5 « 
General Notes. 
[January 
was flying in a north-westerly direction, at a short distance from the shore, 
and all kept on without stopping as far as we could watch them. Mr. De 
L. Berier, who was with me, had never met with the species before. By 
posting ourselves in their line of flight we secured as many as we wanted. 
One shot brought down four and a Goldfinch (C. tristis). there being a 
few of the t latter occasionally mingled with them. Later in the day we 
found. C. ftinas everywhere, usually feeding in corn-fields. They were 
equally abundant on the 22nd, but their morning flight was not repeated. 
The weather on the 21st was fair; on the 22nd, threatening rain. I can 
think of no satisfactory explanation of this mysterious migration, unless 
it be that the birds were intending to cross the Narrows; but if so, why 
did they not stop ?”— William Brewster, Cambridge , Mass. 
On Leconte’s Bunting ( Coturniculus lecontei ) and other Birds 
observed in South-eastern Illinois. — While hunting Prairie Chick- 
ens on Sugar Creek Prairie, in the southern portion of Richland Co., 
Illinois, October 27 and 28, 1882 , 1 was somewhat surprised to find Leconte’s 
Bunting there in great abundance; also Henslow’s, which, however, 
was less numerous. The locality where the Leconte’s Buntings were first 
observed consisted of a patch of “open” prairie 160 acres in extent, en- 
tirely overgrown with iron-weeds ( Vernonia noveboracensis ) mixed with 
occasional patches of prairie grasses — the only part of the prairie not 
under cultivation. They were found, however, almost everywhere, grassy 
places being mostly affected. In flushing them it was almost necessary to 
kick them from the grass, and it was very rarely one would start up farther 
in front than a dozen feet. Their flight, like that of C. henslowi , was very 
irregular, making it difficult to shoot them, but they could be easily dis- 
tinguished from individuals of that species by the conspicuously lighter, 
more yellowish coloration. A few individuals of Peuccea illinoensis 
were also noticed in weedy places, along fences, etc., but being provided 
only with heavy charges of coarse shot no specimens were secured. Near 
a. farm house a pair of Mocking-birds was observed on the date mentioned, 
and I was informed they nested in the orchard every season, while the 
species was of regular if not common occurrence in the vicinity. — Robert 
Ridgway, Washington, D. C. 
Note on u Passerculus caboti.” — This name only occurs in Baird, 
Brewer, and Ridgway’s Hist, of N. A. Birds, Vol. II, plate xlvi, fig. 9 — 
there being no description or text accompanying the figure, which is taken 
for specimen No. 62,373, Mus. Smiths. Inst., from Nahant, Mass. The 
bird is in fact a young Melospiza falustris, in a plumage hitherto unrecog- 
nized, in which there is a decided yellow loral spot, and a vague yellowish 
suffusion of the cheeks and throat. I lately received a Swamp Sparrow 
from S. W. Willard, of West DePere, Wisconsin, who was in doubt of the 
identification, as my “Key” says of the species, “no yellow anywhere.’ 
The yellow spot is quite strong— about as in Ammodr omits maritimus , and 
nearly as bright as in ZonotricJiia albicollis. On examining the type of 
“ Passer cuius caboti ,” through Mr. Ridgway’s attentions, I find it to be the 
same thing. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 
