60 
General Notes. 
Occurrence of the Western Variety of the Yellow Red- 
poll Warbler in Massachusetts. — The first instance of the capture 
of Mr. Ridgway’s interesting variety, Dendroeca palmarum hypochrysea, in 
Massachusetts has recently come to light, a specimen having been shot by 
Mr. Arthur Smith at Brookline, about the middle of October, 1878. Mr. 
William Brewster has compared the bird with specimens in his collection, 
and, although the bird is in autumnal plumage, he says it is very typical 
of the form in question. — Ruthven Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 
The Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-chinned Humming- 
Bird in Texas. — In a letter just received from Mr. George H. Rags- 
dale, of Gainesville, Texas, he writes : “ You may mention in the January 
Bulletin my taking in Bosque County, last April, a male Dendroeca chryso- 
paria, now in the Smithsonian Institution, and two male Trochilus alex- 
andri, in Gillespie and San Saba counties, during the same month. One 
of the latter is in the Museum of Greene Smith, Peterboro’, N. Y., the 
other I have.” 
The few specimens '*' known of the above Warbler are from the high- 
lands of Vera Paz, Guatemala, and one specimen was procured on the 
Medina River, near San Antonio, Texas, in early spring, about 1864, 
which till now was its"only United States record. The species of Hummer 
has not, I believe, been before observed east of Arizona and Utah, and 
Mr. Ragsdale’s success in securing in his State two examples, and also 
a rare Dendroeca , is worth noting. — H. A. Purdie, Boston , Mass. 
Capture of two rare Birds at Riverdale, N. Y. — Among the 
rare and accidental avian visitors which have come under my observation 
as having occurred at Riverdale, N. Y., it may be well to note the fol- 
lowing; : — 
Tyrannus verticalis. Arkansas Flycatcher. — A young male, in 
somewhat worn plumage, taken on October 19, 1875, furnishes the third 
extra-limital eastern record of the species, and the first for New York 
State. The bird was first observed on the afternoon of the day previous 
to its capture, pursuing its avocation of insect-hunting from the topmost 
branches of some tall trees near a private residence, and the following day 
was again found about the same spot and without much difficulty secured. 
* Rowley’s Ornith. Misc. Part III, January, 1876, pp. 181-184, is devoted 
entirely to the history of this species, a beautiful colored plate being also given. 
Mr. Salvin, the author of the article and the discoverer of the species, corrects 
an error made by Dr. Brewer in Hist. N. A. B., I, p. 161, respecting the origi- 
nal specimens procured by Salvin in Vera Paz. He states that he never pro- 
cured more than two specimens, instead of the three Dr. Brewer speaks of, these 
two, with Dresser’s Texas one, being all that were known when he wrote. If 
none have been discovered meanwhile, Mr. Ragsdale’s is the fourth known one. 
— E. C. 
