48 JOURNAL OF MAINK ORXITHOT.OGICAL SOCIETY. 



The editor desires to thank tlie members who have contributed 

 notes to the present number of the Journal. In the future it is 

 hoped that there will be a more general response, however, to the 

 request for reports of obser\'ations in different sections of the State. 

 Every item of interest should be sent along promptly to the Journal. 

 The more notes we have the better we can represent the current 

 news about birds throughout Maine. During the spring and fall 

 migrations almost every meml)er doubtless has something worth 

 while to communicate. It is hoped that for the September number 

 there will be a general response to the request for contributions. 



The most of our subscribers have paid for the Journal for the 

 present year, and our thanks are due to them for their promptness. 

 Tliose who have not already sent their cash should do so at once, as 

 money is needed to j^ay for printing the J<jurn.\l. Several sub- 

 scribers are in arrears for two years or more and have not responded 

 to bills sent to them. It is hoped that all such may see their way 

 clear to pay the subscriptions which they owe and continue the 

 Journal on a cash basis. 



Popular interest in birds continues to increase in Portland, and 

 througliout the .State. More peopk- are making a systematic study 

 of ornithology than l)eforc. A striking example of how mucli birds 

 are appreciated was given in .April during a severe snow storm, fol- 

 lowin<^ a large flight of Juncos, Fox Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, 

 Robins. Bluel)irds and others. The food supply in the fields was 

 suddenly closed and the birds in desperation flocked around the 

 dwelling houses in the suburbs. Hundreds of people threw out 

 generous quantities of food until the snow melted and the liirds 

 were alile to return to their usunl feeding ground. 



The unusually backward season this spring interfered to a con- 

 siderable extent with the spring migration of birds. In southern 

 Maine, and elsewhere, there is a noticeable scarcity of the usual 

 species which are here by the first of June. F'arther to the north it 

 seems the season has been milder and the birds are reported in about 

 their usual abundance. It is hoped that many members will take 

 particular notice of the presence or absence of the ordinary species 

 during the summer and reiwrt their observations to the Journ.vl 

 for the September issue. 



In the present number of the Journal are several notes relative 

 to the Mockingbird in Maine. There seems ver>' little doubt that 

 this bird is beginning to find its way as a straggler into the State 

 during the spring migrations, and there is some evidence of its 

 breeding here. The instances of its occurrence in this State have 

 b^jen more frequent of late and it seems (piite certain that these can- 

 not be referred, as formerly, to the category of escaped cage birds. 

 It is doubtless true that there are fifty times as many observers now 

 as there were ten years ago. Hence the probability of stray 

 individuals of different species being reported is much larger than 

 before. 



