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FOR THE PEOPLE

FOR EDVCATION

FOR SCIENCE

LIBRARY

OF

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

OF

NATURAL HISTORY

^Utic>(r^,/J

e-

Tlie \mA ol Tlie laioe Onilliolopal Society,

A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGY.

^'hM proteotioBj bird study, the spread of the knowledge tbusgainedj these are out objects/

Vol. II. BANGOR, MAINE,

JANUARY,

III

1900.

No. 1

Cbe niaine Ornitbolodical Societv.

Prof. W. L. Powers, Gardiner,
Capt. H. L. Spinney, Seguin,
A. H. Norton, Westbrook, -
J. Merton Swain, Portland,
Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville,
O. W. Knight, Bangor, - -

President

Vice-President

Sec'y— Treas.

- - - Editor

■ - Councilor

Councilor

All subscriptions and business communications
should be sent to O. W. Knight. Publisher and
Business Manager, Bangor, Maine.

All articles for publication must be sent to the
Editor.

All communications requiring an answer must
be accompanied by stamps to prepay the reply.

subscription.
25 Cts. per Year. Single number, 10 Cts.
Advertising rates furnished on application.

Entered as second class matter at the post-office
at Bangor, Maine.

(Sc)iioria(.

One year has rolled by and our little
Journal, with this issue, enters the field,
on its second year's work. That it has
been a success, as well as a welcome
visitor to the homes of all our nienibers
and readers, no one will dispute. Its
success in the future, fellow-members,
depends upon each and every one of us.
Let us, each one, feel our responsibility,

and work together, and build up our
society to that standard, which shall
rank well with similar societies in our
sister States, and that we may publish a
Journal that will be hailed with joy
throughout our broad laud. Let us
make it a Journal that bird-students and
bird-lovers will feel the need of, and
thus acquire a wide circulation. Our
annual meeting was a very pleasant and
profitable one. The one thing lacking,
was the presence of some of our promi-
nent officers, members and workers.
Circumstances may, sometimes, prevent
our attending the annual meeting, but
let us so far as is possible, lay our plans
carefully, and make it a point to be
there promptly, ready to do our part of
the work, even if but a small pait.
That we may help make the meeting a
success and impress on the minds of the
visitors, that we are a society deeply in
earnest, working for a good cause, as
well as an interesting one, and that we
fulfil what we promise to the public,
when we invite them into our meetings.
The members are earnestly requested to
contribute notes and items of news, and
original articles, that we may fill out our
twelve pages and that our "hopper"
may be full, and that each number may
be of special interest and full of good
things, and thus cause a desire on the
part of the readers, to have our Journal
enlarged and made better in the future.

JOURNAL OF MAINE OllNlTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The family chosen for study the com-
ing year, is a very interesting one, and
well represented in our State. We
ought to do good work among the War-
blers, and have a large amount of inter-
esting notes on them, at our annual
meeting.

We have received the second edition
of "Our Birds, Their Nests and Eggs,"
by H. P. White of Farmiugton, Maine.
It is revised and enlarged, but not
exactly, brought up to date. It is also
illustratfd, but not particularly artistic,
and reminds the editor very much of the
first volume, which is somewhat mis-
leading and amusing.

Just before going to press, the news
comes of the death of Dr. Elliott Coues,
of Washington, D. C. He has long
been recognized as one of our leading
authorities on Birds. He will be missed
by a large circle of scientists, and espe-
cially by those, who were so unfortunate
as to displease the Dr. and receive a
vigorous shower of sarcasm upon their
heads, from his ever-ready vocabulary
of stinging words. He was very abrupt,
and often carried his bitter feelings
rather too far, and trampled upon peo-
ple's feelings rough-shod.

The Dr. was a firm believer in ghosts
and it remains to be seen if he was as
positive or correct in his belief in spirits,
as he was in matters pertaining to
Ornithology.

He promised some of his intimate
friends before his death, to appear to
them after his demise, if he was able to
do so, as he firmly believed he should
be. Now they are waiting with no little
interest, to see if he will keep his agree-
ment.

Xema sabinii. Sabine's Gull.

An immature female was shot at
Brothers' Islands, near Portland, Sept.
22nd, 1899, by some fishermen. It was
mounted by John II. Lord, the taxider-
mist, aud is now in his possession.
While ill Portland recently, 1 had the
pleasure of examining.' the specimen.

O. W. Knight.

Nov. 1.S99.

Summer record of Otocoris for Maine.

While driving from Andover, Maine,
to Norway, on the morning of August
12, 1.S99, when about a mile from An-
dover village, I espied in the road a
pair of Larks {Otocoris) ^ \)\xt before I
could train my glass upon them, they
took wing, circled around the carriage,
and disappeared from view, uttering
occasionally their familiar notes. That
they were Horned Larks is unquestion-
able, and it seems little less certain that
they were Otocoris alpestris praticola,
which has been found breeding in New
Hampshire, and has been anticipated as
a breeder in Maine.

This record is given with the hope
that it may be an index to some one
who has an opportunity to work in this
or some region bordering the highlands
of Oxford, Piscataquis, or Aroostook

counties.

Arthur H. Norton.

Westbrook, Me., Jan. 10, 1900.

A young-of-the-vear Loggerhead
Shrike was seen near Westbrook, Dec.
2oth, '99.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The Annual Meeting at Brunswick.

The fourth annual meeting of the
Maine Ornithological Society was held
at Brunswick, in the Searles Science
Building of Bowdoiu College, on Dec.
26th and "iTth. The session opened
with an informal meeting, open to the
public, on Tuesday evening. Owing to
the absence of Prof. Powers, Prof. Lee
was asked to preside over the meeting.
In the place of the illustrated lecture,
which had to be omitted, as neither Mr.
Knight or Prof. Powers were able to be
there, the following papers were read by
their authors : ''A Day with some of
tiie Shore Biids of Sagadahoc County,"
by Capt. H. L. Spinney of Seguin, Id.,
followed by, "The American Bittern in
Captivity," by J. Merton Swain of
Woodfords. Prof. Lee then gave a
very interesting talk illustrated by a
series of Stereoptican views, from nega-
tives taken in California of some of the
birds there. At the conclusion of these,
the meeting was adjourned until ten
o'clock the following morning.

Forenoon Session, Dec. 27th, IHD'J :
In the absence of all higher executive
officers, I'rof. A. L. Laue of Waterville,
the Senior Councilor, called a meeting
of the members for a business session,
at 10 :30. In the absence of our Secre-
tary, L. W. Robbins of Gardiner,
Austin P. Lara bee was appointed Secre-
tary pro tem.

The minutes of the last meeting were
read and approved. On motion of Mr,
A. H. Norton, the following committee
was appointed to audit the accounts of
the society: J. M. Swain, E. E. John-
son, Capt. Spinney. The following
committees were also appointed : Com-
mittee on Resolutions, Prof. L. A. Lee,

A. II. Norton, A. P. Larabee; Commit-
tee to draw up list of officers for the
ensuing year: Prof. L. A. Lee, Capt.
H. L. Spinney, J. M. Swain ; Committee
on plan of study for the coming year :
J. M. Swain, E. E. Johnson, Mrs. A.
H. Norton. On motion of Mr. Norton,
it was voted to appoint an Auditor to
look over all accounts with the Society.
Mr. J. M. Swain was appointed Auditor
for the ensuing year.

The committee on nominations then
made the following report: For Presi-
dent, Prof. W. L. Powers of Gardiner;
Vice President, CajU. H. L. Spinney,
Seguin ; Sec. and Treas., A. H. Norton.
Westbrook ; Editor, J. Merton Swain,
Portland; Councilors, A. L. Lane,
Waterville, O. W. Knight, Bangor,

This report was accepted and adopted.
On motion of Prof. L. A. Lee, it was
voted to leave it in the hands of the
Executive Committee to arrange for the
publication of oui' Journal for the com-
ing year.

The meeting was then thrown open to
the public and the following papers were
read : Birds in the Bible, by A, L.
Lane, of Waterville ; Black and White
Warbler, by Guy H. Briggs, of Liver-
more, read by Prof. Lee ; Some Birds
of Sunshine and vicinity (Penobscot
Bay), by O. W. Knight of Bangor,
read by Prof. Lee. The meeting then
adjourned to 2.30 P. M.

Afternoon Session.
Meeting called to order by Prof. A.
L. Laue. Prof. Lee read a report from
O. W. Knight in account with the Joui--
nal. The Auditing Committee then re-
ported, the books were not balanced
and as the Treasurer was not present,
they recommended putting the books in
the hands of the P^xecutive Committee

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

for farther investigation and settlement.
Prof. Lee, Chairman of the Committee
on Anatomy, reported some progress had
been made during the past year, but no
report was ready as yet. IJy his request
the same committee was re-appointed to
continue the work the coming year.
The Committee on resolutions made the
following report :

Resolved, That the thanks of the
Society are due and are hereby tendered
to the Faculty of Bowdoin College, for
the use of the Searles Biological Labor-
atory and especially to Professors Lee
and Little, who made the meeting pleas-
ant and successful, and to the Maine
Central Railroad for reduced rates.

Signed, A. H. Norton, L. A. Lee, A.
P. Larrabee.

This report was accepted and adopted.

'I'he committee on work for the ensu-
ing year, reported : Recommending the
family of Warblers as a special study,
and requesting that every member pre-
pare notes and bring them, or send them
to our next annual meeting, with what-
ever specimens or photos they may have
bearing on this subject of study.

Signed, J. M. Swain, Mrs. A. IT.
Norton, E. E. Johnson.

This report was accepted and adopted.

The matter of holding a summer meet-
ing was then discussed favorably, and
voted to be placed in the hands of the
Executive Committee for action.

The name of Howard J. Noble of
Lewiston, was proposed and he was
elected as an active member. Prof.
Lee spoke in favor of holding our next
annual meeting in Lewiston. After dis-
cussion as to when the next Annual be
held, Prof. Lane recommended holding
it near the time of the meeting of the
Maine Pedigogical Society.

The meeting was then opened to the
public and the following papers read :

On the Perfected Plumage of the King-
Eider Duck, written by A. H. Norton,
read by Mrs. A. H. Norton of West-
brook; a contribution to the Life Hist-
ory of Leach's Petrel, by Arthur H.
Norton. The reports of the families
studied the past year were then taken
up, viz. : The Anatidie, Hirundinidai
and Turdid*. A paper was read :
Notes on the Geese, Ducks, Swans,
Swallows and Thrushes, by J. Mertou
Swain of Portland. Notes on Birds in
Region of Lake Umbagog, by A. P.
Larrabee, of Gardiner. A Phoebe's
Summer, by C. H. Morrell, of Pittsfield,
read by Prof. Lee. Notes on subject
of Study for the past year, by E. E.
Johnson, of Lewiston.

It was then voted, that the papers
read be placed in the hands of the editor
for publication in the Journal.

The meeting then was adjourned
sine-die.

Austin P. Larrabee, Sec. Pi'o-tem.

Some Birds of Sunshine and Vicinity.

ORA W. KNIGHT.

(Concluded.)
Leach's Petrel. Oceanodroma leti-
corhoa (Vieill). The "Cary Chickens"
breed only on the outer and most inac-
cessible islands. Seal Island is the
great headquarters of this species, and
for a mild estimate I should say that
between two thousand and five thousand
pair nested there annually. On Little
Spoon there are perhaps five hundred
pair of breeding birds. On Green Is-

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

lands perhaps eight huudnd pair, aud
on Little Duck perhaps fifteen hundred
pair nest annually, but from the mere
nature of their habits anything like an
accurate estimate of their number is
im[)Ossible.

Sometimes during the day, but far
oftener in the evening, these birds may
be seen lightly skimming over the sur-
face of the water, or half walking and
half hopping along between water and
air, aud engaged in feeding on the small
surface swimming crustaceans, or hover-
ing to the leeward of some floating car-
cass, seemingly engaged in skimming
up the grease that floats from it, al-
though perhaps in reality the}' in:<3' '"e
eating small particles of the decompos-
ing flesh.

From their habit of walking on the
water their name of Petrel, meaning
Little Peter, is derived. They are tire-
less on the wing or in the water and the
greater part of their lives is spent on the
fishing banks far from land.

About the lirst of June they repair to
the islands where they and their progen-
itors have nested for years past. Here
they either reconstruct burrows used the
previous year or dig new ones. As I
have always found two birds in such
burrows as were occupied, but which
contained no eggs, it would seem rea-
sonable to infer that both biids assist in
constructing the nest. The hole is usu-
ally from one and one-half to three feet
long, and somewhat circuitous, gradu-
ally descending and then slightly ascend-
ing and enlarging into a chamber lined
with dry grass, weed leaves and rootlets,
or more rarely fine sea algae. All the
nests found on the Green Islands were
lined with fine black algae, and this is the
only colony which I have observed thus

lining their nests. The chamber is six
to eight inches in diameter.

About June 20th on opening the bur-
rows only one bird will be found in each,
engaged in incubating a single white
egg which is wreaiiied or lightly dotted
about the larger end with reddish. An
occasional egg is laid as early as June
loth, and fresh eggs may be found as
late as July 5th. At this latter date I
have examined or seen examined at
least fom- hundred nests in hopes of
finding some young hatched, but all
contained eggs some of which were near-
ly fresh and others far advanced in
incubation, so far in fact that they must
have hatched in a day or so.

From thee%idence at hand we may
safely assert that it takes I'etrel eggs at
least thi'ee weeks and more probably a
month to hatch. It is rather an open
question as to the length of time re-
quired for the young to become full
Hedged. I do know that fishermen
whose reliability I have no reason to
doubt have told me that they have found
halffledgid young in the burrows as
late as the middle of September. Some
fishermen have asserted that the youug
remained in the nests until spring before
becoming fledged, and possibly this
story (which is of course a mistake pure
and simple) may have originated from
their finding one or two frozen young in
the burrows in early spring.*

The set is always one in number,
white in color and often spotless, but
usually wreathed about the larger end
with lavender, lilac, or reddish brown.
Selected specimens measure 1.39 x .89,
1.27 X .94, 1.24 X .90.

When walking about over the islands

* If other observers have ever heard the same
statement made 1 wish they would write me the
jiarticulars.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

we may often hear the incubating birds
underneath uttering their cry "Got-any-
terbacker" or sometimes it sounds more
like "Go-to-Gehenna," which latter is
prob.ibly more appropriately descriptive
of the feelings of the birds.

