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82
General Notes
Auk
Jan.

regarding it. Efforts made to obtain more accurate information from the taxidermist as to the exact date of capture have entirely failed.

"In regard to the 'bird of freedom' my memory is very rusty as to the time when it was shot, but the place I remember distinctly. I was sitting in my boat up Crosswicks Creek, quietly waiting for squirrels in the chest- nut woods of Alfred Reid (I being somewhat hidden by the bushes to which the boat was tied), when the Eagle sailed overhead, and was about to light in a tree when I fired a charge of duck shot and broke his wing near the shoulder. He fell in the water and was floating down stream when I fired squirrel shot in his head and he was still. I have looked up my diary but can find no record of the date when I shot him, but think it was late in the fall in 1888; time of day, about five o'clock. The bird is still in my possession. He measured 6 feet 4 inches from tip to tip. I am positive he is a Golden Eagle for he is feathered to the toes and 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 of the Maine State College and myself were making the ascent of Sandy River Mountain in northwest Maine. When we had nearly reached the summit of the mountain, we heard the cry of some raptorial bird, and a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtos) soon appeared and flew around us uttering its cry. We remained at the top of the mountain for some time, during which the Eagle remained in our vicinity and seemed much disturbed at our presence. We both concluded that the bird had young somewhere in our vicinity, and as the south side of the mountain was a steep cliff, there is no reasonable doubt but that the bird had a nest somewhere on the cliff. When it uttered its cry we could hear answering cries from the direction of the cliff, thus making it evident that the bird had young in the vicinity. — Ora W. Knight, Bangor, Maine.

A New Long Island. N. Y., Record for the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).—When visiting Mr. C. DuBois Wagstaft at Baby- lon, N. Y., last fall, 1 noticed a well-mounted specimen of this southern Woodpecker among a collection of local birds, and on inquiring the par- ticulars of its capture, Mr. Wagstaft informed me that he shot it upon a locust tree close to the house, a year or two after the war. A specimen was shot by me in Flushing. N. Y., in October 1S70, which I understood was the second record for Long Island, N. Y., but this bird antedates my specimen some years. The specimen in the collection of Mr. Geo. N. Lawrence, which was taken at Raynor South by a 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 in the Swifts.—In examining a number of Swifts recently I was struck with the fact that our common Chimney Swift (Chætura pelagica) lacks the deltoid muscle. This is interesting as being