The Coppery-tailed Trogon (<I>Trogon ambiguus</I>) breeding in southern Arizona

1387-] General Notes. ₁

6

A

Migration of

Hawks

at

Germantown,

Pa.

— On

the afternoons of September 21 and 29, 18S6, great

numbers

of

Hawks

passed over here.

They new

in awesterly direction and were observed from 2 to 4p.m. I

did not notice

them

in the

morning or on any

of the intervening.dates.

On

^the21st they

came

ina longline, two or threeatatime; occasionally they would circle about and wait until otherscaughtupwith

them

ami then all would pass on together; at no time duringthe afternoonwasI

abletocount

more

thanthirty in sightatonce.

On

the29th afew dozenpassed overasdescribedabove, andthen

came

alarge flock containing at least two hundred and fifty

Hawks. When

directlyoverhead they divided into two flocks and begancirclingabout, and finally passedontothewest.

Icouldseethattherewere several differentspeciesin the flock,but they were too high

up

for

me

to identify them.

— Witmer

Stone,

German-

toxvn,Pa.

The Saw-whet Owl

in the District of Columbia.

—

I have also the pleasure of recording the occurrence of the

Saw-whet Owl

(Nvciala acadica) in the District of Columbia.

The

first one was found by a farmerabout October3. It

was

lodged in the branchesof asmall tree,

where

it had evidently died^; from

what

cause is not positively

known.

This bird has the habit of doing this sort of thing.

A

few vearsagoI

obtainedone that had died in this manner, and about the

same

time, I

think the following year, Ihad three brought to

me

that, were found in barnsdead. This experience very conclusivelyproves to

my mind

the delicate

make-up

ofthisbirdandits inability tocopewith the adversities ofbird life.

About

a

week

later,I

am

informed,twootherswere obtained

by

afarmerjustoutside of theDistrict limits. I havenot yet ascertained whetherornot thesetwobirdswere shot orfound dead, asallthe others werethatIever obtained.

— Frederick

S.

Webster,

Was/u'ngto?i,

D.

C.

The

Imperial

Woodpecker

{Ccunpef/iilns iituperialis) in Northern Sonora.

— During

ascouting expedition in the

Apache campaign

of last yearLieutenant H. C. Benson, of theU. S.

Army,

found this speciesto be

common

inthe pineforestsof the SierraMadre, inSonora, within fifty miles of theArizona boundary.

Owing

to lack of time andfacilities he

was

unableto preserve specimens,but a head

which

he sent tothe Na- tional

Museum

renders the identification of the species positive. This magnificent bird

—

^{the largest of all}

known

Woodpeckers, considerably exceedingtheIvory-bill in size (the

wing

measuring11.70 to 13.20inches and the exposed

culmen

2.70 to 3.60 inches)

—

will doubtless soon be added to the North

American

fauna.

—

Robert Ridgway,

Washington.,

D.

C.

The

Coppery-tailed

Trogon

(Trogoii

ambi

guns') breeding in South- ernArizona.

— A young

male of this species, still in nestling plumage, thoughfullgrown, wascollected

August

24, 1885,

m

tne

Huachuca Moun-

ID2

GeneralNotes. [April

tains,by LieutenantH. C.Benson, U.S. A. Thiscapturerenders itex- tremely probablethat the

Trogon

referred to

by

Mr.

W.

E. D. Scott in 'The Auk'forOctober, 1886, p. 425, asobservedinthe Chiracahua

Moun-

tains,was this species,

which

isthe onlyone of theRed-belliedMexican species

whose

range extends

beyond

the southern half ofthat country.

Lieutenant Benson's specimen, which is

now

in the National

Museum

collection, willbedescribed in full in the 'Proceedings' of the National

Museum

for 1SS7.

—

Robert Ridgway,

Washington,

D.

C.

CaptureofaFish

Crow

(Corvusossifragus) at

Wareham, Massachu-

setts.

— Inasmuch

as

my

record (Bull. Nutt. Orn.Club,I, 1S76,p. 19) ofa Fish

Crow

seen at Cambridge,

March

16, 1S75, has been treated with

wholesome

caution

—

nottosay incredulity

—

by several recent writers on

New England

birds, itgives

me

pleasureto presentasecondand quiteun- impeachable instance of the occurrence of the speciesinMassachusetts.

This time thebirdwasactuallytaken;

—

^at

^Wareham,

July16, 18S4,byMr.

E. A. Bangs, in

whose

collectionthe specimen is

now

preserved, and to

whom

^I

am

indebtedforthe followingaccountofitscapture^:

"Iwasfishingwith

my

brotherinTihonet

Pond

and,as usual on such occasions, had

my gun

withme. While crossing the

pond we

saw two birds sitting on a tree nearthe

mouth

ofabrook.

From

theiractions I

thought at first that they were Pigeons, buton getting nearer

made

out that theywereblackand resembled small Crows.

We

approached

them

withall possible caution, but theyflewbefore

we

got within sixty vards.

I brought

down

one,

when

theother. circledover it for a

moment,

butit

escaped before I could reloadthe

gun

(asingle barrel).

The

oneIkilled provedtobeafemalein fullplumage."

—

William Brewster,

Cambridge, Mass.

OccurrenceofAgelaiusphceniceus (L.)

on

the

West

CoastofEngland.

—

Additionsto theuseful'ListofOccurrencesofNorth

American

Birdsin Europe,' contributed

by

Mr. Dalgleish to the 'Bulletin' of the Nuttall Ornithological Club in 1S80, will, doubtless, always be

welcome

in the pages of 'TheAuk.' Itaffords

me much

pleasuretoadd to that list the capture of an immigrant specimen ofAgelaiusp/ia>niccns (L.)

—

a species which has beenrecorded asoccurringinBritainonat least adozenocca- sions onevidence of a

more

orless*satisfactorynature,

some

of the speci-

mens

being supposed escapes from confinement.

The

bird

now

to be recorded struck againstthe lantern of the

Nash

Lighthouse,onthe

Welsh

Coast ofthe Bristol Channel,at 3 a.m.onthe 27th ofOctoberlast,and wasintended to be forwarded to

me

byits captor,Mr.

Henry

Nicholas, one of the

most

valued observers of the British Association's Bird Mi- gration Committee, but during his absence for a few

moments was

unfortunately carried offby the cat. Mr. Nicholas had

no

difficultyin identifying the bird by the aidof his books, but I at once sent

him

a skinof thebird (anadult) inorderto test hisdeterminationof thespecies, and hereplied ''thatthebird killedvery

much

resembledtheone sentex-