34 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



all at once. The white and buff markings of the back and neck 

 were plainly seen. With the other Blackbirds there were at least 

 twent}'^ or twenty-five Bobolinks, the first that I had observed this 

 season, and there were also Cowbirds and Rusty Blackbirds with 

 the rest. \^ery likely Bobolinks were in this vicinitj' as early as 

 the 1 2th or 13th, but these dates are several days later than usual. 

 On the same morning I saw the White-crowned Sparrow for the 

 first time this year. This bird is easy to distinguish from the 

 White-throated Sparrow, because it is very much lighter in color, 

 has distinct wingbars, no white at all on the throat, and the bill is 

 reddish. Kingbirds were common this morning, half a dozen or 

 more being seen. The song of the Field Sparrow was noticeable 

 this morning, likewise the distant spring call of the Flicker, and 

 the loud note of the Ovenbird. The Indigo Bunting was here on 

 the 7th, an unusually early date for this bird. The record, how- 

 ever, is positive, a dead bird being found in the city limits by a 

 boy, who took the specimen to his teacher in one of the grammar 

 schools. 



May 15. — This was an unseasonabh- cold morning, but it 

 was clear and sunny. During the two hours from 5 until 7 o'clock, 

 birds were very inactive. No new flocks had arrived, and many 

 of those seen the day before had passed along. The Catbirds, 

 which a day or two ago came to an alder swamp at the Cape, were 

 this morning singing. The song is very much like that of the 

 Brown Thrasher, but is rather sweeter, not so loud, and the imita- 

 tion of other bird notes more apparent. A pair of Brown Thrashers, 

 making ready to nest, had all they could attend to while scolding 

 in vigorous fashion at a cat belonging at the neighboring farm- 

 house. A little flock of Barn Swallows had been flying over a 

 field, and were now resting quietly on the ridgepole of the barn in 

 which, doubtless, they have made their home for several years. 

 Up in a bushy pasture, I found a flock of six or eight White- 

 crowned Sparrows, the first ones of which were seen by me the 

 previous day. Not over fifty feet in the air, a big Fish Hawk 