On reaching in and grasping them,
they either make no resistance or give a
few feeble and harmless pecks, and on
being hauled out into the light they spit
forth a teaspoonful of a clear, musky-
smelling oil which usually is so directed
as to hit one's clothing and perfume it
for months to come.

On being released they stumble help-
lessly at hap-hazard over the ground,
running into every possible obstacle,
but if tossed into the air tliey head out
to sea to return no more till night. At
night the birds stumble out of their
nests, uttering their cries, and, after
flopping blindly over the land and bump-
ing into every weed and spear of grass
in the vicinity, they finally manage to
rise into the air and sail out over the
water with perfect ease and grace. The
birds which have been out at sea feed-
ing all da}' are now returning and the
air is fairly swarming with them.

The first time I ever visited Seal
Island I secured a few of the incubating
birds, and dissection showed all to be
males, but since then I have found by
taking otlier specimens that both sexes
were represented among tlie incubating
birds.

While these birds are not numerous
off the coast in winter and u few careful
observers have failed to find them, yet
I have been told by many fishermen that
the}' have found Cary Chickens outside
every month in the year, and there is no
reason for doubting their statements.
This species has no enemies to speak of

and is not persecuted by man, so their
colonies are holding their own or in-
creasing.

Double-crested Cormorant. Plialo-
crocorax dilophus (Swain). Although
P. carbo and P. dilophus are cojumon
fall, winter and spring, all of the former
and nearly all of the latter species de-
part for the north at the approach of the
breeding season. The only Shag rook-
ery known to me along the entire Maine
coast is a very small colony of the
Double-crested species which breeds on
Black Horse Ledge.

On July ord, 1893, as I approached
this ledge about fourteen Shags flew
from it. Oh landing and climbing up
the sides of this almost perpendicular
wall of rock, I found seven nests on
narrow shelves near the top of the
ledge. The nests were loosely con-
structed affairs of sticks and a little
seaweed, being very flat, and only four
contained eggs. Three of them contain-
ed three eggs each and the other con-
tained two, the incubation being slight.
The nests were all within a radius of ten
feet.

On July 2nd, 1895, there was about
an equal number of birds breeding there.
Two nests contained complete sets of
three eggs, and one nest a single egg.
June iiord, 1890, we found a number of
Shags on the ledge, but only two nests
were to be found. One of these was
incomplete and the other showed the
imprint of three eggs, and as we after-
wards learned that other collectors had
been there, the eggs were undoubtedly
taken by them. The late breeding date
is rather unexplicable, but I learned
from fishermen and other collectors Avho
have visited this colony that they never
have eggs until the last of June or the

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

first of 'hi\y. The vicinity of tlie iiests
was redolent witli ptouiainic odors,
which emanated from the bodies of num-
erous sculpius, flounders, herring, pol-
lock, and other fish which the birds had
captured at various dates.

Shags are very good fishers, expert
divers and live exclusively on the fruits
of their labors. A lone bird may often
be observed perched on some ledge or
buoy vigilantly watching the water
until it spies a fish and plunges head-
long to capture it, in which effort it is
usually successful.

Owing to the attentions of collectors
it is somewhat doubtful if this species
continues to breed many more years
along the Maine coast, as the only breed-
ing colony I have knowledge of is on the
point of extermination. A party who
visited there in June, 1.S99, observed a
few birds but did not find any nests.

The birds are rather shy and can
rarely be seduced within gunshot, rising
as soon as nearly within range and,
after flying into the wind until well
under way, turning and hastily taking
their departure, neck outstretched and
wings quickly flapping.

The eggs are of a bluish -white ground
color, but this is ahnost completely cov-
ered with a white, flaky, uneven, chalky
coating which entii'ely conceals the
ground color. The normal set in this
colony seems to consist of three eggs.

Red-breasted Merganser. Merganser
serrator (Linn.). The time is not far
distant when we can no longer call the
Shelldrake a resident species, for the
number of birds breeding here grows
fewer and fewer as the years go by. In
fall, winter and spring they still are
common.

Among their former breeding grounds

are Green, Ship, Barge and Trumpet
Ishmds, and Mason's, Saddleback and
Halibut Ledges. In 1896 some seven
or eight pairs of these birds nested on
Ship, Barge and Trumpet Islands, and
for years preceeding and succeeding
single pairs have nested on the other
islands named. In 1899, a party who
were studying the birds of this vicinity,
failed to find this species nesting any-
where in the vicinity of Sunshine, so its
extinction as a breeding bird cannot be
far distant.

The eggs are depositetl about the 20th
of June, and as nearly as I can ascer-
tain, the period of incubation is about
four weeks. The average set is nine or
ten eggs, which are of a buffy-drab
color, but sets of six to tw^elve are often
found. The nest is composed of dry
grass, very loosely interwoven, and will
not hold together when lifted. Very
little or no down is used to line it. As
a rule it is placed at the foot of a clump
of grass or cow-parsnip a short distance
from the shore of some island, and its
location is usually betrayed by a narrow,
well-beaten path leading to it from the
shore. The bii-ds seemingly always
light on the shore and approach the nest
by the same path, so a person well
acquainted with this habit can easily
discover their nests.

Five average sized eggs measure,
2.54 X 1.75, 2.(57 x 1.7(1, 2.54 x 1.77,
2.54 X 1.80, 2.58 x 1.83 These were
found in a nest on Trumpet Island,
June 23rd, 1897, and were fresh.

The food of this species consists
largely of herring, pollock, smelt, and
other small fish which are swallowed
entire, while mussels and other small
mollusks are sometimes eaten. I have
found four herring, averaging six inches

JOURNAL OP MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIFLTY.

in length, packed tightly in the stomach
of a Shelldrake killed in mid-winter, so
it is easy to see why they are sometimes
called Fish Ducks. The name Shell-
drake is derived from their feeding on
mollusks and other shellfish.

American Eider. Somateria dresseri
Sharpe. As a breeding bird the Sea-
duck will soon be one of the "has beens,"
although flocks are still common in fall,
winter and spring. Their breeding-
grounds here are all known to the fisher-
men and it is a very rare thing for a
pair of them to successfully hatch their
litter of eggs.

They are very particular in their choice
of a breeding place and will return to the
same island year after year. They are
social and nest in small colonies when-
ever possible. Green and Lower Mark
Islands, and Spirit and Saddleback
Ledges are the only localities where they
breed on this part of the coast. These
are the outer and most unfrequented
isbmds of this vicinity.

Nest building begins about the second
week of June and full sets of eggs may
be found by June 15th or 20th. The
nest is usually placed at the foot of a
clump of cow-parsnip or tussock of
grass, but I have observed nests placed
on the bare rock in plain sight. As a
rule they are made exclusively of down,
plucked from the bi'east of the female,
and the amount of down is daily added
to as the incubation advances. Occa-
sionally a nest of the Herring Gull,
*Larus argeiitatus, is lined with down and
appropriated by the Duck, but in such
cases I am inclined to believe that the
bird has been robbed of its first set, and
not having sufficient down to serve alone

* The aUeged Larus argentatiis smithsonianus
of the A. O. U. List.

is obliged to resort to this expedient of
eking out what it has.

Three to six gi'eenish-drab colored
eggs are deposited, but four seems to be
the normal sized set. Five eggs found
on Green Ishmd, June 20th, 1896, UK-as-
ure, 2.99 x 2.07, 3.04 x 2 06, 3.05 x
2.01, 3.11 X 2.04 and 3.09 x 2.08.

The female alone performs the task of
incubation, and if flushed fiom her nest
flies quickly away uttering a short "kuk,
kuk, kuk." The cry of liie male bird is
a brusque "a-o-wah-a-o-wah." The
eggs take about a month to hatch.

Three or four pair used to breed on
Spirit Ledge, two pair on Saddleback
Ledge, two pair on Green Island, and a
single pair ou Lower Mark Island. Ten
pair of birds is the lai'gest number I
have ever known to breed in this vicinity.

Mussels and other mollusks constitute
the chief food of the Eidei's and being
excellent divers they can easily seek
this food at the bottom of the ocean
shallows.

Notes on the Ducks, Swallows and
Thrushes.

EVEKFTT E. JOHNSON.

THE DUCK FAMILY.

The members of this family are said
by old gunners to be more numerous at
Sabatis Pond this fall than before for
years.

AMERICAN MERGANSER.

This species is a common migrant and
a few are found in the open places in
the river all winter. April 19, 1 shot a
male, which is now in my collection, on
the Sabatis River below Sabatis. April
22, I saw about fifteen in Sabatis Pond.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

9

This was the hist seen in the Spring.
October 22, I saw a young female that
was shot at Lake Auburn and Novem-
ber 5 they were common.

BLACK DUCK.

Common migrant and a few i-emain to
breed. Have seen this species at the
head of Sabatis Pond several times in
summer. July 2, 1886, I saw a family
of young beside a stream that empties
into the Sabatis River. They hurried
off through the alder bushes and hid.
The female flew around overhead quack-
ing and calling them and aftei' a while
they would answer, but I could not find
them. April 10, this year, I saw two in
the Sabatis River and April 22 they
were common at Sabatis Pond. There
were large flocks seen at Sabatis Pond
this fall and a number shot.

WOOD DUCK.

I'aiily common summer resident.
Have seen them in summer at the head
of Sabatis Pond. October 22. a male
was shot at Lake Anburn.

AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE.

Common migrant. Two were seen at
Sabatis Pond April 22 and October 30 ;
two were shot there.

BUFFLE-HEAD.

Common migrant. October 22 a fe-
male was shot at Lake Auburn. Oct.
31, three were seen at Sabatis Pond.

AMERICAN SCOTER.

Fairly common migrant. A flock of
about one hundred were seen at Lake
Auburn October 15 and a male secured.
October 31, I saw about twenty at
Sebatis Pond.

WHITE-WINGED SCOTER.

Fairly common migrant. October 31,
I saw a flock of seven at Sabatis Pond.

RUDDY DUCK.

Fairly common migrant. A few small
flocks were seen at the head of Sebatis
Pond in the falls of 1898-99, by W. F.
Burbauk and several specimens secured,
one of which is now in my collection.

THE SWALLOW FAMILY.

PURPLE MARTIN.

Common summer resident in the mar-
tin houses about the city. I have the
following dates of their arrival : — 1893,
April 29 ; 1894, April 27 ; 1895, May 9 ;
1897. May 9 ; 1898, May 7; 1899, April
30. Six were seen, common May 6.
Last seen August 10, 1899; 1898, Au-
gust 1<S and 1897, August 21.

CLIFF SWALLOW.

Common summer resident. This
species build under the eaves of buildings
in the country but I have seen none in
the city. The earliest date I have seen
them is May 1, 1894. When first seen
this year. May 27, there were about ten
pairs building. June 20, 1890, I found
twelve nests at Lewiston Junction.
The nests were built of mud, retort-
shaped, lined with straw, situated against
a beam inside a barn and about fifteen
feet high. Some were built on the
underside of beams with the nest against
the hay, that serving as the back of the
nest. There w^ere eggs or young in
most of these. The season was a very
wet, rainy one, which accounts for the
change from eaves outside, where they
usually built, to the inside. A set of
five eggs measure, .78 x .54, .77 x .54,
.76 X .53, .76 X 53, .74 x .53 in.

BARN SWALLOW.

Very common summer resident. I
have the following dates of their arrival.
1893, April 30; 1894, April 23 ; 1895,

10

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

May 5 ; 1896. April 24 ; 1897, April 25 ;
1898, April 2.'); 1899, April 29, one
seen. Next seen April 30 and became
common May 6. Last seen September
7; 1897, September 2; 1898, September
8. The earliest date of nesting I have
is May 28, 1893, nest containing five
fresh eggs. The nest was composed of
mud and straws lined with hens' feathers
and a few horsehairs, built against a
rafter in the top of an old barn. The
eggs measure .78 x .56. .77 x .54, .76
X .56, .76 X .54, .74 x .55 in. The
latest date I have found fresh eggs is
June 24, 1890, two nests of four eggs
each.

TKEE SWALLOW.

Fairly common summer resident. I
have the following dates of the arrival
of this species. 1882, May 3; 1893,
April 27; 1894, March 19; 1895, April
18; 1896, May 3; 1897, April 19; 1898,
May 7; 1899, April 22, twelve were
seen. Next seen April 23 and became
common April 27. Last seen Sept. 7
The earliest date I have found fresh
eggs is May 30. 1893, four eggs, and
the latest June 6, 1891 at Lisbon Centre,
six eggs. The nest was situated in a
hole, about seven feet high, in an old
apple tree, composed of straws, lined
with hens' feathers. The eggs measure
.78 X .53, .76 x .54, .76 x .54, .75 x
.54, .75 X .53, .74 x .53 in. Another
set of four measures .72 x .52, .70 x .52,
.69 X .52, .6!) X .52 in.

BANK SWALLOW.

Abundant summer resident. This
species breeds by hundreds in a hank on
an island in the Androscoggin river near
Lisbon Centre. This year I did not see
them till May 27, but they were building

at that time. May 29, 1889, is the ear-
liest date 1 have found sets and June 24,
1890, the latest. B'rom four to seven
eggs are the number laid in a set here,
but five is the usual number and I have
only found one set of seven. The nests
are situated at the end of a hole in a
sand bank from two to four feet deep,
and composed of sticks, grass loots and
pine needles, sometimes with a few hens'
feathers for a lining. A set of five eggs
collected May 30, 1889, measure .69 x
.52, .69 X .51, .68x.51, .67x.51, .65 x
.51 in. A set of seven partly incubated
eggs collected June 1, 1881, measure
.74X.51, .70X.51, .69 X .49, .69 x
.49, .69 X .49, .68 x .49, .67 x .51 in.
A third set taken May 30, 1890 contains
four eggs sparsely spotted with dark
brown. They measure .74 x .49, .74 x
.47. .74 X .46, .74 x .46 in. I have
seen a number of eggs with spots on
them, but they will wash off with water.

THE THRUSH FAMILY.
Wilson's thrush.

Common summer resident. First
seen this year May 7, when five birds
were seen and it Avas common from that
time. Saw a pair building May 30, and
June 7 there were three eggs in the nest,
which was composed of leaves, straws,
twigs and fine roots, lined with dry
leaves, situated on the ground at the
foot of a small tree in a small piece of
woods. June 18, I found another nest
composed of coarse weed-stalks, leaves
and strips of bark, lined with fine lOots
and pine needles, situated one foot up
in an alder bush. Nest in bushes near
railroad and contained three eggs.
This species seemed to be very common
this summer. It was last seen Oct. 1st.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

11

OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH.

