A singularly marked Specimen of <I>Sphyropicus thyroideus</I>

1887.] General Notes.

^

this species, he says he should havecertainly sent

them

to

me

thenfor examination.

Mr.

Brown

has also sent tome, since the publication of

my

paper, the headand neckofan adult male, killed July 19, 1SS6, in the Barboqnivari Mountains.

The

specimen,

when

received

by

Mr.

Brown, was

too far goneto

make

a goodskin, butbeing remarkableforits whiteness he saved the head, which is

now

before me.

A

broad white superciliary stripe runs from the nostrils on each sideof thehead tothe nape,meeting

on

the forehead.

There

isaconspicuous white maxillary patch, and thean- teriorpartof thethroatiswhite, with

more

orlesswhite

mixed

with the blackover the remainder of the throat.

The

superciliarystripes are as broad andaswelldefinedas in C.graysoni,and onthe throatthereisnearly as

much

whiteasblack.

The

specimen,therefore,very nearly agrees with the form

known

as C. graysoni

— much more

nearly than

any

other pre- viously examined,or thanwithtypical C. ridgzuayi

—

and goesfartoward bridging the slight gap between these two forms. This is particularly interesting, fromthetactthat thisspecimenisnotonlyfrom Arizona,but from the

same

locality asthe othersobtainedby Mr.

Brown.

Mr.

Brown

writesto

me

thathewill soon

renew

hisinvestigationof the habitsofthis species, in the hope ofsecuring its nestandeggs.

One

of his collectors found a nest last year, containing eight eggs, but his col- lectordelayed taking them,in the expectation that

more

wouldbe laid

;

butonvisitingthe nestagainhe foundthatthe eggshadhatched,andthe prizewasthus lost.—J. A.

Allen, Am.

Mus. Nat. Hist.,

New

2'orkCity.

The

Golden Eagle in Eastern Massachusetts.

— Two

Massachusetts specimensof the

Golden

Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) have recently

come

into

my

possession.

The

first,afemale,waskilled in Paxton (Worcester Co.), Oct. 22, 1883; the second, a male, in Lynnfield, Nov. 23, 1886.

—

William Brewster,

Cambridge, Mass.

The

^Black Gyrfalcon (Falcorusticoliis obsoletus) inEastern Maine.

—

Mr. F.B. Websterhas justsold

me

a typicalexample ₍$)ofthis fineFal- con which

came

to

him

in theflesh from a

gunner

at Rockland, Maine.

It

was

received Nov. 26, 1866, and judging from appearances, had been killed abouta

week

or ten days previous to this date.

—

William Brew-

ster, Cambridge, Mass.

A

Singularly

Marked Specimen

of Sphyrapicus thyroideus.

— A

very singularly

marked

adult maleofthis species

was

sometime since kindlv sentto

me

forexaminationby Mr. C. A. Allen, ofNicasio,California. It

was

shotinBlue Canon, California, Oct._9, 1S7S,and anotherlikeit

was

said to have beenseeninthe

same

locality. This specimendiffersfromthe ordinary adult male of this species in havingalargepatch of crimson- scarlet on the crown, about halfan inch broad, and

commencing

about

.15of an inchfrom thebase of the

culmen

; anteriorly, thisredpatch has a quite regulartransverseoutline,but posteriorly the red feathers

become

hfc General Notes. [January

scattered so thaton thatportion thepatch isbroken and irregular. This redcrown-patch ^isvery similar to that adorning the adult male of Cen- turus uropygialis, but ^is rather larger, extends further forward on the crown, and is

more

scarlet in color.

On

the throat, the usual red stripe isextended posteriorly very nearlyto the yellow ofthe

abdomen

; back of

its usuallimits, however, the redbecomes graduallyduller,untilitfinally changes to a dull brownish hue. This red throat-patch also gradually widensposteriorlyto near ^its extremity, being at the widest part

more

thanhalfan inch broad. In all other respects the

plumage

^ofthe bird is quite normal.

The

interscapularsare largelywhitecentrally,eachfeather,

hayinga conspicuous longitudinal, broad, white ^stripe, but these white markings are almost entirely concealed

when

the feathers occupy their natural position; sometimesthese whitemarkingsare.however,observable inspecimens havingthe redof normal development.

The

bellyisrather pale for Californian examples of this species, which are usually

much

brighter colored beneath than those from the interior. Thereis,

how-

ever,

much

variation in this respect.

The measurements

are asfollows^: win«,S-^o; ^tail 3.80; culmen, 1.05: tarsus,.85.

—

R.

Ridgway,

Washing- ton,

D.

C.

On

an Addition to the Ornithology of South Carolina.

— ^Toward

^the

closeoftheafternoon ofDec. 9, 18S6. asmallflock ofoveradozen Black- birds,accompanied by ^astraggling

company

ofMeadowlarks.

was

noticed onabarren ^{field in the} suburbsofChester.

At

the distance,theyappeared tobe Purple Grackles.

Hoping

tofindan example_ofceneus

among

them,

I wentin pursuit, but, asthe 'Larks'wereinclined to lingerbehind, Ihad considerable difficulty ingetting within shooting distance. Afteratime, however. ^I succeeded in temporarily separatingthem, driving the Black- birds into a tree. Three specimens were secured, but of a kind wholly unexpected

—

^notBronzed, but Brewer's Blackbirds {Scolecophagits cyano- cephalus).

On

the following

morning

twoadditional examples werecap- tured,

making

atotal of three males and two females.

That

these birds werewaifs and strays, mere accidentals, seems improbable. Their

num-

bers and condition (those taken wereveryfat), considered in connection with thedemonstrated tendency of certain species of the

West

toextend theirmigrationsto the South AtlanticStates,appeartoindicate that they were irregularmigrants,borneeastward on the cold

wave

which struck Chester onthe night of

December

3,coveringthegroundfor aweek with snow.

To

whatextent thelistofSouth Carolinianbirds iscapable ofexpansion can only be conjectured.

The

experiences of the past few years have taught ustoexpect almost any migratorybirdinhabiting the Mississippi Valley. If

we

areevertoarrive ata CompleteCatalogue,'ifsuchathing beattainable, it will only be through persistent useof the gun, and by carefuland systematic examination of

many

specimens ofevery species having a western sub-specific representative.

—

Leverett M.

^Loomis, Chester. S. C.