JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 27 



lady's casement. If the latter was the case, no serious harm seems 

 to have resulted from the combat, if such it was, since we heard 

 what was probably the intruder performing a little distance away a 

 short time after. 



It appeared to me that our bird did not do as much singing as 

 during my former visit. If so, perhaps the high wind may have 

 abated his ardor, or may have made the performance more difficult. 

 I noticed that this night each time he left the ground he swung to 

 leeward for fully half of his first circle, mounting at once when he 

 faced into the wind. 



One of my companions carefully timed several of the flight. 

 They ranged from forty-five to fifty-five seconds in duration, 

 divided approximately as follows: first, a period of whistling, cir- 

 cling flight while the bird mounted to his proper height — any- 

 where between sixty and one hundred yards, as nearly as I could 

 estimate it in the uncertain light — lasting about thirty-five sec- 

 onds ; second, another period of short but somewhat varying ex- 

 tent, when he piped a few preparatory notes at little intervals before 

 starting into his full tide of song; third, the song itself, filling per- 

 haps fifteen seconds; and finally the dart to earth, with wings half 

 closed, made in silence. The intervals between flights ranged 

 between thirty and sixty seconds. 



The song notes were as clear and liquid as a Bobolink's and 

 fully as musical. During the production of these the whistle of 

 the wings could be plainly heard as a sort of accompaniment to the 

 vocalism. 



It may be of interest that a brood has been hatched in this 

 same cover every summer for several years back, all the birds re- 

 maining until the middle of July, when they disappear. This spot 

 seems to become too dry for them in the hot weather, but by late 

 September it becomes a fair flight cover, and is usually good for a 

 few birds during the fall migrations. 