Rare migrant. Very rare summer
resident. One taken May 30, 1899 near
Lewiston.

HEKMIT THRUSH.

Common migrant and a few pair usu-
ally stop to bleed. But this year I did
not see any from April •27th till Octo-
ber 8. First seen April 19, two birds.
Next seen April 22 and common April
23. Last seen October 15.

AMERICAN ROBIN.

Abundant summer resident. First
seen April 1st, t)ne. Next seen April
7 and became common April 8. Heard
the first singing April 14th. vSaw birds
building May 14 and May 24 found the
first nest with eggs, three in number.
June 1st found the first nest with young
and June 2nd saw the last set of eggs,
four in number. Were common till
October 22 with a stray one till Novem-
ber 24, and December 5 at Buckfield, 1
saw one sitting on the top of a tree
w tone.

BLUEBIRD.

Common summer resident. First
seen April 9, three birds. Next seen
April 16th and became common April
22nd. May 13 I saw a pair building.
Last seen Sept. 9th. I did not see as
many this year as last.

The White-wing Crossbill.

Robins were seen near Portland,
Dec. 21st. A Song Sparrow came into
our yard, at Woodfords, Jan. 13th, and
has been seen several times since. Per-
haps this is the same bird that came to
the yard at times last winter.

J. M. S.

CAFT. H. L. SPINNEY,

The first time I sow this bird in
its native element, was the winter of
1887. In January of that year I notic-
ed them in flocks of from six to a dozen
individuals, rarely more, feeding in the
tops of spruce trees. The same winter
a few Red-Crossbills were seen, but not
associating with the former.

With the exception of perhaps a doz-
en Red Crossbills, I have not seen any
since, until this fall when they appeared
in numbers. August 27th, a number
were observed feeding on the tops of
some fir trees which are scattered over
the island.

From the date mentioned they appear-
ed nearly every day in small flocks,
graduall}^ increasing in numbers and
flocks until November 3rd. when every
day favorable for migration, they were
passing over the island continually in
flocks of from fifty to one hundred indi-
viduals, thousands passing in a day.

They all approached the island from
a southeasterly direction, going toward
the west and northwest. A flock sel-
dom stopped at the island, and then
only to alight a few moments on the top
of a fir tree, acting as if they were sac-
rificing valuable time, which they might
spend to better advantnnge in some
more favorable locality. November 10,
was noticeable on account of a severe
snow squall which lasted for nearly an
hour. As it commenced to get thick,
the crossbills made their appearance in
large flocks, disappearing in the storm

12

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

in the direction of the mainland, only to
return a few moments later and alight
on the trees.

Soon there were two hundred or more
on the few trees which I was able to see.
All the time they remained they were
very restless, often leaving the trees to
make a few gyrations in air, return-
ing to some other tree, rarely the one
they had left. These maneuvers they
continued until it stopped snowing, when
with seemingly joyous notes, they at
once continued their flight toward the
west.

After November 20th, the number of
flocks decreased daily until at the pres-
ent time, December 7th, only a scatter-
ing flock is to be seen. This species
seems to be very plenty on the mainland
in this vicinity this winter.

A Few Winter Notes.

Our winter birds are rather more com-
mon than they were a year ago, but do
not seem very abundant. Pine Siskins
and Redpolls have been fairly common
since early in November, flocks of the
latter species being seen about the vil-
lage nearly every day.

A Northern Shrike was seen Novem-
ber 6th, the only one observed up to
the present time.

On November 30th a little time was
spent in the woods and a flock of eight
or ten white-winged Cross-bills was
seen, and one was secured with difficulty,
as the birds were very restless. This is
the first occurrence of this species in
this locality, of which I have record.

An Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker
was seen the same day.

The mild weather during the latter
part of November and early in Decem-
ber, was probably lespousible for the
occurrence of a Robin on Dec. 1st, nnd
a Song Sparrow on Dec. 19th: both
species much later than I have ever
known them to stop befoi'e.

Pine Grosbeaks have not yet made
their appearance here, and Snowflakes
have been absent, the first flock, of
about twenty-five birds, being seen this
morning.

C. H. MOKKELL.

Pittsfield, Jan. 7, 1900.

On the occurrence of Larus Delewaren-
sis Ord.

In the list of the "Birds of Maine,"
Page 19, Mr. Knight remarks, that the
Ring-billed Gull {Larus Deleiuarensis)
is not reported a common migrant, but
probabl}' is more common than the re-
ports would indicate. Mr. John Lord,
the taxidermist here, informs me, he
has had over one hundred Ring-bills,
brought to him this fall. This would
throw some light upon the above state-
ment.— Ed.

The Pine Grosbeaks were first seen
near Woodfords, Jan. 14th. Quite a
flock came into the apple and tulip trees
in our yard, picking over the seeds on
the tulip. Have made frequent visits
since. There was a Pine Siskin in their
company today. The first and onh^ one
seen here so far, Jan, 31st.

J. M. S.

r-/./j

'^-

Tlie Joooiel ot The lei Oroiilopal Society.

A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGY.

'^hM protection^ bird siudyj the spread of the knowledge thus ffainedj these are our objects/^

Vol. II.

BANGOE, MAINE, MARCH, 1900.

No.

Cbe IHaine Ornitbological Society.

Prof. W. L. Powers. Gardiner, - President
Capt. H. L. Spinney, Seguin, Vice-President
A. H. Norton, Westbroolc, - - Sec'y— Treas.
J. Merton Swain. Portland, - - - - Editor
Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville. - - Councilor
O. W. Knight, Bangor, - - - - Councilor

All subscriptions and business communications
should be sent to O. W. Knight. Publisher and
Business JVEanager, Bangor, Maine.

All articles for publication must be sent to the
Editor.

All communications requiring an answer must
be accompanied bj' stamps to prepay the reply.

subscription.
25 Cts. per Year. Single number, 10 Cts.
Advertising rates furnished on application.

Entered as second class matter at the post-oflfice
at Bangor, Maine.

(S&Horictt.

The latter part of February we had a
very pleasant visit from Mr. Knight, he
being in Portland and vicinity on bus-
iness some over a week.

During his stay here we had, in com-
pany with John Lord, the taxidermist,
Mr. Hinds and Mr. Walter Hinds,
who has recently been in New Mexico
in search of bird life, the pleasure of a

visit to the home of Mr. Walter Rich,
the printer and engraver on Exchange
Street, and while there were shown his
mounted birds, mostly shore and game
birds. But the best of all was his col-
lection of drawings, of many of our
New England game, shore and beach
birds, including many of the Ducks,
Grouse. Plover and Sandpipers.

They are very fine and well worth
seeing, and a credit to an artist of no
small ability. The birds and their sur-
roundings are %ery natural and life-like,
and show a great deal of study on the
part of Mr. Rich. They are. by far,
the best drawings of birds, we ever had
the pleasure of examining. They will
compare favorably with the best bird
pictures that have been published by
our best artists in this country. It is to
be hoped that many of Mr. Rich's draw-
ings may be published in the future,
that the public may have the benefit of
such good work as Mr, Rich is capable of
doing.

Tlie editor has a new sub-species on
his list of birds that takes considerable
of his time and study at present. It is
"Parus woodfordsi," and has been with
us since November. Sometimes our
little "Nid" goes by the name of "Chic-
a-dee" and at othertimes she is "Pewee"
(Sayornis Phoebe Portlandae).

14

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Soon the Warblers will wend their
way northward, and lend theii' presence
to the returning leaves and foliage
among our trees and thickets. Let each
member be on the alert for the arrivals
and book all the notes on this family
for comparison and publication that is
possible. As only through the united
efforts of each member can we get to-
gether a large amount of material on
this interesting family, and by such an
eff.jrt, we ought to be able to publish
some very interesting and valuable notes.
Let each member feel, he has a part to
do in the study for the coming season,
and have some report, no matter how
small. It will add greatly to the inter-
est of the study of a family.

Notes on the Geese, Ducks, Swans,
Swallows and Thrushes for 1893.

[A Paper l)eforeTlie Oniitholdgical Society of Maine]

J. MERTON SWAIN.

Having had very little time to devote
to the study of the families of birds out-
lined by our committee this year, my
notes are very few ; also by reason of
not being able to get out of the city to
the locality necessary to find these
birds. The only place I was able to go
to was a patch of woods about one-half
mile square — the Baxter woods — near nn-
home in Wood fords. There I found a
large list of migrant species, and later
quite a number of birds nested there,
such as Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Crow,
Flicker, Alder Flycatcher, Chickadee,
and several of the commoner Warblers.
And this within the city limits, and only
a few rods from the railway where many

trains go snorting noisily by, and the
electrics passing on each of the other
sides. 1 did not see the Hermit Thrush
there until April 29th. I heard its song
occasionally of an eve as I strolled to
this patch of woods during the spring-
time. But I was treated to several soul-
stirring concerts during my vacation at
Farmington the last of May and the
first of June. But it was a very notice-
able fact, as well as a lamentable one,
that not more than half the number of
Hermits were breeding in the old haunts
about my former home. In patches of
woods where I had always found one or
two nests each year as far back as my
memory could recall there would be but
one pair, and in others the familiar sound
could not be heard and no trace of them
could be found, except the old decayed
nests of former years.

I remember one particularly favored
locality, a large patch of maple growth
on a steep side hill where my father had
his sugar camp, where several pairs of
Thrushes bred. This year but one pair
were nesting there. On June 12th I vis-
ited this growth after the maiden-hair
ferns that grow so abundantly there,
and located the nest with three young
about one-third grown. The nest was
on the ground among the ferns beside a
small hemlock bush, well concealed by
the overhanging boughs.

The young tipped up their heads and
opened their mouths as I approached
the nest; the old ones flitting nervousl}'
about, calling to each other as they
stood on some stump or stone near by.
That eve I wandered through the or-
chard and down to the old stone wall at
the brow of the hill overlooking this
growth, and listened for the old-time
evening concert. But a deep sense of

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

15

sadness and lonesomeness came over
me as I sat on the very same stone I
had so of I en occupied for a seat to listen
to this twilight song, and through the
stillness of the twilight hour my
thoughts turned back on the past, and
many memories came rushing through
my mind and I realized many changes
had taken place both in the listener, and
also in the number of singers that used
to participate. Now only one pair could
be heard where six or seven years ago
several singers could be heard. Their
twilight song is a beautiful one, full of
sadness, and once heard not likely to be
forgotten, yet difHcult to describe. Often
I have heard three singers located in
different parts of the woods, and one
would roll out its song in a modernte
tone of voice and would be answered
shortly by a second bird not far away,
with a similar song on a very low pitch,
and a third singer would reply from
another direction with the sanie song.
sharp and shrill on a higher pitch than
the first song. Thus they would keep
up their calling and answering each
other's song as though trying to see
which could pitch the song on the high-
est or lowest key.

This Thrush is often called the Swamp
Robin, but in my experience the Wil-
son's or Veery would be more properly
called by that name.

I have found the Hermit nesting in
the cool shady woods on the side hill,
always associating its nests with the
maiden-hair and other varieties of the
smaller ferns that grow on the side hills
in the maple shade or beech wood, while
I found the Wilson's in the deep woods
or swampy bushes that are lower down
and lie along the banks of the streams

and rivers. As has been noted, the
Hermit is becoming scarce while the
Wilson's is more common in the last
few years. Ten years ago around my
home in Franklin county I could locate
ten or twelve pairs of Hermits nesting
within two miles of home, and only three
or foui- of the Wilson's. Now this is
nearly the reverse, though I have not been
able to account for the increase of the
one, or the decrease of the other. There
is one thought suggests itself, that per-
haps the decrease in the Hermits is be-
cause of its nesting as it does in a more
open site than the Wilson's, and having
more natural enemies, such as Crows,
skunks, foxes, etc. (I have often known
of nests and eggs of the Hermit that have
been destroj^ed by some such animal.)

The Hermit, with its large, wondering
eyes, is a most interesting bird in the
autumn, as it scratches noisily among
the fallen leaves. Edward A. Samuels
mentions the Hermit with words that
exactly coincide with my own thoughts
of this bird. I will quote them here, as
they have run in my mind since I was
but a small youth. 'Tnthe fall they are
silent and shy ; their note is but a faint
chirp, uttered in a listless, melancholy
tone; and their whole appearance is in
keeping with the great change which
has come over the face of Nature. In
fact, the Hermit Thrush is always as-
sociated in my mind with the falling-
leaves, the rattling of acorns, and the
whirring of the ruffed grouse through
the birches and alders of the swampy
oiens."

The other Thrushes were but little ob-
served except the Robin and Bluebird.
There was one pair of Robins nested
in the high branches of the tulip tree

16

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

beside the house. Doubtless the same
pair that nested in the apple tree in the
same yard the year before. We watched
this pair with much interest from the
time they gave evidence of building to
the time they with their young joined
others in the early autumn. As much
time as possible was spent in
watching them choosing a nesting
site, feeding about the garden, and
also eluding a neighbor's cat that
often came into the yard and tried to
catch them as they hopped along the
ground, searching for the earth and cut-
worms. (Let me say that a neighborly
cat came in search of my Robins once
too many times, and lost her noble life
by a small ritle ball that dropped gently
from a window, and made but a slight
noise, yet had the desired effect.) These
birds feed largely on the earth worms
and cut-worms that were very plenty in
our garden. They would hop along a
few steps and stop and listen for a mo-
ment, sometimes with their heads
twisted to one side in a listening atti-
tude, then suddenly they would dart
forward and make a sudden thrust into
the ground with their beak, and swallow
an earth worm quickly. Often they fed
on the cut-worms that I would turn out
while working in the garden, and the
quantity that they would pick up was
really surprising. They would hop
about, not seeming to mind my presence,
and gather the worms with surprising
rapidity, occasionally changing the hop
with both feet to a run for a short dis-
tance, their feet flying very fast, much
like the manner of the Grass Finch as it
runs along the roads in August. The
good done in our garden by this one pair
of birds we estimated to be very great.
The agriculturalist and fruit grower

would do well to study their best friends
and helpers before they shoot them for
taking a few cherries and small fi'iiit,
for they have well earned all the fruit
they take.

