JOURNAL OP MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



35 



The male was on the nest, remaining 

 near and calling once. 



It was just a year later when I 

 made my next annual visit, and found 

 that yet another hole had be^u made, 

 still lower down, which was of the 

 same general proportions as precoed- 

 ing ones, and about 18 inches in 

 depth. Tne four eggs were much in- 

 cubated, tho the season was unusually 

 late. 



The season of 1901 found me unable 

 to do much outdoor work, but especial 

 effort was made to visit the wood- 

 pecker grove, which was done on May 

 6th. Another new and still lower hole 

 had been commenced, hut it was but 

 partly finished, and the faded ap- 

 pearance of the scattered chips indi- 

 cated that nothing had been done for 

 some days. No birds were seen or 

 heard and it seemed very probable 

 that this family, so long a resident in 

 an exposed locality, was at last brok- 

 en, and one or both had come to the 

 inevitable destiny of every bird — a 

 ti-agic death. 



In looking back over the years of 

 acquaintance with these birds, their 

 love of home seems their strongest 

 trait. Undoubtedly they were old and 

 had lived in that grove many years. 

 From a large and comparatively se- 

 cluded woods= it had been reduced to 

 a smal grove, and their winter wan- 

 derings must many times have taken 

 them some distance away, but despite 

 the changes, that grove was home, 

 and every April found them there 

 ready to commence anew the real 

 home life, for much of a bird's life is 

 wandering, and home only a sum- 

 mer's joy. 



Contrasting with this love of home 

 was the indifference with which they 

 looked upon the Interference with the 

 nest. Always the same indifference, 

 never any especial interest, and no 

 apparent regret when the eggs were 

 missed. 



Considering their wildness at other 

 times of year, they are unusually 

 tame and unsuspicious at nesting 

 time. In digging the nest hole the 

 chips are scattered about the stub, 

 more being carried away, and are, of 

 course, very noticeable from their 

 quantity. 



The eggs of this pair of birds have 

 always been in sets of three or four, 

 and the similarity of these sets is per- 

 haps the strongest proof of the indi- 

 viduality of these birds. If four eggs 

 were laid they were of about equal 

 size, if thi'ee. of varying sizes. As 

 time passed the birds seemed to nest 

 a little earlier each year, this perhaps 

 being due to my depredations and the 

 necessity of nesting again, though this 

 is crediting the bird with more fore- 

 thought than most people would al- 

 low. This is probably the closing 

 record of this pair of birds, and 

 though I have known them long, I 

 did not know them well, and most of 

 their home secrets are secrets still. 

 We know but little of the birds about 

 us, after all, and most of that little 

 is the part we bring home and put in 

 the cabinet. The life, the home, the 

 family cares are ever an opening book 

 that he who would may ever read and 

 never finish. C. H. MORRELL. 



BIRDS OF THE BOWDOIN COL- 

 LEGE EXPEDITION TO LABRA- 

 DOR IN 1891. 



The above is the title of a paper by 

 Arthur H. Norton, which appears in 

 the Proceedings of the Portland So- 

 ciety of Natural History, Vol. 2, Art. 

 VIII, pp. 139-158. 



Mr. Norton has given a list of birds 

 collected by the members of the ex- 

 pedition, and also a more or less com- 

 plete description of the individual 



