JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIKTY. Il 



sect food, such as soft grubs and caterpillars at first, later bringing 

 small beetles, flies, and other sorts of insects. 



The natal down is sepia-brown in color and is rapidly replaced 

 by the juvenal plumage by a complete moult.. The young leave the 

 nest about the eleventh day after hatching. They acquire the first 

 winter plumage by a partial post-juvenal moult, beginning late in 

 July, and then become practically indistinguishable from adults in 

 most instances. A partial pre-nuptial moult in spring gives to the 

 young their first nuptial plumage. A complete post-nuptial moult 

 in late Jul}' of the second year gives the young their adult winter 

 plumage. 



The food of the adult Ijirds is, as far as I have been able to 

 ascertain by direct examination, exclusively of an animal nature, 

 consisting of various species of beetles, larvce of various insects, 

 almost any species of small insects obtainable in the localities fre- 

 quented by the birds, and the eggs of many species of insects. 



The southern migration begins in September. In the vicinity 

 of Bangor they are common as late as Sept. 21st to vSept. 28th, 

 according to the season, but disappear very quickly, many being 

 seen one day and none the next. 



Christmas Bird Census. 



Reports of Winter Birds by Members of the Maine Ornithological Society 

 During the Week, December 24 to 31, Inclusive. 



At the annual meeting of the Maine Ornithological vSociety, in 

 Portland, Dec. i, 1905, it was proposed that the members, so far as 

 they w^ere able, should report the number of species of birds and the 

 approximate number of individuals of each species observed in their 

 several localities in different parts of the State. The response to this 

 suggestion was general among the members, many sending reports 

 to say that they had not been able to see a single bird and others 

 submitting lists of good size. The result will show pretty accurately 