I did not see the Bluebird in the Bax-
ter woods until April 29th. I saw them
in small flocks in my early morning
walks in May, also in the fall as I rode
out into the country on my wheel. One
little characteristic I have often noticed :
it is that when alighting on a twig or a
fence, or wherever it alights, as it set-
tles on its perch it throws up one of its
wings nervously with one or two flutters
as though to catch its balance. It is a
small char:icteristic, but will help one to
know the bird when it alights too far
away to identify it by its form or color.

Of the Swallows, the Barn, Cliff, White
bellied, and Bank Swallows, also the Pur-
ple Martin were observed. The Barn
Swallow was first seen April 29th. It used
to be a very abundant bird in Farming-
ton six or seven years ago. There were
six or seven barns that I was familiar
with the number of Swallows breeding
therein. This year on my vacation one
of the first observations I made w:is the
scarcity of the Barn Swallows that used
to skim over the fields and pastures feed-
ing on the insect life that they catch so
skillfully and devour while on the wing.
Very few were seen during my stay
there, and the fields and meadows
seemed very incomplete without the
quantities of Swallows darting here and
there. On visiting the barns above men-
tioned, in one where last year there Avere
four occupied nests, only one was occu-
pied. I have known the history of this
barn since it was built and a little odd to
say, this one nest occupied was the

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

17

first nest that was built the sum-
mer tbe barn was built, and has been
occupied every year since. Some years
ago five nests were occupied in this barn,
and that year a fatal accident occurred
to one of the Swallows. I discovered one
nest with two eggs was deserted, and
on looking into the cause of it I discov-
ered the dead bird on the floor below, and
drew the conclusion that the bird on en-
tering the door on the ground floor, flew
upward through the large square in the
upper floor used for the horse fork to
pass up through to the track under the
ridge pole, and in her upward swoop had
hit the fork or rope that was suspended
above, and hung through the square,
and fell to the floor dead.

Another large barn where the Swallows
have nested longer than I can remember,
always having eight or ten nests each
year, only four were occupied this year.
On the same barn, outside under the eaves
ever since I can remember, and for years
before, there had been twelve or fifteen
nests in a row, of the Cliff Swallow, and
this year but two nests were occupied.
Some of them have fallen down, others
remaining untenanted. (No other oppor-
tunity was available to observe the Cliff"
Swallow.)

Another barn that always had one
Barn Swallow occupant had none. Still
another had lost more than half its Swal-
low occupants, and one other which had
usually had five nests had none this
year. This barn, however, was not oc-
cupied, and perhaps not being occupied
by cattle or horses, a scarcity of flies and
other usual insects about the place may
have had some influence, yet before it
spread a broad expanse of lowland and
meadow, fairly teeming with the small
white millers that the Swallows so often

skim along and catch, and I could not
account for this great change unless it
was a scarcity of the food usually obtain-
ed. This change so far as 1 am aware
is sectional, as Mr. Morrill, Mr. Knight,
and Mr. Norton have written me the
Swallows were very abundant in their
respective localities. In Cumberland
county I have seen as many Swallows as
in the past four years, though no oppor-
tunity has been afforded to observe their
nestiuo; here.

I observed the Bank Swallows nesting
in the bank of a large sand pit on the
electric road between Portland and
Westbrook, also in usual numbers along
the Sandy River in Franklin County in
June. I was not able to make much
study of these Swallows, however.

The Tree Swallows, (or at least I took
them to be the Tree Swallow) were seen
in large numbers along the rocky coast
of Cape Elizabeth near the Portland
Head light early in the spring. The only
chance to study them was at Farming-
ton. About twelve years ago 1 erected a
bird house for the Martins that were
seen around the house, and averyinterest-
mg chapter was recorded on the quarrels
of the Martin, Ti'ee Swallow and Blue-
bird, the Martins being the victors until
two years ago. Since then the Swallows
have driven the Martins out. The Svval-
lows arrive first and get their nest part-
ly completed before the Martins arrive.
Then follows a week or two with a lively
contest, the Swallows guarding their un-
finished nests with touching vigilance.
The last two years the Swallows have
held the house and continued to breed ;
but previously after a hard-fought battle
the Martins forced an entrance and
threw out the feathers, etc., of the Swal-

IS

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

lows, and made their nest and reared
their young unmolested, the Swallows
taking a hole in an apple tree for a nest-
ing site and rearing their young.

The martin houses I have been familiar
with have not their old numbers breed-
ing in them . One I have watched for the
past fifteen years used to have eight or
nine pairs of Martins breeding therein,
but this year had only four pairs nest-
ing there. So far as I know they have
few natural enemies. I cannot explain
this decrease in numbers.

Of the Geese, Ducks and Swans, very
little has been seen of this family. There
is a sportsman over on Cape Elizabeth
that wing-tipped several Canada Geese,
and captured them alive, and cropped
their wings and keeps them in a large
enclosure near Great Pond, together with
several pairs of Mallard Ducks, both of
which he uses as decoys to shoot over.
The Geese do not, I believe, nest in the
enclosure, but the Ducks have nests hid-
den here and there among the weeds and
bushes along the banks of a brook that
runs through his enclosure. It reminds
me of a hunter's paradise in some wild,
unexplored region where the Geese and
Ducks have not learned to fear the pres-
ence of man. These Geese and Ducks,
though not wild, are very interesting, as
they show very much of their natural
habits.

I had a good opportunity to watch the
Swans in Evergreen Cemetery, and from
the superintendent of the grounds, and
from the patrolman or keeper on that
beat I learned quite a little of much in-
terest to me. As the Swans are on our
list for study, and no notes on the wild
birds are obtainable in these parts, I will

give a few notes from my note-book.
They have five adult bii'ds and one cyg-
net at present. Several years ago the
superintendent ordered a pair of birds
from the superintendent of a park in
Philadelphia, Pa., and he replied that he
would send him a pair that were on their
way from Holland. They were not taken
from their crate in Philadelphia, but re-
shipped at once to Maine. The price was
$50 per bird. In all the public parks in
New England, New York, Baltimore,
Washington and some other places where
they have Swans, none of them breed.
The superintendent said the reason of
this is that the birds when they arrive
in this country are operated upon to pre-
vent them from breeding. It is interest-
ing to know that these are the only
breeding Swans in the above named
places. This pair hatched young each
year for several years, but none of them
came to maturity. When the female
would take the young on her back and
carry them to the upper ponds (she will
only allow them to stay on her back for a
few days, then they must swim for them-
selves), each day in the forenoon, the first
thing the keeper would notice wrong a
cygnet would be floating on the water
with its neck or back broken. The next
day another would die as mysteriously,
and so on till all were gone. Superin-
tendent Floyd then told Mr. Stevens, the
keeper, they must if possible learn what
it was that killed the cygnets. So when
the young came up to the upper
ponds the next year, the policeman
watched them very closely, concealing
himself behind the shrubs and trees
near the ponds ; but they began to die,
and he could not watch them closely
enough to detect by what agent they
were killed. The last one remained, and

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

19

he kept his eyes on it, and as they were
swimming about playfully, suddenly the
male bird, who was always so ferocious,
and put up such a protest if a stranger
ventured too near the young, swam up
to the cygnet, and looking iu every direc-
tion to see if anyone was in sight, and
not seeing the keeper, he struck the little
one with his wing and broke his neck,
and sailed away as unconcerned as could
be. At last to their great surprise, they
had found out the secret. It was the
old male that killed the young. The next
year they shut up the male in the house
and they raised tAvo young Swans. The
next year they raised one, and this year
but one, and all they have raised seem
to be male birds. It seems very strange
that the male should destroy its off-
spring, but if the young are as they sup-
pose, all male birds, it would seem that
he kills them out of jealousy. This would
be in accord wnth facts observed among
some other animals. This is the only
reason I could suggest. It is interesting
the way they build their nests. In spring
when they are let out into the ponds the
male begins to gather sticks and starts a
nest in the water's edge beside the bank
of one of the lower ponds. But the fe-
male, not accepting that site, he begins
another on the land beside the water's
edge. Sometimes he has to start two
or three before she accepts it as a proper
place to breed. When he starts one that
meets her approval she then helps finish
it and the eggs are laid — generally from
four to seven. This year only four eggs
were laid, and but one hatched. The
nest was placed on the bank among the
thick alders and weeds that line the bank
of the lower pond, about four feet from
the water's edge. The nest w^as about
four feet across, and built up about eight

or nine inches high, of coarse alder
twigs, some of them two or three feet
long, and some ^ inches in diameter,
lined with finer dead twigs. Through
the kindness of the keeper I obtained a
photo of the nest, and from the superin-
tendent I got one of the eggs for my
collection.

Portland, Me., Nov. 10, 1899.

Lincoln's Sparrow at Seguin Island, Me.

CAPT. H. L. SPINNEY.

My attention was first called to Lin-
coln's Sparrow by IMr. Arthur H. Norton
of Westbrook, Maine, who at the time
was visiting me. On the 11th of Sep-
tember, 1898, at 3 A. M., I noticed a
few l)irds on and around the light.
Wishing Mr. Norton to see this phenom-
ena of bird migration I called him, he
being in bed where every honest orni-
thologist should have been at that time
in the morning.

There were fifteen oi' twenty birds,
mostly Sparrows, struggling to get
through the glass to the light.

After watching and following them
around on the inside of the lantern for
some time, we went outside to see how
they would act.

Climbing up on the walk which en-
circles the lantern, we were in a position
to force our familiarity upon our feath-
ered visitors, who resented it by trying
the harder to force the quarter inch glass
of the lantern.

We had caught a number of the birds,
again liberating them to see how they
would act, when my attention was

20

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

attracted from my experiments by an
exclamation from Mr. Norton.

On inquiring the cause of such a gush
of enthusiasm, he informed me he had
caught a Lincoln's Sparrow. After ex-
amining it, I told him I was quite sure
I had seen a number of them, but sup-
posed them to be a common sparrow, as
up to this time I had not known enough
about the bird to give it my attention.

This specimen I mounted for my
collection and to identify other speci-
mens by, should I be fortunate enough
to secure them. The night of Septem-
ber "24th, I was absent from the island,
but had requested Mr. Stetson, (one of
the keepers) to watch for Lincoln's Spar-
rows, he having the aforementioned
specimen for comparison.

The night mentioned was accompan-
ied with a large flight of birds, and
among them quite a number of Lincoln's
Sparrows, this being proved by a speci-
men which Mr. Stetson caught for me,
the skin of which I now have. It again
came to my notice October 6th, 1899,
one being killed by flymg against the
glass of the light-house. Again on the
10th, I noticed one among a large num-
ber of birds which were on the glass.
The last time I noticed it. was on the
loth at 3 A. M. There were some two
hundred birds on the glass, mostly
White-throated Sparrows, Slate-colored
Juncos, a few Song and Savanna Spar-
rows, and among them two of Lincoln's
Sparrows.

No doubt there have been others which
I have not seen during the time these
dates include, as I am on duty only a
certain part of each night. •

It seems to me from these observa-
tions that it may be proved to be a com-
mon fall migrant at this island.

Black-throated Blue Warbler.

CAPT. H. L. SPINNKT.

Up to Oct. 15th, 1899, I had seen
only four of the Black-throated Blue
Warbler, and those since living on this
island.

On the date mentioned, at 4 A. M.,
the night having been dark, with no
stars to be seen, and calm, I was watch-
ing some two hundred birds, which were
sitting on the walk aiound the light, or
struggling against the glass, when my
attention was attracted to three of these
warblers, which were struggling with
the throng to gain admittance.

While watching these warblers, one
of them suddenly flew from where it had
been resting, and struck against the
glass, settling down, until it alighted on
the back of a White-throated Sparrow,
which was quietly enjoying a rest, on
the walk which came on a level with the
sash of the lantern. The Sparrow re-
mained perfectly submissive to the
familiarity. The Warbler remaining on
its back for some moments, as if a free
ride was a common occurrence.

After this, its occurrence was noted a
number of times, up to the last of the
month. While on the island, they
seemed to prefer feeding around a pile
of edgings, which were used for kind-
ling wood, or on the track, which was
built of spruce timber, on which we haul
our coal from the shore. At any time,
I did not see them on the flora of the
island.

John Lord reports having had two
Iceland Gulls brought into his rooms
among other Gulls, and also one Glau-
cus Gull during the past fall and winter.

J. M. S.

5f,fe

%-

Tlie Mi o[ TliG lie Onilliological Socieiy.

A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGY.

'^hM protectioBj bird siudy^ the spread of tbeknowMge tbusffainedj these are our objects/'

Vol. II.

BANGOR, MAINE, JULY, 1900.

No. 3

Cbe maine Ornltbologlcal Society.

Prof. W. L. Powers, Gardiner, - President
Capt. H. L. Spinney. Seguin, Vice-President
A. H. Norton, Westbroolv, - - Sec'y— Treas.
J. Merton Swain. Portland, - - - - j:ditor
Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville, - - Councilor
O. W. IvNiGHT, Bangor, - - - - Councilor

All subscriptions and business communications
should be sent to O. W. Knight. Publisher and
Business Manager, Bangor, Maine.

All articles for publication must be sent to the
Editor.

All communications rcfjuiring an answer must
be accompanied by stamps to prepay the reply.

SUBSCRIPTION.

25 Cts. per Year. Single number, 10 Cts.
Advertising rates furnished on application.

Entered as second class matter at the post-<jttiee
at Bangor, Maine.

(S&Horiai.

The readers of our "Journal" will be
pleased to learn of the Suminer School
of Ornithology, held at East Parsons-
field, during July and August. Classes
will be personally conducted by Mr. and
Mrs. A. H. Norton of Westbrook.
These names are a guarantee of the
great pleasure and profit to be obtained
by the fortunate ones, who may be able

to attend this school. Mr. and Mrs.
Norton are both very thorough, enthu-
siastic students of the birds, and we
envy those who may be so fortunate as
to spend their time so profitably in their
classes.

It will also be a |)leasure to the mem-
bers, to attend tlie summer meeting of
the Maine Ornithological Society and
the Maine Botanical Society, both held
at East Parsonsfield, Maple Crest Hotel
for headquarters, on July Srd to 6th
included. A very pleasant time is
anticipated.

We had the pleasure of a visit with
Brother Morrell at Pittsfield. early in
June. The birds received nearly every
moment of our time, and very pleasant
hours were spent witli the birds about
the Lake. We located a nest of Swain-
son's Thrush. This was the second
nest Mr. Morrell ever observed in his
locality. We also found that long-
looked-for nest of Dendroica virens.
Nests of Northern Parula Warbler were
also observed, and many other varieties
that were especially interesting to me.

