Occurrence of Coturniculus lecontei in Chester County, South Carolina.—Near the town of Chester, S. C., on the dividing ridge between the Broad and Catawba Rivers, there is an “old field” of some two hundred acres that has been lying out, until recently, for a number of years. Here and there are patches of newly-sown grain, but the greater portion is now in broom-sedge and weedy stubble and corn land. Near the middle there is a small “wet-weather branch,” which empties into a large creek a mile distant. November 11, 1881, in this locality, in the weedy stubble, my first specimen of Le Conte’s Bunting was secured. Nov. 16, a second was taken in the broom-sedge near the same spot. Nov. 17, a third was shot, and several others were seen. Dec. 3, three more were captured; two in the broom-sedge, and the remaining one in the swamp grass bordering the “branch.” Dec. 10, my last visit to the field, six additional specimens were taken, and as many more were seen. I am not aware that the species has hitherto been reported as occurring so far east as South Carolina—Leverett M. Loomis, Chester, S. C.
The Sharp-tailed Finch in Kansas.—Col. N. S. Goss, of Neosho Falls, Kansas, wrote me under date of Oct. 17, 1881, that he had killed what he thought was a male Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Finch. Two days later he shot another, which he kindly sent me. The bird proved to be, as Mr. Goss supposed, Ammodramus caudacutus nelsoni. The birds were killed “at the edge of a slough, on the low bottom lands of the Neosho River, about two miles from Neosho Falls.” This discovery is of special interest as indicating that the Sharp-tailed Finch, formerly supposed to be strictly maritime in its distribution, may be found locally over a wide range in the interior.—J. A. Allen, Cambridge, Mass.
Note on Mitrephanes, a new Generic Name.—The name Mitrephorus of Sclater, P. Z. S., 1859, p. 44, is preoccupied in Coleoptera by Mitrephorus, Schönh., 1837, emended Mitrophorus, Burm., 1844. It may therefore be changed to Mitrephanes; type Mitrephanes phæocercus (Scl.); including Mitrephanes aurantiiventris (Lawr.), if not also Mitrephanes fulvifrons (Grd.), and its var. pallescens (Coues).—Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C.
Nesting of Empidonax minimus AND Helmintherus vermivorus in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.—Although instances of the breeding of the Least Flycatcher within the limits of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have been affirmed by Turnbull and one or two other authorities, a precise record cannot perhaps be found that will prove it to breed as far south as Philadelphia. Having found a nest and clutch of eggs belonging to this species, June 1, 1881, and satisfactorily identified the parent birds by shooting them, it is thought that this notice may prove of interest as perhaps removing doubts as to the accuracy of Turnbull’s statement. E. minimus escaped the notice of the writer till the spring of 1880, when two pairs were noticed in June in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but any nests which may have existed escaped my observation. The present year (1881) I first noticed them in Delaware County, Pa., two pairs taking up their abode in an orchard surrounding the house. Here the above mentioned nest was found, placed on a drooping branch of an apple tree fifteen feet above the ground. The species was seen and heard singing about six miles west of Camden, New Jersey, in June, and again in July at the same place; is it not just therefore to suppose this pair had a nest near the spot?
Worm-eating Warblers were noticed in full song in the vicinity of Marple, Delaware County. Pa., as early as the last week in April, and whilst on a collecting trip in May I procured three males and a female in southern Chester County, and on dissecting the latter I was surprised to find in her oviduct a partly shelled egg. On the 16th of June, 1881, a ramble in the woods resulted in finding a brood of young of this species scarcely able to fly; one of them is now in my collection and another just missed the same claim to immortality. The old birds were exceedingly solicitous but so wary that three shots failed to procure either of them.
Near Camden, New Jersey, I procured a female Worm-eating Warbler in the latter part of July, 1880; its actions and the time of year caused me to infer it had young near by.—Samuel N. Rhoads, Haddonfield, N. J.
Cuckoos Laying in the Nests of other Birds.—As far as my knowledge extends, there are only four instances known, in which the eggs of Coccygus americanus have been found in other bird’s nests, namely, the two given by Nuttall, in nests of Catbird and one by Langdon in Robin’s, and that mentioned by Ridgway in Coccygus erythrophthalmus. I was not a little astonished to find last Saturday, June 4. 1881, an egg of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a Catbird’s nest, and near by another one in the nest of a Black-billed Cuckoo. The Catbird’s nest contained only one egg of its rightful owner; another Catbird’s egg was found broken on the ground. The Cuckoo’s egg was fresh, but the Catbird’s egg was incubated. The nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo contained besides the parasitic egg, which was fresh, two eggs, both incubated, but one much more than the other, the embryo being fully developed. The parent bird (Coccygus erythrophthalmus) was sitting, but left when the tree was ascended and stationed itself on a near tree to watch our movements.
The circumstances attending the discovery of these two eggs make me think that such cases of parasitic Cuckoo’s eggs might not be so very exceptional and still evade the watchful eye of the collecting oölogist or of the observing ornithologist. I went out to look for nests of Empidonax acadicus. I took my nephew, a lad of fifteen, with me to assist in taking down nests from trees. In passing a thicket by the wayside, he looked in and immediately called out, “a big nest, blue eggs.” Judging from the surroundings, I replied without taking the trouble to look at the thing, “a Catbird’s nest; let it alone.” We passed on and after a little while a Catbird crossed our way. He saw the bird and I told him that this was the Catbird whose nest he had just found. He wondered that a bird of this size lays such large eggs. Inquiring how large the egg was, he showed the size with thumb and index. I smiled and said it was not exactly that big, but he insisted, and I concluded to walk back and look at the eggs, when the discovery was made. Who cares to look into each of the dozen of Catbird’s nests we find in the course of a season? We are satisfied to know that this is the nest of the Robin, the Wood thrush, the Catbird; but we do not think of taking the trouble to look every time at their eggs or young.
Still more likely to elude discovery would the strange egg be in the other Cookoo’s nest. In this neighborhood at least are the Cuckoo’s nests generally amidst such a terribly entangled mass of wild vine that we do not care to go up for mere pleasure. I do not know how regular egg-collectors go to work; other ornithologists may operate differently. My case may be no measure. I give it only to draw attention to the matter, and I have made up my mind to despise no more Catbirds’s nests in future.—O. Widman, St. Louis, Mo.
[Mr. Widman has overlooked a note which appeared in an early number of this Bulletin (Vol. II, p. 110), where three instances of the laying of our Cuckoos in other bird’s nests are given. Years ago when I used to take many Cuckoo’s nests each season in the apple orchards about Cambridge it was no uncommon thing to find an egg of the Black-billed species in a clutch of the Yellow-bills, and on more than one occasion, but less often, the situation would be reversed. An instance of the latter kind came under my notice in 1878, when at Belmont, Mass., I found a nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo which contained, besides two eggs of the rightful proprietor, a single one of the Yellow-bill. Speaking from memory, and without consulting my notes on the subject, I should say that at least ten per cent of the Cuckoo’s nests that I have found contained eggs of both species. But in no case have I ever seen the eggs of either kind in the nests of other birds.—William Brewster.]