M onthly B ull etin 3 



of the frog pond on September 24th, white from the nape of its neck to the 

 tip of the tail, which was dark. The other markings were those of a this 

 year's young bird. 



R. B. Williams, of Dover, Mass., reports that of twenty-five bird-houses 

 in his orchard this summer all but one were occupied, an excellent thing 

 both for the birds and for the orchard. 



CITY BIRDS The wealth of bird life in Maine, always a great at- 



OF MAINE traction to thousands of summer visitors, is becoming 



recognized as an asset to the State, perhaps as great 

 as the fish and game which so attract the hunters and fishermen during the 

 open season. A recent issue of the "Lewiston Journal" thus refers to the 

 birds on one estate in that city. 



"Some idea of the wealth of bird life within a stout stone's throw of 

 the home of Mrs. George N. Coates, of Lewiston, may be obtained from her 

 statement that this season 19 different varieties of birds have nested within 

 this distance. Moreover, 40 nests of one variety — the bank swallow — nested 

 within this area, in old sand-banks in front of and behind her home. 



"Mrs. Coates enumerates them thus: 



"The oriole, Maryland yellow-throat, yellow warbler, kingfisher, blue- 

 bird, tree swallow, English sparrow, house wren, red-eyed vireo, warbling 

 vireo, kingbird, phebe, wood pewee, bank swallow, veery or Wilson thrush, 

 robin, chebec, brown thrasher and flicker. 



" 'The fact that so many birds nested in this spot,' said Mrs. Coates, 'is 

 the more interesting in view of the statement of the biological survey that 

 seven nests to a half acre is the average. Of course the sand-bank, the 

 proximity of the woods near the cemetery and the closeness to the river 

 account for the extraordinary showing.' 



"Mrs. Coates has taken special delight in the increase in the number of 

 house wrens in Lewiston this year. In previous seasons four or five pairs 

 were all that were known in the two cities. Of this bird the Bureau of Agri- 

 culture says that a pair are worth $39 to a farmer every season, because of 

 the destruction they bring to insects which damage crops. Inasmuch as the 

 house wren raises two broods every year they are likely to become mors and 

 more numerous here. 



" 'One pair of the house wrens decided to build in a birch nesting place 

 in the Coates yard, where sparrows had left the box in filth and confusion. 

 Never did a couple of humans do a more thorough job at house cleaning 

 than did this pair of house wrens. But I had the fun of watching the ire 

 of the mother bird after we had set up a hammock under the trees in the 

 yard. She was indignant and fearful and in spite of the evident protesta- 

 tions of her hubby, she began to pull out the nesting material already gath- 



