NOTES ON A FEW OF OUR BIRDS. 391 



I shall state the facts in full. On May 5, 1877, a nest, four eggs, and 

 parent bird, were obtained near Bangor, Maine, which the finder be- 

 lieved to be the great northern shrike (C. corealis), and it was de- 

 scribed as such in " The Oologist." Later in the same year another 

 nest was found, and the parent bird shot. The following year four 

 more nests were obtained, and some eight birds procured, some being 

 immature specimens. During this latter season (1878), I obtained some 

 of the specimens mentioned, and was surprised to find that they were 

 not great northern but loggerhead shrikes. Soon after this, at the 

 request of Dr. T. M. Brewer, of Boston, I made a thorough inquiry 

 into the facts concerning the breeding of shrikes near Bangor, and then 

 examined all the specimens of both birds and eggs that had been pro- 

 cured. The result showed that there was not a single authentic in- 

 stance of the great northern shrike's breeding in this vicinity every 

 reported instance proving that the bird in question was the logger- 

 head species. 



Until brought to my notice, these birds had never been known to 

 breed in New England, and I had the gratification of being the first to 

 so report them. Minot, in his " Land and Game Birds of New Eng- 

 land," says that " they are but rarely found as far north as Massachu- 

 setts." Since their discovery here, however, Dr. Brewer has been 

 making extended inquiries into the breeding of the shrikes in New 

 England, and it now appears that in several other cases, where great 

 northern shrikes were reported as breeding, the birds have proved to 

 be loggerheads. This was true of the specimens found at Rutland, 

 Vermont, as stated by Dr. Brewer in the " Ornithological Bulletin " for 

 April, 1879. These birds now appear to be regular visitants in this 

 vicinity, and are among our earliest arrivals. About the first of May 

 of this year (1879), I found a nest containing one egg, and on the 

 28th day of the same month I found another nest with six young. 



All of the nests found here, so far as can be learned, were situated in 

 rather open fields, and none were in the deep woods. The birds were 

 not easily alarmed, and apparently cared but little for the presence of 

 man. Sometimes they would perch on an adjacent limb and watch 

 me, as I examined their nests, without showing a sign of fear. It is 

 certainly quite remarkable that a bird with such marked characteristics 

 should dwell with us long, if indeed it has done so, and yet escape 

 notice ; and the number of instances of its breeding here which have 

 been reported since its presence was first noted is also remarkable if it 

 is a straggler. 



The author of "Land and Game Birds of New England" claims 

 the honor of being the first to discover the nest of the golden-crowned 

 kinglet {Regulus satrapa), which discovery he made in 1875 in a forest 

 in the "White Mountains. This nest contained six young birds, but no 

 eggs. 



Wilson and other ornithologists, believing that the European "gold- 



