The deltoid muscle in the Swifts

82

^{General Notes.}

[f

_LJan.^uk

regardingit. Efforts

made

toobtain

more

accurateinformationfrom the taxidermistas tothe exact dateofcapture haveentirelyfailed.

"Inregard tothe^'bird of freedom^'

my memory

is very rustyas tothe time

when

itwas shot,but the placeI

remember

distinctly. Iwassitting in

my

boatup CrosswicksCreek, quietlywaitingfor squirrels in thechest- nut

woods

of Alfred Reid (I being

somewhat

hidden by the bushes to whichthe boatwas^tied),

when

the Eaglesailed overhead,and was about to light in a tree

when

I firedacharge of duckshot and broke his

wing

near the shoulder.

He

fell in the water and was floating

down

stream

when

Ifired squirrel shotin hishead and hewas^still. I havelooked up

my

diary but can ^find norecord of the date

when

1 shot him, but think

it was late inthe fall in 188S; timeof day,aboutfiveo'clock.

The

birdis still in

my

possession.

He

measured_{6 feet 4}inches

from

tip totip.

lam

positive heisa Golden Eagle forheisfeathered to the toesand has the characteristic arrow-head feathers on head."

—

-William

C. Braislin, Brooklyn, N. Y.

The

Golden Eagle in Maine.

— On August

19, 1895, Professor F. L.

Harvey

ofthe

Maine

StateCollegeand myself were

making

the ascent of

Sandy

River Mountainin northwestMaine.

When we

hadnearly reached the

summit

ofthe mountain,

we

heard the cryof

some

raptorial bird,and a Golden Eagle (Aquila ckrysaetos) soon appeared and flew around us utteringits cry.

We

remainedat the topofthe mountainfor

some

time, during which the Eagle remained in our vicinity and seemed

much

disturbedat our presence.

We

both concluded thatthe bird had

young somewhere

in our vicinity,and asthe south side of the mountain wasa steep cliff, there is no reasonable doubt but that the bird had a nest

somewhere

onthecliff.

When

it uttered itscry

we

could hearanswering cries fromthe direction of thecliff,thus

making

itevident that the bird had

young

in the vicinity.

— Oka W. Knight,

Bangor, Maine.

A New Long

Island. N.Y., Record for the Red-bellied

Woodpecker

{Melanerpescarolinus).

— When

visitingMr. C.

UuBois

Wagstaft atBaby- lon, N.Y., last fall, 1 noticed a well-mounted specimenof this southern

Woodpecker among

acollection of localbirds,and on inquiring thepar- ticulars of ^its capture,Mr. Wagstaft informed

me

thathe shot it

upon

a locust tree close to the house, ayear ortwo afterthe war.

A

specimen

was

shot by

me

in Flushing. N.Y.,in October1S70,which I understood

was

thesecond record for

Long

Island,N.Y.,butthisbird antedates

my

specimen

some

years.

The

specimen in the collection of Mr. Geo. N.

Lawrence, which was taken at

Raynor

South bya Mr. Ward, was killed

many

years ago and was,I believe, the first record for this locality.

—

Robert

B.

Lawrence, New

York City.

The

Deltoid Muscle inthe Swifts.

—

^Inexamininga

number

ofSwifts recently I was struck with the fact that our

common Chimney

Swift (^Ch&turapelagica) lacks thedeltoidmuscle. This isinterestingasbeing

another instanceof the specialization of the Swiftsalong various lines,

andalso as

showing

the structural variation

among

different

members

of thegroup. InMacropteryxthe deltoidiswell-developed andarises

from

•two headsas in the Passeres. In Cypseloidcs,Micropus, Collocalia,and Tachornis, the deltoid issingleand reduced in size,being proportionally smallestin Tachornis. Finally, as statedabove, thedeltoidisquiteabsent in Chceturaipelagica, this beinga step beyond what isfound

among

the

Hummingbirds,

where the deltoid ispresentthough small. Itwould be interesting to

know

if other

members

of the genus Chcetura lack the

•deltoid, and also what is the condition of this muscle in Hemiprocne.

Dr. Shufeldt's figure of the

wing

muscles of Chcetura (Linn. Soc.

Journ. Zool.

XX,

pi. 22, fig. 29) shows that he too found this muscle absent,althoughnothing issaid aboutitinthe text.

I would be extremely grateful to any one for alcoholic specimens of Hemiprocne or any species of CJurtura save pclagica.

—

F. A. Lucas,

Washington,

D.

C.

The

Scissor-tailedFlycatcher inVirginia and Maryland.

— My

friend, Mr. P.

Henry

Azlett, of Azlett,

King

William County, Virginia, recently sent

me

for identificationanadult specimenof this bird {Milvulus _forfi- catus) which was shotbya farmer near that place on

August

31, 1895.

The

bird isinpoor,halfmoultedcondition. This is, Ibelieve,the fourth recordof this bird forVirginia, andit is of course possiblethat

some

or allwereescapedcagebirds.

The

^lateMr. O. N. Bryanof Bryan's Point, Maryland, on the Potomac River just belowWashington, once told

me

that in

August

ofayearaboutthecloseofthe

war

while hewasin adeep ravine near his home, called Johnson's Gully, he was overtaken by a severe storm,and saw oneof thesebirds which had evidentlysoughtthe seclusion ofthe

same

placefor shelter.

— William Palmer,

Washington,

D.

C.

The Raven

in Illinois.

—

^{I wishtoplaceon}record the captureof a speci-

men

of Corvus coraxprincipalis,at Mendosia,111., Oct.23, 1892. Iwas

atthattime

making

a collection of birds fortheState,and waslivingwith the crewof theUnitedStates Fish Commission.

The

birdhad been seen for a

week

or

more

previous to this time, flying about

Lake

Mendosia, a

body of water opening into theIllinois River.

The

lake is seven miles longandthreequartersofa mile wide.

A number

of attempts had been

made

bymarket shooterstoobtain thebird forme, but they could not get withingunshot,andsowereunsuccessful.

One

day, however,as I was passingthroughaherdofcattle, the bird flewvery low andI obtained itwithacharge of

number

five shot.

The

specimen,afemale,hadbeen feeding

upon

carrion,andtheodor fromthe bodywasasdisagreeableas that from Cathartes aura.

The plumage

is

exceptionally fine; thebodyisdeep blue black; from the secondaries to theprimarycoverts, the color is rich brownish bronze.

The

following