The capture of <I>Basiliuna leucotis</I> in southern Arizona

^"'J^'-^^] GeneralNotes. 32!^

Baird's Sandpiper near

Washington,

D. C.

— On

Sept. _{3, 1894,} while collecting Sandpipers and other birds on the floating confervae

on

the flats inthe

Potomac

River,oflT the

mouth

of

Four

Mile

Run,

Alexandria County, Virginia, I took a fine

immature

male specimen of Tritiga bairdii. This specimen has been identified byMr.

Ridgway

and is the

firstrecorded instancefrom the Virginiasand the District of Columbia.

Itwas aloneat the time, though iiundreds of individuals of Ereunetes

piisilliis, Trhiga maculata and Tota7ius flavipes were flying about or feedingon thesurface ofthe confervse.

—

^R. S.

Matthews,

Washington,

D.

C.

The

Ruff

and Western

SandpipernearWashington,D.C.

— With

other

Waders

on the confervteoflFthe

mouth

of

Four

Mile

Run,

Alexandria County,Virginia, I collectedon September3, 1894, an immaturefemale pavoncella pugnux.

The

condition of the specimen would warrantthe beliefthat it was bred on this continent.

I also took on September 8, at the

same

place,an immature male Ereunetes occidentalis, which is the first record from this locality. In contrast with the excessive fatness of

many

specimens of the Least and other Sawdpipers taken lately at the

same

place, both the above, especially the Sandpiper, were quite lean.

A

second specimen, an immature female, was taken on Sept. 11, at the

same

place, by Mr.

R. S. Matthews.

These

specimens were seen and identified by Mr.

R. Ridgway.

—

William Palmer,

Washington,

D.

C.

An

Asiatic

Cuckoo on

thePribylof Islands, Alaska.^{^}

—

-An adult male

Cuckoo

(No. 118864U. S. N.

M.

Coll.) thatI collected

among

the sand dunes of Northeast Point, St. Paul's Island, on_July 4, 1S90, has been identified by Dr. L. Stejneger as Citculus canortis telephojitis (Heine).

Thisbird,

whose summer

habitatis Japan and Kamtschatka,has several times been taken on Bering Island.

When

collected it was busily engagedcapturing

some

largeflies,whichareabundantontheseislands, and withwhich its stomach wasliterally packed. Ithad been seen

by

thenatives in the

same

place for

more

than two weeks,and was probably the

same

individual seenby myself on June 13,

when

becalmed ina fog

oft"the easternsideof the

same

island,onwhich occasion it circledover- headlikeaGullfor

some

time whilecalmlyinspectingthe boat,andthen

moved

oft'northwards.

—

William Palmer,

Washington^

D.

C.

The

Capture of Basilinna leucotis in Southern Arizona.

— While

collecting in thehigh ChiricahuaMountains, in southernArizona during the past

summer,

the writer hadthe pleasure of securinga specimenof Basilinnaleucotis,a

new

bird to the UnitedStates.

During

the early part ofJunea

camp

was

made

at Fly Park, a well

wooded

area southeast of the head of Pinery Canon, at an altitude of about io,ooofeet.

A

^boreal honeysuckle (^Eonicera iuvolucrata) grows

326

^{GeneralNotes.}

Yo^

commonl}' through the scattered

woods

of spruce {Piceaengelmanni), fir {PsetidotsHffa taxifolia), pine {Pifius ayacahuite) and aspen {Popultis treinttloides).

The

flowers of the honejsuclcle attract great

numbers

of limnmers,and hundredsof Selasphorus platycerctis,and

many

Rugenes fulgens^Sind Cmligenaclemencicewereseen dailyabouttheclumps. Early on the

morning

ofJune9,in

company

with Mr. Fred. Hall Fowler, the writersawa femaleBasilinnaleucotis sittingon a dead twig ofa Loni- cerabush close to the ground,

warming

itselfin the rays of the rising sun.

The

white stripe on the side of thehead was plainlyvisible,and led to^its speedycapture. Subsequentlyotherswerelooked for but none were

seen.—

A. K. Fisher, Washington,

D.

C.

Breeding of the Prairie

Horned

Lark{Otocoris alpestris praticola) near Pittsfield, Mass.

— ^Sometime

^{since I received a letter from Mr.}

Henry

R. Buck, of Weathersfield, Conn.,givinga detailedaccountof the discovery ofa smallcolonyof Prairie

Horned

Larks, evidently breeding, nearPittsfield,Mass.

Although

theold birds were not taken,they were carefullyobserved, and Mr. Buck's intelligent description ofthem, and of the nestand eggs heobtained leaves theiridentification scarcelyopen to question, as is

shown

bythe following extractsfrom hisletter. Mr.

Buck

writes: "This

summer

[1892] ^I

became

interested in a nest

....

of Otocoris alpestris, which I thought

was

only a winter visitor here.

Mr. C. H.

Buckingham

of Pittsfield,Mass.,with

whom

Iwas walking, foundthe nest July 10, 1892. . . .

The

birdhad builther nestin asheep pasture, onthe very top ofa treeless

mountain

westof Pittsfield;on the ground of course.

She

could hardly have found a

more

unprotected spot,and hadnot roofed overthe nestat^all. Itwas about fourinchesin diameter, sunk evenwith the surface of the ground,and was

composed

of a thickwall of

moss

lined with dry grass, several locks ofwool,

and

twoor three leaves.

"The

eggs were four in number,fresh, ofaboutthe.

same

shape asan English Sparrow's, ofapalegreenish ground color, spotted indistinctly but thickly with light

brown

and purplish.

The

^spots are not at all clearlydefinedand not perceptibly thickerat one end thanatthe other.

The

eggs measure .62

X

.84, .61

X

^.85and .6(

X

^{.83 inches.}

^No.

4 got cracked, so Idid notmeasureit,butit

was

aboutthesizeof the others.

"We

could not getaverycloselookatthe bird, sinceshewould sneak off

when we

wereyet quite a distance from the nest, and after she had gone about forty yards would run unconcernedly about,

among some

rocks near there,butwould always keep about the

same

distance

away

from us. If

we

followed her closely she

would

flyoffwith a steady, rapid motionof thewings,very liketheflightofaMeadowlark.

On

the groundshe raneasilyandseemedtobe abletogoquitefast.

"We saw

five or sixotherbirdsof the

same

kind nearthe place but could findnoothernest.

The

birdswerea littlelongerthanaBluebird

—

Ishould say about seven inches

—

but

much

plumper andstouter,reminding oneof a

Meadowlark

in this lespect.

They

were

brown

aboveand white