Mr. Townsend regards it

2'lv) Geucral Notes. (April

ten miles north of the Mexican boundary. These specimens consist of males andfemales in nearlyequalnumber, andfurnish materialfora very satisfactoryaccountofthe species,which will formthe subject ofa special paper soon toappearinthe 'Bulletin'of the

American Museum

ofNatural History.

The

paperwillbeillustratedwitha colored plate, givingfigures ofboth sexes. In thisconnection Iwill therefore merely state that the original specimen onwhichthespecieswas basedprovesto be rather ex- ceptionalincertain features,

most

of the specimens before

me

showing a

more

or lesswell-markedwhitesuperciliary line,which isquite absent in thetype.

The

female proves, rather curiously,tobe scarcely distinguish- ablefrom thefemale of Coliiius virginiauus texantis., differing less froin thisthanthe latterdoesfromthefemale ofC. virginiauusverus.

Greatcreditisdue Mr.

Brown

forhisefforts,insecuring thesespecimens hehavingsentoutcollectors on several different occasions especiallyin_

quest of the species.—J.A.

Allen,

y4w. Miis. Nat. Hist.,Nczv 7'ork City.

Discovery of the Breeding Place of

McKay's

Snowflake {Plectrof/ie- tiaxhvferborens^.

—

IntheJanuary'Auk'(p. 135),^Imentioned the factthat the breeding rangeof thisspecieswas "notpolar,"butonthe otherhand

"considerably south of the Arctic Ocean," at the

same

time intimating thatIwas not at liberty toexplain the nature of theevidence

upon

which the statementwas based. Since his return from an extended cruiseon the U. S.

Revenue

Cutter 'Corwin,'Mr. Chas. H.

Townsend

has given

me

permissionto publish the facts bearingon the case.

On

the 8th of September, 18S5. Mr.

Townsend,

with others of the 'Corwin's' party, landedon Hall Island, in Bering'sSea (lat.about 60^30' N., long. 173°

W.),a smallislandlyingjustnorth of St. Matthew's Island. Although the greater portion ofthedaj'was

consumed

inthehuntingofpolarbears, a1600lb. specimenof which was shot and skinned, Mr.

Townsend

had timeto get asmall

number

ofbirds, twoofwhich were Plcctrofhcnax hy- fcrborciis,oneof

them

a

young

bird in firstplumage, thoughfull-grown, theother, anadultjustmoulted into thefall plumage, the moult in fact not quite complete. These specimens will be described in the current

volume (Volume

IX), of the 'Proceedings' ofthe U. S. National

Museum.

These birds were fairlyabundant on the island, but

much

scattered,not havingyetcollected intoflocks. Mr.

Townsend

regardsit as veryproba- ble thaton St. Matthew'sIsland, less than five miles to the southward, and

many

timeslarger thanHall Island (being, in fact,aboutthirtymiles long,and mountainous),the species

may

haveitscentreofabundance.

The

occurrence of P.hyperboreusin winteratSt. Michaels and at Nushagak, pointsontheAlaskan coastto the northeast and southeast, respectively, from St. Matthew's and Hall's Islands,and not atPoint

Barrow

or other portions of northern Alaska,isthus accounted for. It is a very singular circumstance, however, that the Snowflakes breeding on the Prybilov Islands,onlytwo hundredmilesto thesouthward,areP.>iivalis,asisattest- edby

numerous

specimens brought from St.Paul'sandSt. George'sby Mr.

Henrv W.

^{Elliott,and from} Otter IslandbyMr.

Townsend.

^{It would} be

iSS6.] General Notes.

27

7

interesting to ascertainwhichspecies breeds on theverj' large island of St. Lawrence,aboutonehundred andsixtjmiles northfromHall'sIsland, although theproximityof the Siberian mainland,which is lessthanfifty milesdistant,

may

determinethespecies asP.nivalis.

— Robert Ridgway,

Washington, D. C.

Immature

Dress of Melospiza palustris.

— A young

female of this species, takenatCanton,O.,October i6, 1S85, differs so

much

from the published descriptions ofthespecies that it was referred to the father of

young

ornithologists. Dr. Coues.

At

his suggestion that the pecu- liaritieso{the.yotififfhu'd, though

known

to him, would be of^{interest, I}

make

the following notes ofits pointsofdifferencefromthe adult.

Superciliarylinepale but distinct

lemon

yellow; crown dark chestnut brown, only slightly darker on the forehead, where the black streaks

become more

numerous, withoutanyofthebright chestnut of the adult;

median

line ashy, faintly tinged with yellowish; sides of the head and lower throat faintly tinged with yellowish brown, which color extends alongthefronthalfofthecervical collar; the black streaks on the back and thebayonthewingslessprominent; innertertiariesedgedandtipped with bay; nowhitish.

Having

only two specimens from which to

draw

comparisons, these pointsarenotedwithdiffidence.

The

yellow superciliary line, however, being so distinct, and contrary to the usual description of the genus, seems to be worthy of the attention ofornithologists.

—

^{R. H. Bulley,}

Canton, O.

[This is another case of 'Passercidus caboti'; see Bull. Nutt. Orn.

Club, Vol. VIII, 1SS3,p.

58.—

E.

C]

Wintering of the White-throated and Ipswich Sparrows in Maine.

—

On

January 20, 1SS6, I shot a White-throated Sparrow at Saco, Maine.

It seemed to be comfortably' settled for the winter-in a

swampy

piece ofwoods, consistingchiefly ofbirches,witha scatteringofj'oungspruces.

It wasin dullautumnal plumage, and provedondissectiontobeamale.

On

January23, Ifound twoIpswichSparrows in the beach grass about half-way between Pine Point and Old Orchard. I

managed

to secure

them

both,though notwithout

some

difficulty, as they were exceedingly shv.

Taking

thelatenessofthedateand thesevere weather which prevailed for two weeks previous into consideration, I believe that both species were undoubtedly wintering.

They

certainly had not suffered for food, asallthreewerewellfeathered and plump, the Whitethroatin particular beingquite fat.

—

Joseph ^L.Good.\le, Cambridge, Mass.

Junco

hyemalis Nesting in a Bush.

—

Apropos of

my

description of thenesting of Junco carolinensis,* Mr. S. N. Rhoads, of Haddonsfield,

*Auk, Vol.Ill,No. I,Jan. 1886,p.109.