted. It was shot in Massachusetts, the first he had 
ever seen in the State. (Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. His., Vol. V, p. 195.) This 
instance is cited by Allen (Proc. Ess. Inst., Vol. IV, 1864) and by C. J* 
Maynard (Naturalist’s Guide, 1870). “A European species, but so often 