The "Condor" reaches us, full of
bright, breezy matter relating to Cal.
Ornithology. It fills a place left va-
cant by Taylor's Nidologist- The
"Cooper Club" is one of the liveliest,
wide-awake societies for the study of

22

JOURNAL OF MAINP: ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

birds in any of our States, and their
bulletin will be a source of delight to
all who are interested in the birds. We
wish our Cal. brethren great success as
a society and in their official organ.

Birds in the Bible.

PROF. A. L. LANE.

Read before the Maine Ornithological
Societi/ at Brunswick, Dec. 27, 1899.

Any writings deserve to be ranked as
true literature which are so saturated
with truth, life, beauty, that they appeal
not to one people or age but to many
ages and peoples and that they take
hold of the heart of the entire race with
an unchanging vitality of grasp. Hu-
man life, its experiences, its hopes,
fears, joys, sorrows, loves, hates, his-
tories, destinies, must form the chief
elements of such literature ; but human
life is so moulded and coloretl by its
surroundings that these cannot be neg-
lected, and therefore nature in its ever-
changing moods aiid manifestations
must enter freely into those works that
appeal to universal interest. Nature
touches us in ways without number. In
endless variety of forms, unceasingly,
by day and by night, by sunshine and
shadow, by star and planet, by sea or
land, by plant life or animal life, nature
enters into the world's experiences and
interests, and therefore must form a
large part of the world's literature.

As birds are found everywhere where
men can live they must enter freely into
the books of all literatures, and espe-
cially into such writings as are in clos-

est touch with natural objects and move-
ments. Our Bible is such a book ; out-
of-doors, breezy, intensely human and
natural, as well as divine, it touches all
the keys of feeling and action and draws
its subjects and illustrations from the
widest and most varied sources, liiids
are in it, of course.

The eagle is mentioned in more than
a score of passages and for a great va-
riety of purposes. Its stiong wings are
used to describe the power by which the
Israelites were brought out of Egypt,
and ultimately from slavery into nation-
ality; "I bear you on eagles' wings," is
the beautiful statement of the way in
which the divine interposition led them
forth and bore them on to safety. The
eagle's care for its young and the way
in which it teaches them to Hy, by break-
ing up the nest and catching the young
upon its wings, is very graphically
described in another place as an illus-
tration of God's care for his people.
"As an eagle stirreth up hef nest, liut-
lereth over her young, t^prt^adetii abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them
on her wings ; so the Lord alone did
lead them." I remember reading a
description of such a scene as this as
witnessed by a traveler in the great
canon of the Colorado, where the eagle's
nest was nearly a mile above the stream
below, high up on the rocky side of the
ravine, and where the young birds were
allowed to fall for a long distance before
being overtaken and borne up on the
wings of the mother bird. Moses may
well have witnessed the occurrence which
he so graphically describes many times
during his forty years experience of life
in the open air, as a keeper of flocks and
herds. The eagle is swift as well as
strong. A nation was to come against

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

23

Israel from afar "as swift as the eagle
flieth." "Our persecutions are swifter
than the eagles of the heaven," com-
plained the prophet Jeremiah. "As
the eagle that suoopeth on tlie prey," is
the way in which Job describes the swift
flight of the years. Anyone who has
seen the swift downward rush of a bird
of prey, may well understand the force
and beauty of this figure.

In the same book of Job there is a
very accurate picture of the nesting
habits of the eagle and of its method of
watching for its prey fiom a distance.
"Doth the eagle mount up at thy com-
mand and make her nest on high? She
dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon
the crag of the rock, and the strong
place. From thence she seeketh her
prey, and her eyes behold afar off."
How could far-sighted, sharp-eyed
watchfulness be more vividly pictured !

"They shall mount up on wings as
eagles," is the strong language in which
the clear-visioned Isaiah describes the
experience of those wlio renew their
strength by a life of service and of
faith. We have all known men, un-
happily too rare, whose lives have
approached, in beauty and in power,
the upward, soaring flight of the eagle.
Very interesting passages may also be
found in our Scriptures in regard to our
largest crows, the ravens. These figure
in the strange story of Elijah, as God's
messengers to bring food to the hungry
prophet. Fleeing from the wrath of
King Ahab and the still fiercer anger of
his wife, Jezebel, he took refuge in a
rocky ravine near the brook Cherith, a
small stream whose waters did not fail
during the first few months of the threat-
ened drouth, and here in the very home
of the ravens, he became their guest :

"And the ravens brought him bread and
flesh in the morning, and bread and
flesh in the evening : and he drank of
the brook."

The Wady Kelt, the supposed scene
of Elijah's strange experience of being
fed by the ravens, is thus described by
Dr. Thomson. "It is a narrow, pro-
found gorge, overhung by tremendous
cliffs, absolutely iu)passible, in whose
numerous recesses and dark caverns,
the prophet could have been mQst effectu-
ally concealed. I have pnssed up and
down the south side of it by night, and
looked into its fearful chasm with awe :
it then appenrs simply bottomless. On
another occasion the appearance of a
pair of ravens, black and glossy, sailing
leisurely down the chasm, brought viv-
idly to mind the circumstances of the
biblical incident, and I was quite ready
to recognize them as lineal descendants
of the birds that were commanded by
the Lord to feed the prophet." It has
indeed been claimed by some writers
that the Hebrew word for ravens in this
passage may be taken as the name of a
tribe of Arabs; but the same word cer-
certainly means ravens elsewhere, as
for example, in the case of the raven
sent forth from the ark, and in a story
so strongly marked by admitted miracles
one miracle more, even less wonderful
than the others, need not give us any
additional ditliculty. The story is too
strange and beautiful not to be true.
Shakespeaie makes Lavinia in Titus
Andronicus use these words :

'•Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests."

It would be interesting to know if this
saying has any relation to the biblical
story. Within a lew days I have heard
on most excellent authority a story of a

24

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

cat bereaved by the drowning of its lone
kitten, adopting a family of chickens
and bringing to them bits of bre.nd and
meat from its own supply nnd then
watching them lovingly while they ate
these gifts.

After reading the story of Elijah, we
do not wonder at the kindly mention of
the ravens made elsewhere in the Bible.
Thus in the book of Job we read : "Who
provideth for the raven his food, when
his young ones cry unto God, and wan-
der for lack of meat?" In one of the
last of the psalms we find this question
answered; "Uegiveth to the beast his
food and to the young ravens which
cry." Is it not an exceedingly beautiful
thought that the call of the young bird
in distress is a cry unto God? Who
can be insensible to the profound truth
in these words, "The eyes of all wait
upon thee ; and thou givest them their
meat in due season. Thou openest
thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of
every living thing?" It certainly gives
dignity to our study of the birds to
regard them as sharers with us in the
care of the same Creator. The teach-
ings of the earlier Scriptures receive
increased emphasis fiom the words of
the great Teacher, "•Consider the ravens ;
for they neither sow nor reap, which
neither have storehouse nor barn, and
God feedeth them." Compare this con-
ception with the idea given us in Poe's
Raven and no one can doubt which is
the higher and the finer.

But our smaller and more familiar
birds such as the Sparrows and the
Swallows are by no means unnoticed in
the literature of which we are speaking.
The eighty-fourth Psalm is the song of
the Sparrow and the Swallow and shows
clearly that these birds had the same

familiar and home-loving character then
as now, that they had the same habit of
nesting around dwellings and other
buildings, "•Yea. the Sparrow hath found
her an iiousc, and the Swallow a nest
for herself, where she may lay her
young, even thine altars, () Lord of
Hosts, my King, and my God." How
beautifully in the Xiw Testament these
birds are made to teach us the lesson of
trust and comentment. "Are not two
Sparrows sold for a fartliing? and one
of them shall not fall on the ground
without your Father." "Behold the
birds of the air, for tlie}' sow not, neither
do they reap, yet your Heavenly Father
feedeth them." The pi'ayer ihat Shakes-
peare puts into the mouth of one of his
characters in "As You Like It," as he
generously offers to give up to his mas-
ter the five hundred crowns which he
had saved for the comfort of his old
age, shows that Shakespeare at least
understood this lesson, "Take that : and
He that doth the ravens feed. Yea, pro-
vidently caters to the Span-ow. Be
comfort to my age ! Here is the gold."
Birds come in flocks so often, in fam-
ily groups or in pairs at least, that a
solitary bird maj' well be taken as a
symbol of desolation. "I am like a
pelican of the wilderness, I am like an
owl of the desert; I watch and am as a
sparrow alone upon the housetop."
Here the very fact so plainly recognized
that the Sparrows are such social birds
and are usually seen in flocks, makes
the statement of isolation all the more
emphatic. It is like the sad cry of a
bird for its mate.

The passing of the winter and the
return of the birds are beautifully de-
scribed in the Song of Solomon. "For
lo, the winter is past, the rain is over

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

and goiu- : the tiowers appear on the
earth : the time of the singing of birds is
come and tlie voice of tlie turtle is
heard in our lan(L" * * * "O my dove,
tliou ai't in the clefts of the rociv, in the
covert of the steep place."

Another reference to tlie migration of
birds is found in the prophecy of Jere-
miah. '"Yea, the Stoik in the heavens
knoweth his appointed times, and the
Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow
observe the time of their coming." So
good an authority as Van Lmnep in his
"Bible Lands," declares that in these
migrations the smaller birds of Pales-
tine, such as tlie Sparrows and the
Finches, are borne on the backs of the
larger, as the Cranes and the Storks,
across the ^lediterranean, or a part of
it, into Africa ; and that tliese large
birds fly low and call the smaller to take
passage with them when ihey leave, but
on their return tly iiigh and permit the
smaller birds to leave theni at their
pleasure.

The departure of tlie birds to the
warmer countries seems to be referred
to in this passage from the book of
Job. "Doth the Hawk soar by thy
wisdom and stretch out her wings tow-
ard the South ? The first part of this
question plainly implies that there is a
mystery in flight beyond our ready
knowledge, a fact that the Duke of
Argyle fully admits in his discussion of
theflightof birds in his "Reign of Law."
This picture of tlie Hawk stretching out
her wings toward the South might almost
or quite, perhaps, be compared with
Browning's beautiful picture :

"What did I say? — that a small l)ircl sings
All day long, save when a brown pair

Of Hawks from the wood float with wide wings
Strained to a bell : 'gainst noon-day glare,

You (^ouiit the streaks and rings."

Th'' helplessness of storm-driven
migratory birds and the ease with which
they are taken after a long flight across
the sea, as well as the vast multitudes
in which the flocks may appear, are
clearly stated in the book of Numbers :
"A wind brouglit (Quails from the sea,
and let them fall by the camp, about a
day's journey on the otiier sid^', and the
people rose up all that day, and all the
night, and all the next day, and gather-
ed tlie quails." Perhaps the accounts
we have read of the havoc wrought
among the flocks of wild I'igeons in the
earlier days of this country would come
the nearest to this liiblical naiTative ;
but it is well known tliat the Quails
migrate in great numbers, and there are
accounts of thieir being taken in nets by
the thousands in a day, and of sixty
thousands being netted on the little
island of Capri, near Naples, in a single
season.

The unrest of the Turtle-dove in cap-
tivity and the eager swiftness with which
it flies back to its early home among the
rocky cliffs when set free, was made use
of bv King David, weary with the cares
of royalty and the faithlessness of tiiose
whom he desired to be able to trust, in
the touching cry of his heart for the
scenes of his boyhood ; "Oh, that I had
wings like a dove ! Then would I fly
away and be at rest. Lo, then would I
wander far off, 1 would lodge in the
wilderness, I would haste me to a shel-
ter from the stormy wind and tempest."

The swiftness with which rumor brings
to a ruler anything uttered against him, —
so many hoping to secure favor by tell-
ing it, is well compared to the speed of
a bird's flight: "Curse not the king, no,
not in thy thought, for a bird of the air
shall carry the voice, and that which

■26

JOURNAL OF MAINP: ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCILTY.

hath wings shall tell the matter." The
picture of the sower going forth from a
village to the remote fields to sow the
grain, and of the birds following his
steps to gather up the seed that may fall
upon the narrow paths which bordered
or crossed the fields, is intensely orien-
tal and oiit-of-doorsy. How often even
in our New England life have some of
us seen the Robin following closely after
the plow in the furrow to gather up for
its food or for its young the grubs and
the worms that miglit be uncovered.
According to Dr. Wm. H. Thomson in
"The Land and the Book," it is not the
smaller birds, but the larger ones that
are the greatest thieves of the seed
sown. His statement is substantially as
follows. A tangled jungle of cane and
bushes near the banks of the Jordan is
a roosting-placeof the Crows and Rooks
from which they go forth at early dawn
like the columns of an endless army.
They are the plague of the farmer.
They devour so much of the freshly-
sown seed that he has to make a large
allowance for their depredations. It is
useless to try to frighten them away.
They tly up at the report of a gun, wheel
round and round for a few minutes,
cawing noisily, and then settle down
again to their work of robbery as if
nothing had happened. They fly to
great distances in these foraging excur-
sions, scattering in smaller groups for
the day's pillaging, and at evening they
gather again to their resting-place, where
they discuss the adventures of the day
in clamorous chatterings, silenced at
length for the night's rest.

