JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL vSOCIETY. 7 



elsewhere in the United States, and the only specimens Mr. B. had 

 ever seen, with a single exception, were three he himself shot 

 several years ago, in Falmouth, one of which he gave to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History — they not having had a specimen pre- 

 viously — and the other two to our own Society — to be destroyed in 

 the conflagration of our former cabinet. Mr. B. remarked that he 

 saw this bird in the Boston Society collection soon after he presented 

 it, with the name of another individual upon it as the donor, or, at 

 least, it was the only bird of the kind there. 



The specimens alluded to he procured on the 14th of May, on 

 the farm of Mr. Lord, in Falmouth, about six miles from Portland. 

 Riding along, his attention was attracted by a sweet and plaintive 

 song, which he at once suspected to be that of the White-crowned 

 Finch. He soon had the satisfaction of verifying his suspicions by 

 discovering the songster. The bird was hopping in and out the 

 interstices of a stone wall, every few minutes repeating his low but 

 exquisite notes. Mr. B. went on to state : "On my nearer approach 

 he jumped down and dodged in among some long pieces of joist or 

 fence rails laying near, and played at a sort of hide-and-go-seek 

 game with me. Presently he flew to a large heap of brushwood, 

 which was piled against a shed, where he was joined by three or four 

 others, and on my coming near they slipped away into the interior 

 of the heap with the facility of so many squirrels, hiding themselves 

 so completely that it was impossible for me to discover them, but on 

 my retiring they came out again. They seemed to have a partic- 

 ular fancy for this and another heap of brushwood, and were con- 

 tinually flying to and fro and dodging in and out among the small 

 limbs." He mentioned these things as indicative of their habits. 

 The next day he took his gun and went again to the locality, and 

 was fortunate enough to obtain three. 



Once since that time he had seen the White-crowned Sparrow. 

 This was near the entrance of our cemetery [Evergreen] in West- 

 brook, two years ago, about the first of June. He then saw but a 

 single one. He was inclined to think that occasionally they breed 

 here, but their favorite resorts for breeding is in the far north. 



