GENERAL NOTES. 
Migration of Urinator imber.—Seconnet Point, Rhode Island, April 16, 
1892. Clear weather, sea calm, wind light, northwest. I saw twenty to 
twenty-five Loons today flying toward the east, on migration, at an 
elevation of about sixty yards; there were five in one flock, and six in 
another, the others scattering. April 17, I saw six flying east on migra¬ 
tion, with a light west wind. April 18, wind east to southeast, I saw only 
two or three today flying east. April 19, I saw four flying east; they 
were well up; wind light, northwest. April 20, no air moving, vane 
pointed northwest, I saw six, four of which were in company, all flying 
east; they were up about seventy-five yards. April 21, I saw two flying 
east, about sixty yards up. I shot one, an adult in full plumage, weighing 
eleven pounds; I have shot them larger and heavier. 
Loons fly in large numbers all through May up to June first, when the 
migration seems over for those going north, the height of abundance 
being from the fifteenth of May to June first. A southwest wind is par¬ 
ticularly favorable for such northern migration. One of their principal 
lines of flight is up Buzzard’s Bay, crossing the land (the narrowest 
part) to Cape Cod Bay. While making this flight a great many are killed 
between Tobey and Mashnee Islands. I have seen here years ago three 
tiers of ten or a dozen boats each (and I am informed such is often the case 
at the present time) stretched across the strait between the above islands. 
Fifty to sixty Loons are killed sometimes, on a good southwest morning 
(they fly again at about dark), and as many more wounded ones are shot 
down which are not recovered. When the wind is from any other quarter 
than southwest, they pass overhead very high up. — George II. Mackay, 
Nantucket, Mass. Auk W,July, 1892 . p. 292 . 
