General Note ><?. 
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work of the eggs is of a light blue green, the spots, which are numerous 
and somewhat confluent on the larger end, are of a light brown lilac color. 
A few large and solitary spots of dark brown are dispersed sparingly 
over the greater part of the egg, dimishing in size towards the smaller 
end. One egg was unfortunately broken ; the others measure as follows : 
1 2 %, X 16 millimeters, 12^ X i 6 h mm., 12 X 17mm. — A. K. Fisher, M.D., 
Sing Sing, N T. 
Susceptibility of a Bird to Color. — A curious case of this affec- 
tion is reported to me by Mr. George F. Crook, of Cambridge, Mass. 
“ I have a caged Red Linnet (Carpodacus purpureus), now about two 
years old — a cheerful fellow, unless anything blue should be presented 
to him or placed near him. Should either my wife or daughter — with 
whom he is on the best of terms — come near him wijh a blue dress, 
ribbon, or handkerchief, he becomes terribly excited and utters painful 
cries. No other color affects him in this way. About a year ago he 
escaped from his cage and was away nine days ; his cage hung outside, 
and he returned to it in a very dilapidated condition. Had he been 
frightened by some Blue Jay? If not, what can be the cause of his 
‘ blue-craze ’? ” 
While we cannot explain the facts, we have no doubt the cause is 
farther to seek than any such accident. The effect of colors upon animals 
— as red upon a bull or turkey-cock — is a perfectly well-known fact, 
though one not satisfactorily accounted for. 
This recalls a very curious case once brought to my professional notice, 
of a little child with some obscure nervous affection of the eyes, which 
rendered him painfully sensitive to light. This child delighted in 
anything blue, and the mental impressibility was so great that it was 
transferred from color to sound. There is a very strange connection, as 
musicians well know, between the two kinds of impressions derived from 
light-vibrations and sound-waves. The mother of the child could always 
soothe and please it by singing or playing “ blue music,” as it is called; 
while a few notes of “ red music” sufficed to make the child cry out as if 
in great distress, and if continued, almost threw it into convulsions. 
As if the bird’s case were not already sufficiently curious and obscure, 
Mr. Crook later informed me that when his blue- crazed Red Linnet 
moulted, as it did last fall, not a single red feather showed itself; the 
former red feathers all came out yellow , as is so frequently the case with 
these red birds when moulting in confinement. If Carpodacus could only 
tell us, now, all he knows about the three primary colors, and express it 
in the music of his song ! — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 
The Lark Finch again in Massachusetts. — On the 6th of April last, 
while “hunting without a gun,” I saw for a moment a bird which I was 
confident was Chondestes gra?nmicus. I visited the locality repeatedly 
after that, but without result until the evening of April 29, when I heard 
