188 
General Notes. 
3. Picus pubescens, Linn. Downy Woodpecker. — During the 
winter of 1878-79 the Downy Woodpecker was several times seen in the 
sheltered timber in the vicinity of the post, and a few specimens were 
secured. Not observed during previous winters. 
4. Ceryle alcyon, Boie. Belted Kingfisher. — On April 14 and 
16, 1879, I saw a pair of Belted Kingfishers hovering over one of the 
lakes near the post in search of food, the first observation of this bird 
here. — Charles E. McChesney, Fort Sisseton, D. T. 
Capture of a Third Specimen of the Flammulated Owl ( Scops 
flammeola ) in the United States, and first Discovery of its 
Nest. — • This rare Owl was first added to our fauna by Captain John 
Feilner, who obtained a specimen at Fort Crook, Cal., August 23, I860.* 
A second specimen was collected by Dr. C. C. Newberry, thirty miles 
south of Camp Apache, Arizona, September 11, 1873.f 
I am indebted to Mr. Charles G. Brewster of Boston for the opportu- 
nity to examine a third specimen, which he recently received from Mr. 
Charles E. Aiken, who obtained it in Fremont County, Col., June 15, 
1875. The bird, an adult female, was taken from its nest, which was 
in a dead pine-tree and contained one egg. The egg is now in possession 
of the Smithsonian Institution, and Mr. II. W. Ilensliaw has kindly sent 
me the following description: In color and shape it resembles those of 
other species of its genus, and measures 1.12 x .95. — Huthven Deane, 
Cambridge , Mass. 
MacFaiilane’s Gerfalcon ( Falco gyrfalco sacer ) in Maine. — 
Visiting Providence, R. I , in April last, my friend Mr. Frederick T. 
Jencks mentioned that there was a specimen of some form of Gerfalcon 
in the Museum of Brown University in that city. I soon had the satisfac- 
tion of gazing at the bird. It was labelled “ var. sacer,” and I think correctly 
so, for it certainly is not candicans nor labradora,% and is darker than any 
examples or plates of island u~< that I have examined. Corresponding with 
* Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. Hist. N. Am. Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 58, 
1874. 
t Report upon the Ornithological Collections made during the Years 1871, 
1872, 1873, and 1874. By H. W. Hensliaw. Chapter III, Yol. Y, of the Re- 
ports of the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys west of the 
One Hundredth Meridian, in Charge of Lt. George M. Wheeler, p. 406, 1875. 
£ Mr. Ridgway, with whom I have lately had interesting correspondence on 
the Gerfalcon group, writes me that he agrees with Mr. J. H. Gurney (see 
Ibis, 1876, p. 234), that Falco obsolctus of Gmelin, based on Pennant’s “ Plain 
Falcon,” belongs to some race of Gerfalcon, but he believes that it should "be 
assigned to the now better known dark Labrador bird, rather than to any plu- 
mage of islandus or gyrfalco ; also that it cannot relate to Butco swainsoni , as 
associated by R. B. Sharpe. Mr. Ridgway still holds that sacer can be varie- 
tally separated from F. gyrfalco of Northern Europe and Asia, in contradis- 
tinction to the later views held by English writers. 