"Birds have" haunts, lodging-places,
resting-places, not "nests," as in our
version, presents a picture of some
sequestered grove or tree-clump, some

sheltered hillside or brookside, where
birds may gather and rest undisturbed.
The bird haunts where great numbers
gather to spend the night for weeks at a
time, as the Swallows do every fall in
the willows on an island in the Rlessa-
lonskee at Waterville, come much nearer
to the true thought than the word nests
comes. More of our birds have the
habit of gathering for shelter in flucks
or in groups than miglit at first be
thought. Crows, Jays, Swallows, Rob-
ins, Bine-birds, Thistle-finches, Spar-
rows, Juncoes, Snowfiakes, and many
others do this to a greater or less extent.
It is also true that birds gather in cer-
tain favorable places for nesting and
breeding. We all know how populous
some old-fashioned chimney may be
with the many families of Chimney-Swifts
taxing its generously-proportioned hos-
pitality ; how compactly placed the mud-
houses of the Eave Swallows often are
under the protection of the projecting
eaves of some barn or shed belonging to
a kind-hearted farmer ; how completely
honey-combed with the tunnels of the
Sand Martin are the walls of some fav-
orably located sand-bank, — a bank that
receives many deposits and makes large
dividends, unless there is some cruel
run upon the bank by an army of small
boys ; how snugly the Sea-bii'ds cover
every spot and fill every erevice and
nook of some rocky, almost inaccessible
island ; how fully occupied are the trees
of some protected heronry, either by the
nests of the Great Blue Heron or of the
Black-Crowned night Heion, as in the
heronry in Brown's woods at P'almouth
Foreside. After listening for some
weeks to the peculiar cries of these last-
named Herons, frequently by day,
sometimes by night, I do not wonder

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

27

that "squawks" is the familiar name by
which they are commonly known. All
honor to the man who keeps far away
from such a place, the death-dealing
sportsman. In this connection it may
be interesting to quote the Mosaic law
forbidding the taking of nesting birds :
"If a bird's nest chance to be before
thee in the way, in any tree or on the
ground, with 3'ouug ones or eggs, and
the dam sitting upon the young ; thou
shalt in any wise let the dam go, but
the young thou mayest take unto thy-
self : that it may be well with thee and
that thou mayest prolong thy daj's." I
am not sure that I quite agree with the
interpretation which Dr. Thomson puts
upon ihis i)assage : "Notice uow the
compreheusive specifications of this pre-
cept by which j^ou are forbidden to
molest these nests. You must in no
wise take the dam, and you do not want
either the eggs or the young, so all must
be left." Doubtless that would be the
usual result of obeying this direction,
though in some cases the young might
be taken ; certainly that cruel crime of
killing the old bird and allowing the
young to perish of hunger and exposure
in the nest, would never be committed
if this law were obeyed. Additional
weight is given to the command by the
sanction under which it is enforced,
"That it may be well with thee and that
thou mayest prolong thy days." The
life even of a bird is sacred, and one
who takes it cruelly deserves misfortune
and shortness of days. I am glad that
"bird protection" has a prominent place
in the purposes of our society. When
the psalmist exclaims in triumph, "Our
soul is escaped as a bird out of the
snare of the fowler ; the snare is broken,
and we are escaped ;" he shows that his

s^Miipathies are with the bird in such a
case as well as with his associates who
have shared with him in some great
deliverance.

It was a part of the simple life of the
Jews and of their direct contact with
common things that cock-crowing should
be used to designate a certain period of
the day. It was a part of the same
simplicity that Jesus gave to Peter the
token, "The cock shall not crow till
thou hast thrice denied me." Even in
the open court of the high priest's pal-
ace, it was the hearing of the appointed
signal, — "Immediately the cock crew,"
— that recalled Peter to himself and to
his loyalty to his Master. How remote
from our modern and northern civiliza-
tion is such a scene as this, but how
true to the open-air life which prevails
in oriental lands.

The care of the mother bird hovering
her young under her wings is used re-
peatedly to set forth God's care for his
people. Thus David ciies out, "My
soul taketh refuge in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I take refuge."
In the ninety-first psalm the same figure
appears, "He shall cover thee with his
piuions, and under his wings shalt thou
take refuge." But most touchingly the
figure comes in, in the lament over
Jerusalem in view of its subsequent
destruction : "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how often would I have gathered thy
children together even as a hen gather-
eth her chickens under her wings and
ye would not." As wings signify swift-
ness, strength, protection, may not this
be the meaning of the wings which are
ascribed to angels, and even of the
wings of the cherubim which overshad-
owed the mercy seat in the Most Holy
Place of the temple?

28

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

A List of the Birds observed from
April to October, during different
years, from 18^2 to 1899 in the region
of Islesboro, Waldo County, and the
Fox Islands, Knox County, Maine,
compiled by Reginald Heber Howe,
Jr., from his, and the Notes of Dr.
Charles W. Townsend of Boston.

From August 4 to *J, 1894,* and from
July 5 to oO, LS99 I spent at Dark Har-
bor, Islesboro, ou the southern end of
Long Island, Waldo County, Maine,
and from August 1 to 15, 1899 at Vinal
Haven, Knox County, Maine. During
these periods I spent much of my time
studying the land-birds of the I'egions,
and occasionally those of Penobscot
Bay. I had, much to my advantage, a
basis on which to work, for Dr. Charles
W. Townsend of Boston had left in the
possession of Mr. Jeoffrey R. Brackett,
a suunner resident of Dark Harbor, lists
of the birds observed by him during
visits at Mr. Brackett's house on the
following dates: — September 1 to 11,
1882, April o to 9, and September 4 to
24, 1883, September 19 to October 2,
1884, and September 12 to 24, 1885.
To Dr. Townsend for his lists and an-
notations, and kind assistance I am
much indebted.

(Explanatory : All annotations enclosed in
quotation marks are Dr. Townsend's; his obser-
vations were all made at, or near Islesboro.)

1. Colynibus auratus : Horned Grebe,

•'Several seen and one shot, '84."

2. Gavia imber : Loon, "Common,

'82, '83, '84, '85." One Fox Is.,
Aug. '99.

* See "On tbe Bird's Highway," Small & May-
nard, 1899, Boston. Chap. XI. p. 107.

3. Cepphus grylle : Black Guillemots

"One seen 'S2, common '83.
One seen Aug. 11 and 13, '99,
Islesboro.

4. Larus argentatus : American Her-

ring Gull, "Common '82, '83,
'84, ',S5." Conniion '94, '99,
Islesboro, '99, Fox Is.

5. Larus Philadelphia : Bonaparte's

Gull, "Common, Hock of fifty
seen, two shot, Sept. '83.'' Aug.
10, 11, 15, '99 common Islesboro.

6. Sterna hirundo : Common Tern,

"Abundant '82, common '85."
Common ''.Ml, Islesboro, Fox. Is.

7. Sterna paradisa^a : Arctic Tern,

Aug. 5, 11, '99, common. Fox Is.

8. Sterna dougalli : Roseate Tern,

Aug. (3, 12, '99, a few seen. Fox
Is. Identification not absolute.

9. Merganser serrator: Eed-breasted

Merganser, "Common '82, Apr.
'83, Sept. '83, breeds." Aug. 1,
'99, three Fox Is.

10. Anasobscura: Black Duck, "Few

seen, Apr. 'is3, several '84."

11. Harelda hiemalis : Old Squaw,

"Several large flocks, Apr. '83."

12. Branta canadensis : Canada Goose,

"Two flocks Apr. 7, 8, '83."

13. Ardea herodias : Great Blue He-

ron, "Common '82, '83, '84, '85."
'94, '99, Common Islesboro, '99
Fox Is.

14. Nycticorax nycticorax naevius :

Black-crowned Night Heron,
"One or two seen '82, common
'.'^4, 'i^'-)," Uncommon '94, '99,
Islesboro.

15. Tringa bairdii : Baird' Sandpiper,

"One shot on Warren Is. on
Sept. 20, '85 sex?"

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

•29

16. Ereuuetes piisillus : Semi-palmated

SiAiidpiper. '•Abuudaut '^^2, com-
mon "8o, one '84, few '8')." Aug.
1-1;'). '9'J, common Fox Is.

17. Calidris arenaria : Sanderling,

•'One seen Sept. '88."

18. Totauus melanoleucus : Greater

Yellow-legs, '-Few '82, six or
eight Sept. '83, common '8;')."

19. A otitis macularia : Spotted Sand-

piper, ' 'Common '82, '.s:'), '84,
'85." Common '!H, '99. Islesl)oro,
'99 Fox Is.

20. Squatarola squatarola : Hlack-

bellied Plover, "Two sliot on
Spruce Is. '8.')."

21. Aegialiiis semipalmata : Semi-pal-

mated Plover, "Abundant '82,
common Sept. '83, '85." A few
Aug. (;, 7, '99, Fox Is.

22. Arenaria interpres : Turnstone,

•'Fifteen or twenty '82, dozen
'85."

23. Circus hudsonius : Marsh Hawk,

"One seen Sept. '83, Several
'Sr)." One Aug. 3, '99, Fox Is.

24. Accipiter velox : Sharp Shinned

Hawk, "One shot Sept. '83, sev-
eral "84, '(S5."

25. Falco sparverius : American Spar-

row Hawk, "Se\eral seen, one
shot Sept. '83." One seen '94.

2G. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis :
American Osprey, "Several '82,
one seen every day after Apr. 7,
'83, common Sept. '83, several
'84, '85." Common '94, '99,
Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

27. Coccyzus americanus : Yellow-
billed Cuckoo? One seen at
Islesboro by Miss F. Griffith,
July '99. I have no reason to
doubt identification.

28.

29.

30.

32.
33.

34.
35.

36.
37.

Coccyzus e r y t h r o p h t h a 1 ni u s :
Black-billed Cuckoo, "One seen
'85." Common '99 Islesl)oro.
One bird sang almost every even-
ing between nine to ten througli-
out July.

Ceryle alcyou : King fisher, "Com-
mon 'H'2, few Sept. '83, common
'84, 'S5." Uncommon '99 Isles-
boro, Fox Is.

I)ryol)ntes villosus : Hairy Wood-
pecker, "One Apr. '83, several
'84."

Dryobates pubescens medianus :
Downy Woodpecker, "Abundant
Apr. '83, Sept. '83, '84, common
'!<o." Common '99, Islesboro,
Fox Is.

Sphyrapicus varius : Yellow-bellied
Woodpecker, "Several seen '84."

Cohiptes auratus : Flicker, "Com-
mon '82, Apr. and Sept. '83, '84,
abundant '85." Uncommon '94,
'99, Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

Chordeiles virginianus : Night-
hawk, A few Aug. 10-15, '99,
Fox Is.

Chsetura pelagica : Chimney Swift,
"Abundant Apr. and Sept. '83."
Uncommon '94, '99, Islesboro,
'99 Fox Is.

Trochilus colubris : Ruby-throated
Humming-bird, "Two seen '82,
common Sept. '83, one see '85."

Tyrannus tyrannus : King-bird,
"Rather common '82." Abun-
dant '94, '99, Islesboro, '99, Fox
Is.

Nuttallornis borealis : Olive-sided
Flycatcher, Not uncommon, July
24-30, '99 Islesboro, Aug. 2, '99
Fox Is.

30

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

39. Empidouax tiaviventris : Yellow-

bellied Flycatcher, "One seen
either of this species or of E. t.
aluorum '83." Not uncommon
July '9!t, Islesboro.

40. Empidonax minimus : Least Fly-

catcher, One Aug. 1, '99, Fox Is.

41. Cyauocitta cristata : Blue Jay,

"Few lieard, '82, common Sept.
'83, several '84, common 'So "

42. Corvus americanus : American

Crow, "Abundant '82, Apr. and
Sept. '83, '84, '85." Common
'94, '99, Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

43. Scoleocophagus caroliuus : Rusty

Blackbird, "Three seen Sept.
'83."

44. Quiscalus quiscula ivueus : Bronzed

Grackle, "One taken in July '99,
Islesboro, shown me by Mr.
George Dyer.

45. Carpodacus purpureus : Purple

Finch, "Few seen Sept. '83."
July 8, '99, a few Islesboro, '99
Fox Is.

46. Loxia curvirostra minor : American

Cross-bill, Abundant '99 Isles-
boro, '99 Fox Is.

47. Loxia leucoptera : White-winged

Cross-bill, One seen July 29,
'99 Islesboro.

48. Astragalinus tristis : American

Goldfinch, "Abundant '82, Apr.
and Sept. '83. '84, '85." Com-
mon '99 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

49. Plectrophenax nivalis : Snow-flake,

"Five or six Apr. '83."

50. Poacetes gramineus : Vesper Spar-

row, "Common '82, one seen
Apr. '83, several '84, common
'85." One Aug. 6, '99 Fox Is.

51. Passerculus sandwichensis savan-

na : Savanna Sparrow, Common
'99 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

54.

56.

58.

59.

60.

61.

Zonotrichia albieoUis : White-
throated Sparrow, "Common '82,
ninindant Apr. and Sept. '83,
common '84, '85." Common '94,
'!)9 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

Spizella socialis : Chipping Spar-
row, "Abundant '82, Sept. '83,
',S4. '85." Common '94, '99
Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

Spizella pusilla : Field Sparrow,
Aug. '94 one seen Islesboro.

Junco hiemalis : Slate Colored
Junco, "Abundant '82, Apr. and
Sept. '83, '84, '85." Common
'94, '99 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

Melospiza melodia : Song Sparrow,
"Abundant '82, Apr. and Sept.
'83, '84, '85." Common '94, '99
Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

Passerella iliaca : Fox Sparrow,
"Several Apr. '83, singing." A
few '94 Islesboro.

Spiza americana : Dickcissel, "A
young male shot on Sept. '84 on
Job's Is." (See Auk, Vol. II,
No. 1, Jan. p 106, '85 and "Birds
of Maine" by O. W. Knight
p 104.)

Petrochelidon lunifrons : Cliff
Swallow, Abundant breeds '99
Islesboro. The species has un-
doubtedly come into this region
of late years. For the nests are
found on the new, not old barns,
and Dr. Towusend saw nothing
of them in the '80's.

Hirundo erythrogastra : Barn
Swallow, "Common Sept. '83."
Common '94, '99 Islesboro, '99
Fox Is.

Tachycineta bicolor : Tree Swal-
low, "Few '82, after Apr. 9, '83."
Common '99 Fox Is.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

31

62. Ampelis cedroruin : Cedar Wax

wing, Common '99 Islesboro,
Fox Is.

63. Viieo olivaceus : Red-eyed Vireo,

"Common '82, Sept. 8;), several
'84, common '85." Common '94,
'99 Islesboro.

64. Vireo Philadelphia : Philadelphia

Vireo, "One obtained, young
female, Sept. 13, '83 Job's Is."

65. Vireo flavifrons : Yellow-throated

Vireo. One July 10, '99 Islesboro.

66. Minotilta varia : Black and White

Warbler, "Common '82, Sept.
'83." Uncommon '99 Iblesboro.

67. Helminthophilarubricapilla : Nash-

ville Warbler, "Common '^2, a
few Sept. '83." Uncommon '99
Islesboro.

68. Compsothlypis ameiicana usneoe :

Northern Parula Warbler, "Sev-
eral seen Sept. '8.')." Not un-
. common '99 Islesboro.

69. Dendr(eca a?stiva : Yellow Warbler,

"Two seen '82." Common '99
Islesboro, Fox Is.

70. Dendroeca caerulescens : Black-

throated Blue Warbler, "Two
shot Sept. '83."

