General Notes. 
45 
I may further add that I have searched the Reports and record of dona- 
tions to the Academy from 1862 to 1875, without finding any reference to 
this specimen. — Spencer Trotter, Philadelphia , Pa. 
The Black-throated Bunting ( Euspiza americana ) nesting in Mas- 
sachusetts. — Mr. Frank E. Bean of Medford has called my attention to 
a nest and four eggs of this bird found by him in the above town on the 
9th of June, 1877, at which date the eggs were fresh. The nest, seem- 
ingly large for the species, was supported about a foot from the ground by 
the stem of a bush and the blades of the grass-clump in which it was 
placed. Both nest and eggs are quite typical. Towards the last of June 
he found, in another locality, a second nest containing four young. This 
was in a field bordering the highway ; the song of the male bird perched 
on the fence-rails hard by first attracted his attention, and both birds 
were soon seen feeding the nestlings. Mr. Bean thinks that more than 
these two pairs may have raised young in his vicinity, as he has heard 
other birds in this and previous years. But few instances of the nesting 
of the Black-throated Bunting in Massachusetts are known, and it is to be 
hoped that this bird of “neat plumage” and “trim form,” so common in 
the Middle and Western States, where it is known as the “Little Field 
Lark,” “ Dick-sissel” and “Judas-Bird,” will gradually become a perma- 
nent resident of our fields and bushy pastures. — H. A. Purdie, Newton , 
Mass. 
The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ( Polioptila ccerulea ) in Massachu- 
setts. — Through the kindness of Mr. Arthur Smith of Brookline I am 
enabled to add this species to our list of Massachusetts Birds. On the 18th 
of November, 1877, he noticed a bird flying about in a small orchard at 
Chatham (Cape Cod), but was unable to identify it, and failed to procure 
the specimen. A few days later his friend, Mr. Stephen Decatur, shot a 
female P. ccerulea in the same locality, which was undoubtedly the same 
specimen, as Mr. Smith has preserved it and recognizes it as the species 
seen by himself. 
A few specimens have been taken in Rhode Island, though it is but re- 
cently that the Gnatcatcher has been recorded as a bird of New England. 
— Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 
The Capture of several Rare Birds near West Point, New 
York. — 1. Corvus ossifragus, Wilson. On the 7th of May, 1877, as I 
was walking up from the river, my attention was attracted to the very 
singular utterance of a Crow that sat on an oak-tree in front of Mr. Pell’s 
house. Its note was a hollow, guttural croak, quite unlike the cawing of 
the common species ( Corvus americanus ). I regarded the bird curiously 
for several moments, but as I had never before heard the note of the Fish 
Crow, I passed on, attributing this singular vocal demonstration to some 
uncommonly strong emotion, — perhaps it was a parent bird whose nest 
I had spoiled, not far from that place, several days previous. Accepting 
