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me vrreat rstue Heron X Arde a herodjas) is a bird that rarely favors us 
with his presence in the winter months. It may be worth while, then, 
to chronicle the capture of one in the Arnold Arboretum, West Roxbury, 
Mass., either December 31, 1889, or January i, 1890. A tub of water 
stocked with minnows served to keep him alive for five or six days, when 
he suddenly died either from cold or the enervating effects of imprison¬ 
ment. His body afterwards came into my possession. A previous record 
of this species in Massachusetts in winter will be found in Bull. Nuttall 
Orn. Club, VIII, 149. 
The winter of 1889—90 was on the whole a very mild one, with but 
little snow, yet marked by great and sudden changes of temperature. The 
mercury stood at 5 0 F. or thereabouts on several nights, and on the 22d 
of February it fell to —7 0 . It is worthy of note that the Yellowthroat, 
Nashville Warbler and Blue Heron above-mentioned were all birds born 
during the preceding summer. It seems reasonable to suppose that many 
young birds annually get left behind when the autumnal migration occurs. 
In such an event they might survive the following winter if it should 
prove to be a mild one, while the stoutest heart among them would prob¬ 
ably succumb to the rigors of a genuine ‘old-fashioned’ New England 
winter. — Walter Faxon, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge , 
Mass - AUKjVII^Ootj, 189G*p 0 H09-*ffO. 
