Dutcher, Kaie Long Island Birds. 
Branta nigricans. Black Brant. —There is an exceptionally fine speci¬ 
men of this species in the collection, which was shot by Col. Pike in 
Great South Bay, off Islip, Long Island, in 1840. He tells me : “I had 
the skin some years before Mr. Lawrence described the Black Brant as a 
new species. 1 The late Professor Baird saw it while on a visit to my 
house and remarked that it was an interesting specimen ; this was in 1844 
when I resided in Henry Street, Brooklyn. Some years after, but subse¬ 
quent to the date Mr. Lawrence separated the Black Brant, he saw my 
specimen and gave me its correct name. Prior to that time I had con¬ 
sidered it only an exceptional Brant.” 
1 1846 . Lawrence, George N. — Description of a new species of Anser. By George 
N. Lawrence. Road March 16 , 1846 . Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, Vol. IV, 
1847 , pp. 171 , 172 , plate xii, of Anser nigricans. Issued in Nos. 6 , 7 , August, 1846 
1 . Anser nigricans, n. s., Egg Harbor, N. J., pages 171 , 172 . 
Auk >1, July, 1893 p 271. 
Dutcher, Long Island Birds. 
Branta nigricans. Black Brant —The following letter from Mr. 
George N. Lawrence, dated September 9, 1889, is of great interest: “I 
send an account of a Black Brant I saw lately at Babylon. I think this is 
the second specimen obtained on Long Island, the other being in the 
Museum of the Long Island Historical Society. In the office of the 
Watson House I saw a fine specimen which wasj killed this spring in the 
Great South Bay. On inquiry I found it was shot by William Saxton, a 
noted gunner and bayman. I went to see him to get any facts concerning 
its acquisition that he was able to give. He said Brant were unusually 
plenty in the spring, and one day while lying at his decoys he saw a flock 
of about thirty individuals approaching, and as they were passing at a 
long range he fired and knocked out five. On picking them up he 
noticed one very black in color and of rather larger size than the others • 
he at once concluded it was a Black Brant, of which he had often heard 
his father speak, though he had never seen one. He sold it with other 
birds to a dealer, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Stetson.” 
Auk X, July , 1893 p 263. 
Birds of Oneida County, New York. 
Egbert Bagg. 
Branta nigricans.—A fine specimen of this rare bird was killed by Mr. 
Agustus Dexter of Utica at Lewis Point, Madison County (on Oneida 
Lake), Oct. 30, 1891. The bird flew in from the lake and alighted on the 
sand beach, where it was attacked by Crows. These birds attracted its 
attention so that Mr. Dexter easily walked within range and secured the 
bird. 
Auk XI. April. 1894 p. 108 
JZ/oricf/s 7a 7^ 7z< y 
Black Brant and Marbled Godwit on Long Island, N. Y.— On March 31 , 
1908 , in a heavy southeaster, while lying in a battery for Branf in the 
Great South Bay, near Babylon, L. I., a flock of seven came to the decoys. 
All were seen plainly. Six were of the common variety, while the seventh 
was so much darker in appearance than the rest, that I immediately shot 
and secured it. The bird proved to be a remarkably fine old male Black 
Brant (Branta nigricans). I think this is the first Long Island record in 
a number of years. 
The Great Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa), while never common on 
Long Island, has become now quite rare, so I wish to record a specimen 
taken by my brother, Harold E Herrick, at Lawrence on August 21 , 1907 , 
and another taken by myself at the same place July 21 , 1900 .— Newbold 
L. Herrick, New York City. 
Auk 25 Oct. 190ft ,p. q 
77 
