44 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



son, but no summer visitor has a more cosy and happy home than 

 these beautiful birds, so gay in dress and in song. How wisely they 

 select the best limbs, strong and remote from danger, on which to 

 hang their hammock-like nests, and with what unerring skill they 

 fashion their wind-rocked cradles ! 



A pair of White-throated Sparrows were seen one day about the 

 middle of May, on the stone wall near our century-old school 

 building. 



Meadowlarks have also been seen, but they do not seem to be 

 very numerous in this locality. Song Sparrows, however, are com- 

 mon, and their happy song has been often heard. 



One day I was greatly pleased to hear the familiar call of the 

 Gulls, and for several days a pair of them were often seen flying 

 over the lake. Since they have been protected by law tliey have 

 become common up the Kennebec, as far at least as Waterville. It 

 is pleasant to see these beautiful birds so far inland, whose presence 

 adds interest to a summer by the sea. 



Other attractive summer visitors are found in our various 

 Swallows, the Barn Swallow, the White-bellied Swallow, the Eave 

 Swallow, the Sand Martin, and the Chimney Swift. I do not know 

 whether the Sand Martin is found here or not. It often builds its 

 nests in tuimels in the sandy banks of the Kennebec. 



I startled a Ruffed Grouse from its position close by the roadside 

 within two or three minutes' walk of our East Winthrop meeting- 

 house. Its nest, with eggs in it, was only a short distance away, as a 

 friend who has seen it assures me. I remember very pleasantly how 

 in a bit of woods in Winslow, on a second visit to a nest of the Ruffed 

 Grouse, I stood quietly for some time close l)y the nest, watching the 

 bird upon it, and then came quietly away without tlie bird stirring 

 from the nest or benig apparently in the least disturbed by my pres- 

 ence. To quote from memory a few words I once heard spoken by 

 Rev. A. S. Eadd, "The birds sit on every tree and sing their sweet- 

 est songs for the farmer who plows his furrow on without thought of 

 disturbing them, but they fly swiftly away from the sportsman who 

 comes seeking .for them with dog andjgun." 