71. Dendroeca coronata : Myrtle War-

bler, "Abundant '82, Sept. '83,
after Oct. 1, common '84, com-
mon '85." Common '94 Isles-
boro.

72. Dendra'ca maculosa: Magnolia

Warbler, "Few seen '82, abun-
dant Sept. '83, one seen '84."
Uncommon '99 Islesboro.

73. Dendroeca castanea : Bay-breasted

Warbler, "One Sept. '83."

74. Dendrreca striata : Black-poll War-

bler, "One seen '82, severar84."
Common '94 Islesboro.

75. Dendroeca virens : Black-throated
Green Warbler, "Abundant
Sept. 83, common '84, '85."
Abundant '94, '99 Islesboro, '99
Fox Is.

7<). Siurus aurocapillus : Oven-bird,
"Few seen Sept. '83."

77. Siurus noveboracensis : Water-

Thrush, "Three seen '82, sever-
al '85."

78. Geothypis trichas : Maryland Yel-

low-throat, "Common '82, Sept.
'83, few '84, common '85." Com-
mon '99 Islesboro, Fox Is.

79. Setophaga ruticilla : American

Redstart, "Common '82, abun-
dant Sept. '83." Common '94,
'99 Islesboro.

80. Anorthura hiemalis : Winter

Wren, "One seen, one shot Sept.
'83, two seen '85."

81. Sitta carolinensis : White-breasted

Nuthatch, "Several seen '84."

82. Sitta canadensis : Red-breasted

Nuthatch. "Common Sept. '83,
'84, '85." Common '99 Isles-
boro, Fox Is.

83. Parus atricapillus : Chicadee,

"Abundant '82, Apr. and Sept.
'83, '84, '85." Abundant '94,
'99 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.

84. Regulus satrapa : Golden-crowned

Kinglet, "Abundant '82, Apr.
and Sept. '83, '84, '85." Not
uncommon '94, '99 Islesboro.

85. Regulus calendula : Ruby-crowned

Kinglet, "Rather common Sept.
'83."
8G. Hylocichla ustulatus swainsonii :
Olive-backed Thrush, "One seen
'82." Not uncommon '99 Isles-
boro.

32

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

87. Hylocichla guttata pallasii : Her-

mit Thrush, "Common '83, one
or or two '85." Not uncommon
'99 Islesboro.

88. Merula migratoria : American

Robin, "Abundant '82, Apr. and
Sept. '83, common '84." Com-
mon '94, '99 Islesboro, '99 Fox Is.
I saw at Islesboro a stuffed Snowy
Owl (Nyctea nyctea) and Bald Eagle
(Haliieetus leucocephalus) also a Great
Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), a
Barred Owl (Syrninm nebulosum) and
two Kittiwakes (Larus tridactyla),
which were shot on or near the island
during the past few years.

Notes on Birds in Androscoggin Co.

BY E. E. JOHNSON.

No. 1. Holboell's Grebe.

A male specimen was taken on Lake
Auburn, Oct. 8, 1899, which I now have
mounted.

No. 84. Green Heron.

This species is also a rare summer
resident. C. D. Fariar has an egg that
was taken from a nest in a fir tree beside
Sabatis River at Lisbon in 1872, and in
1873 another nest with young Avas found
near the same place. Two birds were
seen at the Androscoggin River near
Lewiston in June, 1899, by W. F.
Burbank.
No. 85. Black-crowned Night Heron.

This should be changed in the list to
not common migrant. I gave it as a
summer resident in this county, by mis-
take.

No. 105. Pectoral Sandpiper.

Fairly common fall migrant at the
head of Sabatis Pond. Have seen four
specimens that was taken there in the
fall of 1898.

No. 108. Least Sandpiper.
I reported this bird as a common
migrant, but am inclined to think now
that all I have seen belonged to the fol-
lowing species (Semipalmated Sand-
piper) instead.

No. 111. Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Sept. 7, 1899, my brother and I shot
five of this species at Sabatis Pond,
three of which, tw^o males and one fe-
male, I had mounted. I saw about fifty
birds I should say, in small fiocks which
I think were of this species, but could
not be positive. Sept. 2<s, three more
were taken from a flock of five near the
same place.

No. 192. Olive-sided Flycatcher.

W. F. Burbank has a specimen taken
May 7, 1897 and another May 20, 1898,
both in this vicinity.

No. 202. American Crow.

A few are seen in this vicinity nearly
every winter.

No. 216. Purple Flinch.

A few remain here some winters.

No. 218. White-winged Crossbill.

A female was taken Sept. 30, 1899,
by W. F. Burbank and Oct. 31, they
w^ere common and have been very com-
mon in the vicinity of Lewiston ever
since.

No. 223. American Goldfinch.

This species is found here sometimes
in winter. Saw some here Jan. 6, 1900.
No. 224. Pine Siskin.

Nov. 30, 1899, I saw two hundred or
more and they have been common since.
No. 260. Cedar Waxw^ing.

Rare here in winter.

Knox County.

O. G. Douglass of Lewiston, has a
specimen taken in Dec. 1899 at Seal
Island on the coast of Knox County.

Tlie Jfliifiial oi Tlie

A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MAINB ORNITHOLOGY.

'''Bird protectioiij bird siudyj the spread of the knowledge thusffainedj these are our objects/

Vol. II.

BANGOR, MAINE, OCTOBER, 1900.

No.

Cbe IHame OrnitbologkaJ Society.

Prof. W. L. Powers, Gardiner, - President
Capt. H. L. Spinney, Seguin, Vice-Prej-ideut
A. H. XORTOX, Westbrook, - - Scc'y— Treas.
J. Merton Savain, Portland, - - - - Editor
Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville, - - Councilor
O. W. liJs'iGHT, Bangor, - - - - Councilor

All subscriptions and business communications
slaould be sent to O. W. Knight, Publislier and
Business Manager, Bangor, Maine.

All articles for publication must be sent to tlie
Editor.

All communications requiring an answer must
be accompanied by stamps to prepay the reply.

SUBSCHIPTION.
25 Cts. per Year. Single number. 10 Cts.
Advertising rates furnished on application.

Entered as second class matter at the post-oftice
at Bangor, Maine.

@&u

avxct

i.

Having been in Waterville every Mon-
day during the summer, I had the
pleasure of watching the Swallows cir-
cling about and going to their roost, in
a large tract of willows on an island,
just below the bridge in the Kennebec
River.

My attention was called to this roost
and strange manoeuvres of the Swallows

by Mr. Rates, early in August. Mrs.
Bates has described this interesting phe-
nomena, in the Auk, a few years ago.

Thousands of Martins and Barn
Swallows, and I think a few Cliff Swal-
lows and Swifts, were seen circling
about the willows, going to roost, about
dusk. The noise made by this countless
number of Swallows can not easily be
described. In my notes on the Swal-
lows for '90, in the July number of the
Journal, I remarked on the scarcity of
the Swallows about Farmington. Now
I have learned where the Swallows were.
They must have been congregated in
Waterville, perhaps holding a special
Swallow congress.

The Terns along the Maine Coast
seem to have fared well under the pro-
ted ion given them by the committee of
the A. O. U., as they have been unusual-
ly plenty this summer and fall. Capt.
Spinney writes me, he saw more Tern
in one day in August, than he had seen
altogether in the past three or four
yenrs.

Capt. Spinney writes me, he has a
female Marbled God wit, taken at Pop-
ham Beach, Sept. 13th, after a search of
eighteen years for it. He has also the
Hudsonian, taken at the same place.
He states that the latter is not rare
there.

34

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Mr. Norton's prediction in the Jan-
uary number, that the Prarie Horned
Larks would be found breeding in the
state, has proven true, and his anticipa-
tion, as well as that of other members,
has been realized, as the Editor had the
pleasure of taking three specimens, one
adult female :ind two voung, at Pishous
Ferry, July 17th. For further particu-
lai's see October number of the Auk.

The Gallinule taken at Winter Har-
bor, Mt. Desert, Nov. 7, '99, proves to
be the Purple variety.

The summer meeting proved a success
for those who were able to be in attend-
ance, and a very pleasant time was had,
by the few there. A committee for the
protection of our shore birds was ap-
pointed, to co-operate with the protection
committee of the A, O. U. Those ap-
pointed were J. M. Swain of Portland,
Ora W. Knight of Bangor, and Prof . L.
A. Lee of Brunswick, also a committee
to appear before the committees of the
Maine Legislature, relative to a bill pro-
tecting all shore birds. It is hoped all
spring shooting will be prohibited also.
This committee consists of Adjt. Gen.
J. T. Richards of Augusta, Jed Frye
Fanning of Portland.

It is to be hoped that a large attend-
ance may be had at our next annual
meeting at Lewiston. Notice of time
and place of meeting will be sent out
later. Let every member make a special
effort to be present, and make it our
most successful meeting.

A Day with Some of the Shore Birds of
Sagadahoc County.

ERRATA.

In Mr. Johnson's notes, in the July No., page 32,
the Knox Co. record of the Cedar Waxwing, should
have read Hancock Co. Mandts Guillemot, a speci-
men shot on Seal Island, and identilied by C. D.
Farrar of LeM'iston, and is the flrst record of its
occurrence in the state.

In the Jan. No. the note on the young Loggerhead
Shrike should have read Northern Shrike.

CAPT. H. L. SPINNEY.

Bead before the Maine Ornithological Society
at Bnmsioick, Dec. 20, 1890.

If we would observe the habits of
some of our shore birds we should select
some day between the middle of August
and the first days of September.

The feeding grounds of these species
are beaches and sand flats of bays and
rivers along our coast, which are ex-
posed at low tide, and salt marshes by
which they are more or less bounded.

When the rising tide covers these re-
sorts the birds repair to high tide limit
on beaches or small barren islets along
the coast, returning to feed when the
receding tide again exposes their feed-
ing grounds. As low tide exposes many
acres of such ground, the time to ob-
serve some of them to advantage, is
when the tide first commences to recede.

They are then hungry and eager to
commence feeding, and are not as sus-
picious as after their hunger is partially
appeased and they have a larger area
of flats to feed on.

To have the area as restricted as
possible, we will select one of the small
beaches which intersect the rock bouud
shore of some ba}', as the rise from the
flats to high tide limit is quite abrupt,
causing the suiface of the beach- to be
exposed very slowly by the receding
tide, thus, causing the birds to remain
much longer than if a larger area was at
their disposal.

Also, because when the full extent of
their feeding grounds are exposed some

JOURNAL OF .AIAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

35

parts are more favorable for the food
on which they feed, thus compelling the
observer to inspect a large territority
for the same results as under the con-
ditions before mentioned.

As we lie on the rocks or grass ground
which borders the locality, listlessly
watching the hazy clouds move across
the blue field above. A dreamy stillness
pervades the scene, broken only by the
softly lippling water on the beach, the
hum of a bee, or the stridulatiug of a
locust. Suddenly the stillness is broken
by the soft piping of birds, causing us
to arouse from our dreamy reflections in
time to see a dozen or more small birds
with rapid, struggling flight, abruptly
but graoefullj^ alight on the beach, stand
motionless a moment and then commence
searching for the minute marine forms
on which they feed. We at once recog-
nize them to be the Semipalmated Sand-
piper ( Ereuneteus pu.sillus). They run
hither and thither, each one seemingly
trying to find the most in the least time.

As the tide recedes small stones, over-
grown with alg^ with which the beach
and flats are strewn, appear.

These are at once closely inspected,
sometimes by so many individuals that
the stone is hidden from view. Even
when so closely associated, I have never
seen them manifest a greedy or quarrel-
some manner towards each other.

If these birds have not been made shy
by the persecutions of sportsmen, we
may approach quite near to them. I
have walked within perhaps ten yards
of them, when they would stop their
search for food and seem to inquisi-
tively watch me with an occasional bob
of their heads, and again commence
searching for food, as if I were of no
consequence.

If we attempt to come nearer they
start off rapidly, looking as if they ran
sideways. Should we force ourselves
too much upon their company they re-
peat these manceuvres, stopping every
few yards to see if we are coming too
nenr, when if we do not pause, they
take wing, alighting a short distance
away, repeating these movements until
our familiarity causes them to seek
some other feeding ground.

While w^atcliing these birds our atten-
tion is again attracted by a shriller call
than the first, and a number of larger
birds alight with the ones we are watch-
ing. These are the Ring-neck or Semi-
palmated Plover (Aegialitis semipalma-
ta) a much more suspicious s|)ecies than
the Ibrmer. Now should we attempt to
approach them as we did the Sandpipers
they at once stop searching for food,
stand motionless a moment, then bob
their heads a few times, run rapidly a
few yards and abruptly stop, repeating
these maiianivres as often as we ap-
proach nearer than they care to have us.
If we stop walking they again commence
searching for food, but instead of not
noticing us, as did the Sandpipers, they
increase the distance between themselves
and us as quickly as possible. Instead
of searching the stones as did the form-
er, they confine themselves to the sand,
each one feeding by itself. Nor do
they confine themselves to the minute
forms as do the Sandpipers, as I have
seen them extract quite a large marine
worm from the sand, pulling and swal-
lowing until the last end disappeared ,
it seemingly taking all the strength they
possessed to accomplish the feat .

During the time we have watched
these birds the tide has been receding
and the higher parts of the flats are be-

36

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

coming exposed. The birds have stead-
ily arrived in small flocks until the flats
exposed are populated with hungry
birds running here and there, reminding
us of a colony of ants.

Now if we try to approach too near
them, they stop, repeat the mnnoeuvres
already mentioned, and before we are
within a fair gun-shot distance, with a
few short notes of alarm, take wing, the
Sandpii)ers following, uttering their call
notes as they fly. again alighting some
distance away, to repeat the same move-
ments when we approach too near them.

Another call reminds us a new species
has arrived. On they come, their wings
stroke slower and slowei', when with
motionless wings and a gliding move-
ment they alight on the flats at the edge
of the receding tide and at once com-
mence pursuing the minnows with which
the water abounds.

These are the Greater Yellowlegs
(Totanus melanoleucus).

With extended necks they run here
and there according to the movements
of tlieir prey, their long yellow legs
showing to the best advantage. When
we are discovered some of them stop,
make a few bows interspersed with a
dash after some object which attracts
their attention. Sometimes after their
hunger is satisfied, they will stand
motionless a long time with head hunch-
ed down upon their breast, which gives
them a dejected appearance.

