i8o 
Gene?'al Notes. 
careless hands would become instruments of self-destruction. A long- 
account of the various paraphernalia for blowing and marking eggs is 
given. To the novice such things may be amusing, but are sure sources 
of disaster. A keen eye, accuracy of hand and a mind to govern, not 
patent scissors and forceps, are the requisites for blowing eggs. 
The list of unknown nests, which does not claim to be free from faults 
of omission, contains faults of admission, though these are not numerous. 
Finally, we would heartily indorse all advice for absolute identification of 
eggs and the avoidance of gummed labels. — J. A. J. 
Oknent Jlotes. 
Note on Mimus polyglottus. — In the summer of 1879 I found on 
the Platte River, about a mile west of Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, in Lat. 
42 0 23' 35" N. and Long. 105° 21' 4" W., a pair of Mocking-birds (. Mimus 
j polyglottus ) breeding; the nest was placed in a low cottonw'ood, very near 
the river bank. In the following year these birds, undoubtedly the same 
pair, returned and reared a brood in identically the same place. This time 
I secured the male bird ; and the specimen is now in my private collection. 
In the “Birds of the Colorado Valley” Dr. Coues tells us, when referring 
to the limits of Mimus . , that “the northermost records generally quoted fix 
the limit in Massachusetts ; but Dr. Brewer speaks of a single individual 
seen near Calais, Me., by Mr. George A. Boardman. Another record from 
an extreme point, given by Dr. P. R. Hoy, is above quoted ; the extension 
of the bird to Wisconsin, as there indicated, has been commonly over- 
looked. Other States in which the bird is known to have occurred are 
New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas. The 
parallel of 40° N. has been named as its usual or normal limit,” 
In view of these facts, and what I have learned from other ornithologists, 
it seems to me that this case is entitled to record, as another interesting 
instance, extending the limits of this bird. — R. W. Shufeldt, Wash- 
ington , D. C. 
The Nest of the House Wren. — Some writer speaks of the well 
known habit of the House Wren of filling up any cavity within which it 
builds its nest with sticks and rubbish, as a “survival” of an old habit 
for which there would seem to be no present use. I think I have seen this 
statement in some of the writings of Dr. Elliott Coues, though I cannot 
refer to the book or page. Possibly it may have been stated by some one 
else. But it is a generally recognized fact that if a box holds half a peck 
the little birds will fill it up full ! It seems to me, however, that while this 
