353

V

°ig£

VI

] GeneralNotes.

353

quitewearied,asiffromaprotractedflight,and eventhe noise ofa gun caused butafew of the nearesttofly.

Ishottwo of the

Hawks

as they slowlyflewover me,both ofwhich belongedtothesamespecies,Buteoswainsoni. And,with butoneexcep- tion (an American Rough-leg),all thatIobserved wereofthisspecies.

Iestimated the

number

of

Hawks

onthisonebottom atbetween three andfourhundred,and was informed byfarmers farther up theriver that large

numbers

of the birdswereonthe bottomsthere atthe sametime.

The

greater

number

resumedtheirjourneysouthward in aloose body an houror so aftersunrise, but afew remained throughout the day.

The

next

morning

none wereseen.

Itwould beextremelyinterestingto

know

thecause ofthis unusual flightof Hawks. I have

known

for

some

time that Buteostvaiusoui migrates tothe south inthe fall, but have neverbefore seen them in flocks,orgoing southwardso earlyin the season. There had been no coldweatherhereatthetime of theflight; rather the opposite. Possibly inthe Dakotas (their breeding grounds) there

may

have been

some

atmospheric disturbance which would account for the early exodus.

There was also a very large flight ofBartramian Sandpipers on the same morning,butnoother birdswere present in unusualnumbers.

—

Merritt

Cary, Neligh, Nebraska.

A

Musical Woodpecker.

— My

^{attention was firstcalled to this tal-}

ented birdbytherapid vibrationsofoneof the fourwiresrunning into ouroffice.

Looking down

the trackfrom where the noise seemed to proceedIspied a Red-headed

Woodpecker

(Melanerpeserythrocephalus) ontopof apole not faraway. Leaving theoffice I went

down

to the stock penstowatch proceedings. I did nothave long to wait,for he began inashort time

drumming

vigorously againsta protruding piece ofwire.

The

pieceofwire in question wasabout ten or twelve inches long with a loop inthe center; itstood straight up parallel with the poleand aboutsixinchesaboveit,andprotruded from ajoint orsplice inthe wire,leftthereby

some

carelesslineman.

The Woodpecker

would

drum

againstitfor tento fifteen seconds ata time,stopping

now

andthento listen tothe

humming

ofthe wire, orfly outtocatch apassinginsect.

He

wouldstopandlisten inevident enjoy- ment,thenutter a callandproceed.

He

keptthisupforover a month,

when

hedisappearedandIhavenot seen

him

since.

—

Otto

Holsteix, Muir, Ky.

Note onthe

Name

Drymophila.

—

Mr. H.C.Oberholserhas recently (Proc.Acad.Nat. Sci. Phil.,June, 1S99,213)

made

useof

Temminck's

name Drymophila

toreplacePkilentoma Eyton,for agenusofOld

World

Flycatchers,onthe supposition thatSwainson'sDrymophila waspreoccu- pied*by

Temminck's

use of the term. Swainson first published it in Oct., 1S24 (Zool. Journ., I, 302), withoutdiagnosis or indication ofa

354

^{GeneralNotes.}

type species,and itwas notproperlysetforth by

him

until July, 1S25 (Zool. Journ.,II,149). Meanwhile,

Temminck

(PI. Col.,livr.56,March, 1825,pi.334)had applied itto agenus of Muscicapidae, thusblocking itsfurther useas aSwainsonian name. Consequently,Mr. Oberholser adoptedDrymophilatosupersede Philetitoma,which coursewould have been perfectlyproper,had notMr. Geo. Such described a Drymophila variegatain Jan.,1S25 (Zool. Journ.,I,559),whichfixed thename, and invalidateditsusefor

Temminck's

genus. Philetitomawill thus remain the properterm forthe genus established by Eyton,and Drymophila Such {ex Swains.) will becomevalid as the

name

of the genus

now

calledFormicivora(Swains.,July, 1825,neeFormicivorus

Temm.,

1S07).

Prof.

Newton

has recentlynoted the untenability ofFormicivora (Diet.

Birds, 1S93, 2 °» footnote), and suggested Eriodora Gloger, 1827, as apparently the correct

name

ofthe genus. Itwill be seenfrom the above, however, that thegenus should stand asDrymophila, with the following species:

Drymophilagrisea (Bodd.),D.intermedia (Cab.),

D.

rufatra (Lafr.

&

D'Orb.), D. strigilata (Max.), D. speciosa (Salv.), D. ferruginea (Licht.),D.striata (Spix),D. caudata (Scl.),D. genei (De Fil.), D.

malum (Temm.), D.

squamata (Licht.),

D.

boucardi(Scl.), D. conso- brina (Scl.), D. virgala (Lawr.), D. quixensis (Corn.), D. bicolor (Pelz.).

—

Chas.

W. Richmond,

Washington,D. C.

New Song

ofthe Baltimore Oriole.—I wish to callthe attention of the readers of'The

Auk'

toa seemingly

new

song which a

number

ofBaltimoreOrioles {Icterus galbida)haveacquired.

The

Oriolessing- ingitare abundantin and about Prides Crossingand Beverly Farms, Mass.,though similarsingerselsewhere have beenreported only from SouthBerwick,Maine.

The new

songisasfollows:

Deliberate^.

^ Rapmy