These birds are taken from blinds
built on the shores and marshes by
using dummy decoys and imitating their
call as they fly to and from their feeding
grounds. Sometimes they are very sol-
icitous, returning to their dead compan-
ions until the entire flock is killed.

The tide now rapidly recedes, leaving

all the bottom of the bay exi)Osed to
low tide limit, excepting a few small
channel ways which drain the marshes
at the head of the bay, emptying into
low tide waters perhaps a mile away.

The sun high in the zenith, its fierce
rays beating down upon the corrugated
sand, causes the water in the wrinkles
to dance and glitter before our eves,
while from the higher ports a faint vapor
arises, causing a niiiage effect on the
scene.

Scattered over the surface are to be
seen hundreds of the small biids men-
tioned, some searching lor food, others
standing motionless, while others plume
their feathers. Along the channel ways
may be seen a few Yellowlegs, while at
parts where the sand is softer a few
Dowitchers (Macrorhamphus griseus)
are to be seen probing the sand with
their long bills.

These birds are usually very unsus-
picious, allowing us to approach very
near them, when they stop piobiug the
sand and stupidly gaze at us, their long
bills and shoit necks giving them a very
odd appearance.

I have known eighteen of these birds
picked up from one disch:irge of a
gun, those which escaped alighting
again but a short distance away, allow-
ing the sportsman to repeat his depreda-
tions until every individual was killed.

We now cross the bay our feet in some
parts leaving but a faint impression,
while at others we sink to our ankles in
silt. Ciossing a neck of land, studded
here and there with junipers, hay berry
bushes and the dwarf spruce trees pecul-
iar to the coast, we reach a long beach
which fronts the ocean. Here the rest-
lessness of old ocean is manifested by
the waves which advance and recede,

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

37

expeudiiig their untiring energy upon the
beach.

Here we again meet with the small
birds mentioned, but in less numbers.
We now turn our attention to a flock of
small birds wliich are flying along the
beach just over the line of surf, in close
but irregular fliglit, now in over the
beach, to again quickly wheel out over
the surf, their pure white under parts
gleaming like alabaster, contrasted the
next moment by the silvery sheen of
their darker backs, repeating these
manoeuvres an indefinite number of
times, as if dissatisfied with the feeding
grounds. They at last alight on the
beach at the edge of the surf. These
are the Sanderling (Calidris ai-enaria)
known to the sportsmen as 8urf Snipe
and Whiting. The last name because
of their appear.-ince, already mentioned,
when on the wing.

As a wave recedes they follow its wet
path to the waters edge, eagerly search-
ing for the small crustaceans known as
sand fleas, which on the advance of a
wave are able to at once disappear in
the L,and, to again as it recedes, reappear
at the surface and jumping about on the
sand become an easy prey for the birds.
As a wave- advances the birds retreat
before it with the same sideways move-
ment as before mentioned, forming a
compact column, to again follow it as it
recedes back to its source.

This habit of coming together so
closely when forced back by a wave is
taken advantage of by the sportsmen.
And I have heard of their picking up
fifty of these birds from a single dis-
charge of their gun.

As we approach near to them they do

not stoj) to watch us as did the Sand-

ipers, but run along with a sideways

movement, watching us over their
shoulders, exerting themselves to their
uttermost speed to widen the distance
between us and themselves. If we
advance too rapidly they take wing
again, alighting a short distance ahead,
repeating these movements until our
persistence causes them to leave for
other feeding grounds, or they again
alight a long distance in our rear.

As we walk along the beach flock
after flock of these birds may be seen,
some seeking new feeding grounds while
others are searching for food as de-
scribed, all restless and active.

We have now reached a long point of
rocks which, rising out of the sand, ex-
tends a short distance into the sea. At
high tide all but the extreme end is sub-
merged, this remaining a few feet
above high tide limit. A few small
rocks appear from out the sand along its
edge, and motionless among them we
notice one or two small birds.

These remind us of the Ringneck
Plover excepting their much lighter
color blends with the bleached sands of
the beach, whereas that of the former
blends with the darker sands of the
bays, their favorite feeding grounds.

We also listen to their mellow piping
cries, recognizing them to be the Piping
Plover (jEgialitis meloda). They re-
main motionless a few moments sus-
piciously watching us, then running
rapidly away for a few yards, repeat
the former movement.

They are very shy, taking wing when
a long distance away.

I have seen but few of this species,
and they were invariably around such
grounds as described, or on the beach
above high tide limit.

Now advancing out toward the point

38

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of rocks first mentioned, we notice a
number of larger birds. One or two
are standing like sentinels on the high-
est pinnacle of the point, while others
suspiciously watch us from the inequal-
ities of the rocks, some with only their
heads exposed.

By their large heads and short bills
we recognize them to be the Black-bellied
Plover (Charadrius squatarola.) known
to sportsmen as Beetle-heads. At this
time of year one is seldom seen in its
adult plumage of light mottled back and
head, and black under parts, which
would at once identify it to the most
careless observer. But now all look
alike in their brownish grey coat.

When within perhaps one hundred
yards of them, first one and then another
of those which have watched us from
among the rocks manifest their un-
easiness b}' mounting the small pin-
nacles of rock to watch us more closely
as we approach. Suddenly they take
alarm, and with loud, plaintive whistles
take wing" in a rapid straggling manner,
to again alight a long distance away on
some other point, or on the beach near
high tide limit.

Under the same environments we may
see another flock of birds, smaller than
the former, but acting much the same.
These are feeding on the slope of the
point near the edge of the surf. Their
heads are much smaller than the former,
and while watching us are stretched
forward while those of the former were
held erect.

I have often found them feeding on
such points as described, but more often
they are to be found on the small rocky
islets some distance from the shore.

We know these birds to be the Turn-
stone (Arenaria interpres) from their

habits, as we watch them, of turning
over small stones with their bills for
food which may be under them.

As they take wing we at once see by
the strikingly varigated colors of the
adults why the appelation of Calico-
Back has been given them by the sports-
men.

The tide has now comn)enced to rise
and we turn our attention to a different
feeding ground.

Returning across the beach we con-
tinue our walk in behind the sand
dunes. Here a large expanse of marsh
appears to view, intersected here and
there with small creeks which serve to
di'ain the water which inundates the
marsh each day according to the varia-
tion of the tides. The ground is cover-
ed with a rank growth of grass peculiar
to this kind of soil, dotted here and
there with small shallow ponds inter-
spersed with spots of barren soil afford-
ing feeding grounds for the different
species which frequent such places.

The sun is now far down in the west,
while the shadows from surrounding
hills lend their softening influence to the
scene. On the surface of a small pond,
its margin dotted here and there with
small tufts of grass are to be seen the
reflections of a large number of small
birds standing motionless upon small
knolls of turf which rise above the wet-
ter ground. So closely do their colors
blend with the surroundings that we
would not have seen them were it not
for their reflections.

Approaching close to them, some raise
their heads from the hunched position
in which they have been standing gazing
stupidly at us. As we advance a few
steps nearer, one or more take a few
quick steps and pause, while others peck

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGrCAL SOCIETY.

39

at some object in an indifferent way as
if it were not worth tiie exertion it cost.
These birds are the Least Sandpiper
(Tringa nuuutilla) or Peep as they are
called by the sportsmen.

We again advance when with a soft
twittering peep they take wing to again
alight bnt a few yai'ds away.

We again walk along toward the high-
er part of the marsh, the rank brittle
grass snapping under our feet, when
from out the grass a few yards away
without warning, start a number of
birds uttering their feeble calls as they
fly. They alight in the short grass some
distance away.

We now carefully approach the spot
where they disappeared and pause close-
ly inspecting the grass. So closely do
their colors blend with the grass and so
motionless do they remain that for some
moments we think we must have been
mistaken in the spot. When we are
about to advance, one of the birds
slightly moves its head and in front of
us a few yards away we discover ihem
watching us so motionless that wei'e it
not for their eyes we should almost
think we wei'e mistaken.

These are the Pectoral Sandpipers
(Tringa maculata) or Grass Snipe as
they are known to sportsmen.

Although there may be acres of marsh
only one particularpart will be frequent-
ed by these birds, and if they aie around
they will invariably be found at these
places. If we pause for some time they
commence searching for food, when if
we again approach them they take wing
as before mentioned.

Again we hear the sharp note of the
Yellow-leg, and this time we recognize
the Summer Yellow-legs (Totanus
flavipes) a number of them standing

along the sandy bottom of a creek, act-
ing the same as did their larger relatives
of the bay.

The sun lighting the tops of the trees,
we again turn towards the beach. As
we pass out among the sand dunes a
larger bird than yet observed attracts
our attention. It is standing on a sand
hill, its long neck and curved bill out-
lined against the receding light. This
is a Hudsonian Curlew (Numenius hud-
sonicus) which has come in from some
small islet to vary its marine diet with a
few grasshoppers before retiring to its
roosting place for the night. The air is
now filled with the cries of different
species leaving their feeding grounds,
and hastening back to the different islets
on which they pass the night.

As we again come out on the beach
we see one of our small friends of the
da}', deprived of a leg by some sports-
man, hopping along on its remaining
foot, still struggling for existence with-
out even the assistance of a pension.

The evening is now upon us, the faint
glimmering of stars is seen, while a
quietness pervades the scene, broken
only by the cr}' of some belated bird
seeking its companions of the night, or
the melancholy chorus of frogs in some
distant meadow.

Wearily we wend our way homeward,
the dull thud of our feet resounding on
the quiet air. We reach home at last,
tired and hungry, but with a feeling only
those can have who have spent a day
among these environments.

These observations apply to twenty
years ago. Now, should we pass a day
under the conditions named, the flats
and beaches which then were populated
with thousands of the smaller species,
would now afford but a few hundred and

40

JOUHNAL OF iMAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of some species not nny. Of the larger
birds nientionecl we should be fortunate
to find them represented by a single in-
dividual. Few but those who have lived
amid these scenes can realize how fast
the birds are passing from our coasts.

Where once our shores and waters
teemed with different species, few remain
to remind us of the thousands which
annually visited our coasts. And now
man demands the Gulls. All who have
visited our coast are acquainted with
these beautiful birds. A few seasons
of slaughter like the one now nearly
passed, and only a few will remain to
lend their presence to the storms which
spend their fury on our coast.

Black and White Warbler.

(MNIOTILTA VARIA)

Read before the Maine Ornithological Society
at Brunswick, Dec. 27, 1899.

I have lodg thought that I would
write my experience with this handsome
and interesting little AVarbler and creep-
er combined, for it is a true creeper in
every sense of the word, flitting from
tree trunk to tree trunk, and running up
and down in his search for food.

My observations do not extend out-
side the limits of my native town, Liver-
more. I have long watched this bird
and wondered where its nest might be,
for I have been a lover of the birds for
many years. O for one look at the nest
and eggs or young of Mniotilta varia,
and my happiness would be complete,
and that time came at last, and well do
I remember that day — June 9th, 1897 —
that day will go down in history with

me. It was a warm and sunny day.
Bright and early I was strolling through
woods and across meadows, note book
in hand. The land was alive with bird
life from the Broad Winged Hawk, cir-
cling high above my head, to the littU-
Chickadee at my feet. Has not our
Maker made all things beautiful? None
but the true lover of birds can realize
the great beauty of this world

But I am writing of dainty Black and
White Warblers. I had walked several
miles and at last came to a small pond.
I obtained a boat and paddled around
near the shore and observed many nests
of Catbirds, Kingbirds and other species
and at last leaving the boat, struck out
for a large woods not far from the west
shore of the pond. Coming to a large
stone wall at the edge of the woods
where the tornado of July ord, 1892, had
uprooted many trees and felled them
across the wall. I climl)ed on to the body
of a large rock maple, and walked down to
the large heap of I'oots and dirt torn
from the ground. As I leaped to the
ground a small bird flew almost into my
face. From where she came I could not
tell, but that she had a nest near I was
certain. I dared not move for fear of
stepping on the nest, but stood and
looked in every direction. What was
that bunch of leaves in that small open-
ing in the dirt near the foot of the maple
roots, on the south side, about one foot
from the ground, and what was that
small bird flitting from tree to tree over
my head? I took one step and was
looking at the nest and five tiny eggs
and mother-bird. My heart was filled
with joy, for I wus gazing upon my first
nest of the Black and White Warbler.
In a moment I was on my knees beside
the nest, note book and pencil in hand.

JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

41

and this is tlie data that I wrote : name,
Black and White Warbler; locality,
Livermore, Maine; date, June 9. 1897 ;
incubation, well advanced; No. of eggs,
five ; identity, female flushed from nest.
Nest built on the east side of woods, at
foot of uprooted tree, open to the south, ^
roofed over with the dirt and roots of
the tree, and deeply imbedded in it.
Nest composed of dead leaves and
fine strips of bark and a few dead grass-
es, lined with a few hairs and hairlike
roots. A large, bulky nest for so small
a bird.

The eggs, five in number, coloi- white
speckled and spotted with chestnut and
hazel, in the form of a wreath around
the large end, so thick as to cover the
surface of the egg. The rest of the
egg thinly spotted. The above de-
cribes four of the eggs. The fifth was
much smaller and was thickly sprinkled
over its entire surface with fine chestnut
and hazel dots. As Davie says, in his
valu:ible work, "Nests and Eggs of N.
A. Birds," fourth edition : "This
Warblers' eggs have an individuality of
their own which enables one to distin-
guish them from the eggs of any other
Warbler," and I think this is correct.

After I had examined the nest and

eggs, I turned my attention to the bird,
which was flying around near. Stepping
behind a small bush, I kept quiet and in
a few moments the bird returned to the
nest. I then crept up to the nest and
examined the bird to my satisfaction
and then departed.

I did not have time to return to the
nest again. Without doubt the eggs
hatched in a few days. On May 25th,
1899, I found my second nest of the
Black and White Warbler. It was in
the deep woods, built in a decayed hem-
lock stump, fifteen iuches from the
ground, composed of nearly the same
material as the first. It contained four
fresh eggs.

Next season I mean to give my spare
time to the study of this interesting
family of birds, — the "Warblers.

Fellow naturalists, I should be pleased
to receive notes from all who are inter-
ested in the advancement of the study of
true Ornithology and Oology. Let us
unite in this great cause and study and
protect our feathered friends as we
would our own lives. For were it not
for the birds where would the sunshine
and joy of this world be?

Guy H. Briggs,

Livermore, Maine.

AMNH LIBRARY

100127121