My specimens were sent to the late Greene Smith, Esq., Peterboro, New York, and are Nos. 961 and 962 in his Museum.—G. H. Ragsdale, Gainesville, Texas.
The Canada Jay at Portland, Maine.—A specimen of the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) was killed in Scarborough on October 15, 1880, by Mr. Luther Redlon, of Portland, and delivered into my hands a few hours after its capture. The specimen is worth noting from its being the first that I have ever known to occur in the vicinity of Portland, although its kind is said by Professor Verrill (Proc. Ess. Inst., Vol. III, p. 151) to winter commonly at Norway, Maine, only forty miles farther north.—Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Maine.
The White-throated Swift Breeding on Belt River, Montana.—About the middle of last July, while hunting on Belt River, I happened to approach the edge of the high limestone cliffs which rise above the stream for several miles after leaving the mountains. Watching the Violet-green and Crescent Swallows, which were abundant, for some time, I was about to leave, when I noticed a Swift evidently flying directly towards me. It passed only a few yards overhead, displaying at the same time the extensive white throat-patch of Cypselus saxatilis. Further search revealed some half a dozen altogether. A small opening in the rock which a bird of this species was seen to enter and reappear from several times, I approached, near enough to hear a vigorous twittering at each visit of the parent bird, from which I presume the young were well advanced. This is the only species of Swift I have yet seen in the Territory.—R. S. Williams, Gold Run, M. T.
Capture of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus canadensis) near Columbus, O.—December 13, 1881, I received a male specimen of the Golden Eagle, killed five miles west of the city.
This bird, according to information which I have gathered from various sources, had caused the farmers in the neighborhood in which it was killed a great amount of annoyance. A reward was offered, and published in our city papers, for the capture of a “Bald Eagle” (as they called it), which had killed several young calves. By further inquiry I ascertained that the bird was seen eating at two of the calves, but was not seen in the act of killing them.—Oliver Davie, Columbus, O.
The Little Blue Heron in Maine.—During the summer of 1881 a small white Heron took up his abode in a dense swamp bordering the eastern side of Scarborough Marsh. He foraged regularly about the neighboring ponds and rivers, and before autumn had been seen and unsuccessfully shot at by many covetous gunners. In September, however, he fell captive to the wiles of Mr. Winslow Pilsbury, and now reposes in the cabinet of Mr. Chas. H. Chandler, of Cambridge, Mass. Upon writing Mr. Chandler, to ascertain the species represented by his specimen, I learned that Mr. Henry A. Purdie[[58]] had seen the bird and pronounced it the Little Blue Heron (Florida cærulea). No previous instance of its occurrence in Maine is on record.—Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Maine.
Baird’s Sandpiper on Long Island, N. Y.—A Correction.—In the Bulletin for January, 1882, p. 60, it is stated that the record of a specimen of this species from Long Island is apparently its first from any point south of New England. A note to the editors from Dr. E. A. Mearns calls attention to a previous record of the species for Long Island in an article by Newbold T. Lawrence, entitled “Notes on Several Rare Birds Taken on Long Island, N. Y.,” published in “Forest and Stream,” Vol. X, No. 13, p. 235, May 2, 1878, as follows:—
“Tringa bairdii, Baird’s Sandpiper.—Four specimens taken at Rockaway. The first two in September, 1872, shot on a small piece of meadow, out of a flock of Tringa minutilla. The third was taken August 26, 1873, while snipe shooting on a low strip of sand that separates the ocean and bay. My attention was first called to it by hearing a peculiar long-drawn whistle, and soon after I perceived a small snipe flying very high. The next moment it darted down and settled among my decoys, where I secured it. The fourth was taken in the same locality as the first two, September 20, 1874. Three of the above specimens were males.”—Edd.
Pelidna subarquata on the Maine Coast.—I have to thank Mr. C. H. Chandler of Cambridge, for allowing me to view a mounted specimen of the Curlew Sandpiper, which he shot on the beach at Pine Point, Scarborough, Cumberland Co., on September 15, 1881. The plumage is immature—probably a bird of the year. It was in company with Peeps, but its larger size and lighter coloration were noticed, hence this visit to American shores is registered. The species is new to the Maine fauna, at least this is the first instance of actual capture within the limits of that State.[[59]]—H. A. Purdie, Newton, Mass.
The King Rail in New England.—It seems that in making up the New England record of the King Rail (Rallus elegans)[[60]] I overlooked a note on this species, published in “Forest and Stream” of March 11, 1880. In this note Mr. Jno. H. Sage announces the capture of a female specimen at Portland, Conn., September 19, 1879.—Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Maine.