<I>Falco dominicensis</I> Gmel., versus <I>Falco sparverioides</I> Vig

(1)

'Spi'] General Nofes.

113

midst ofa flockof several Imiuh-eil birds, wliiclichanced tosettle rii^litin frontof us.

They

were very tamo.

All birds taken previoustoSept. 26were NorthernPhalaropes,andwhile

it isnot possible to state that all the Phalaropes seen were of the

same

species,

we

can sajthatnoindividual wasnoticed withany specially dis- tinctcoloring to attractourattention.

A

^singlespecimen of

Red

Phala- rope was taken Sept. 26 about one mile offshore. It was

swimming

aboutalone,and ondissectionprovedtohave beenfeeding

on

landinsects, probably blownoft"bythestiff'northwesterthen in fullforce.

What

Idesire to call attentionto in thiscase isthat abird of not reg- ularoccurrencesuddenlyappearsin large numbers, and oncewith us re-

mains for sixweeks.

As

evidence that nearlyall birdsseenwere included in the original flock,Iwould saythat,—1st,thePhalaropes appearedin aflock,afterastift'

although shortnortheast wind. 2nd,

On

days

when many

small bunches wereseen,

we

did notsee the largeflock. 3rd,Birdsstartled didnot seem to us to

make

any attempttoresumeaflight, butsimplyflewoflf and set- tled

down

again.

Twelve

or fifteen were taken, all being veryfat.

— W.

A. Jeffries, Boston, Mass.

Golden Eagle at Shelter Island,

New

York.

— A

^fine specimenofthis noble birdwasshotat Shelter IslandHeightsonthe 19thoflastOctober, and brought

me

to be mounted. Itwasafemale,in

young

of the year plumage, and exhibited the followingmeasurements (in inches), taken before skinning: length36.25,extent82.25,

wing

24.87,^tail13.75,culmen

1.75, gape 2.70, tarsus 4.25.

The

craw and stomach contained the re-

mains ofa rabbit.

The young man who

shot ^itstated thatit

was

inthe act of

swooping down upon

him, being within a few yards,

when

he fired,anditfell deadat his feet. This is the first instance of the occur- rence of^this speciesherethathas

come

to

my

notice,and itisa rare rec- ord for

Long

Island.

— W. W. Worthington,

Shelter Island Heights,

N.r.

Falco dominicensis Gmel. versus Falco sparverioides Vig.

—

Although thevery diflerent lookingbirds towhichtheabove names, in a restricted sense, respectively belong, usuallyhave beenrecognizedas distinct species, their specific identitywas claimed on

good

evidence as long agoas 1855 byDr. _J. Gundlach,

who

then stated,* as he has subsequently on various occasions, that he found the two paired together, and undoubt- edly holding the relation to one another of light and dark individual phases.

Such

relationship, however, seemed so improbable, thatmost authors (the present writer

among

the

number)

have overlooked or declinedtoaccept Dr. Gundlach'stestimony,or (asin

my own

case)have

*Erinn. VIII, Jahresb. Deutsch. Orn.-Gess.p-Ixxxiv(Journ.furOrn.1854,extra- heft).

(2)

114

^General ^Note». ^[January

deferreditsacceptance untiltheproofcould beseen.

Any

doubts which

I

may

haveentertained inthe matter have been thoroughly dispelledby a series ofySpecimens which Dr.

Gundlach

has sent to the National

Museum.

F. doniinicensis beingthe older

name,

F. sparveri'otdesihere- fore

becomes

a

synonym.

—

Robert

Ridgvvay, Washi)igton^

D.

C.

Strix pratincola again near Troy, N. Y.

— On December

3, 1890, Mr.

Andrew

Peters,of

West

Troy,N.Y.,found alive

American

Barn

Owl

in

an old barn aboutamileanda halfwestof the

Hudson

River at Troy.

He

shotatthe bird,andit flew out of the barn and

away

out of sight.

Crows

soon found the

Owl

^{and began}^to

mob

it,sothatMr.Peters again saw and shot the bird, and thus captured it. I found that this

Owl

weighed 19 oz. av., includingatwo-ounce ballof hairand bonesofmice in ^itsstomach; and thatthe bird

was

infullflesh, notfatatall,and was a not very^oldfemale.

—

Austin

F. Park, Troy,N'. T.

American Barn Owl

^{i^Strix}pratincola^

on Long

Island, N. Y.

— On

the

morning

of Sept. 10, 1890,whileat breakfast,Inoticed the noisyoutcries ofa

number

ofCrows.

Going

out to investigate, I found

them

congre- gatedinalarge oaktree,a

number

ofwhich surround

my home.

Their actions indicated the presence ofan

enemy,

for they would

swoop down upon some

object, rest a

moment,

and then fly back. Iadvanced toa position from which the cause of the rough criesand excitedactions of the

Crows

was^visible, immediately recognized the unusual visitor, and inaminute or two, claimed

him

as

my

own.

The

specimen is a light- colored male.

—

Frank

^E.

Johnson,

^Parkville,

Long

Island,

N.

Y.

Coccyzus americanus BreedingatOttawa.

—

^Lastspring (1S90)a pairof Yellow-billed

Cuckoos

built theirnestinacrab tree inour garden.

The

male and

young

escaped, but the female is

now

in

my

collection.

—

Geo.

R.

White,

Ottawa, Ontario.

A new name

necessaryforSelasphorus floresiiGould.

—

^Ifthe so-called genus Selasphorus ^is to be considered of merely subgeneric rank, as seems to be generally admitted,a

new name becomes

necessaryfor this species, a Trochilusfloresii, from Jamaica, having been described in 1S46 byBourcier, in the'Revue Zoologique'forthatyear(1846). Itwouldgive

me

^pleasure ^to

^name

the speciesthusdeprived ofa

cognomen

afterMr.

Gould, or

some

other person to

whom we

arespeciallyindebtedforour knowledge ^{of the} Trockilidie; but unfortunately the

names

of suchas could be properly used ⁱⁿconnectionwith the present speciesarealready attached tootherspecies,and thus, souncertainis the status of current generain thisfamily,mightconflictwith their use ina

new

connection.

A

descriptive

name

being therefore, under the circumstances, probably the best,Iwould ^rechristen ^it ^Trochilus ruhromifratus (or Selasphorus rubromitratus),ⁱⁿ allusion toits red hood.

— Robert Ridgway,

Wash,

insrton,

D.

C.