190 
General Notes. 
The Eggs of the Curlew Sandpiper ( Tringa subarquata ). — The 
eggs of this species have hitherto escaped the researches of European 
ornithologists, and up to the present moment have continued to be an 
especial object of search, and an occasion of renewed disappointment. In 
a recent visit to Washington, I saw, among the interesting things brought 
back by Mr. Ludovic Kumlien from the Howgate Arctic expedition, two 
eggs of this very rare species, which he was enabled to procure, through the 
attentions of Governor Fencker, in the neighborhood of Christian shaab in 
North Greenland. One egg measures 1.52 inches in length by 1.05 
in breadth. Its ground color is drab, with a distinct shade of olive, 
and it is thickly marked with blotches of two shades of umber-brown, one 
quite light, the other much darker. These are most numerous on and 
around the larger end, and are in a somewhat longitudinal direction, with 
a tendency also to a spiral course. There are also a few spots, of a very 
dark color, almost a black, on the larger end. The other egg measures 
1.47 X 1.04 inches, and is much more pyriform in shape. Its ground color 
is a very light greenish drab, with rather sparse markings of a deep umber. 
These are larger and more confluent about the greater end of the egg, 
where they are chiefly disposed in a circular ring. The rest of the egg is 
sparsely marked with the same. About the larger end are also a few very 
dark markings. — T. M. Brewer, Boston , Mass. 
O 7 7 
Capture ok the European Widgeon in North Carolina. — On 
the 17th of last December, a gentleman called my attention to a European 
Widgeon hanging up with a bunch of Ducks, in an express office in New 
York. The expressman, of course, had no right to part with the bird, 
and as the address was wrong, I was unable to follow up the Ducks. The 
man promised my companion to send him the true address as soon as he 
received it, but nothing further was heard from him. The bird was a 
male in full plumage, and, as I have since learned, came from Currituck. 
Another of these Widgeons was killed at Currituck, on January 17, 1879, 
by William Baylis, Esq., of Brooklyn, in whose possession it now is. 
Through the courtesy of Mr. Baylis I was permitted to examine this bird, 
which is a fine adult male. 
The first occurrence of Mareca penelope in this country was in 1842, 
when Mr. G. N. Lawrence obtained one in Fulton Market, said to have 
come from Long Island. In this Bulletin, Yol. Ill, p. 98, two specimens 
are recorded ; one from Virginia, taken in 1855, the other from Long 
Island, in 1873. 
In all, five authenticated individuals of M. penelope have now been re- 
corded from the Atlantic coast. Mr. Charles W. Moxon, of Point Pleas- 
ant, N. J., informs me that during the past season several red-headed 
Widgeons have been shot on Barnegat Bay. — De L. Berier, Fort Hamil- 
ton , L. I. 
Bonaparte’s Gull in Kansas. — I have in my collection of birds 
