JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



37 



On April 24, at Athens, Me., Somer- 

 set county, while waiting at the hotel 

 for my team, I heard the loud, vibrat- 

 ing call of Sturnella, and as I drove 

 along the edge of a large meadow, I 

 saw two pairs of these birds, and in 

 this meadow they remained to breed. 

 Another pair nest, regularly. In a large 

 meadow, along the Sebasticook river, 

 near Pittsfield. Still another pair are 

 nesting down the above river at Burn- 

 ham. The male of this pair is usual- 

 ly perched in an apple tree, standing 

 alone in a large field, back of the sta- 

 tion. As I drive past, early in the 

 morn, every third Wednesday, I have 

 caught the sound of his clear, pene- 

 trating call and seen him perclied on 

 the same tree. There he sits, whistling 

 "when the spirit moves," until the 

 shrill whistle and heavy roar of the 

 "Bar Harbor Express" causes him to 

 flutter off to the meadow below. 



Three other pairs have been observ- 

 ed in my travels. One in Winslow. op- 

 posite side of the river from Water- 

 ville, another in a meadow near Ben- 

 ton Falls, and a pair near Fairfield 

 Centre, further up the Kennebec river. 



The birds seem to range quite a dis- 

 tance from the nest, to feed, thus I 

 have-not been able to locate the nests 

 of these birds, with the limited time I 

 have had, near these localities. 



I once knew this bird to nest in 

 Farmington (Franklin county) and my 

 friend, Ernest L. Haley, has taken it 

 near Rangeley. Me. (Cf. Brewster, 

 Auk. Vol. XVIII, No. 2. P. 194. 



There seems to be but few suitable 

 places for the Meadow Lark to make 

 his summer home in Maine. 



J. M. S. 



SOME PREHISTORIC CAVE AND 



CLIFF DWELLERS AND THEIR 



DESCENDANTS. 



Pres. Powers will teach nature 

 study in the summer schools in this 

 state. It is hoped that the professor 

 will "discover"' a few members for 

 our society among the teachers. 



A Paper Before the Me. Ornithological 



Society, held at Lewiston, Dec. 



22, 1900. 



Many years ago there dwelt on the 

 North American Continent a race of 

 cave and cliff dwellers, and their de- 

 scendants are still surviving. These 

 modern cliff dwellers are commonly 

 known as Barn and Cliff Swallows, 

 while the Cave dwellers are the Bank, 

 Rough-winged, Tree and Violet-green 

 Swallows, and the Purple Martin. 



That the two branches of the Swal- 

 low tribe originated in some common 

 ancestral type is undoubted. It seems 

 quite probable that this original swal- 

 low ancestral form nested in hollow 

 trees and was not gregarious by na- 

 ture. The nests in the hollow trees 

 were not safe from molestation by 

 four-footed enemies, and it seems rea- 

 sonable to believe that certain indi- 

 viduals who had been much disturbed, 

 were forced to seek other nesting 

 places of a safer character. The in- 

 stinct to bring forth young and provide 

 ,1 safe resting place for them is poss- 

 essed by all living beings. 



The first individuals to seek other 

 sites doubtless availed themselves of 

 holes in cliffs, but as such locations, 

 though safe, were few in number, the 

 descendants of the cliff dwellers were 

 obliged to seek other sites, such as 

 shelves of rock, and to prevent the 

 eggs from blowing off they were sur- 

 rounded by mud, bits of bark and other 

 material. Gradually the half-cup 

 shaped nest of the Barn Swallow, at- 

 tached to the face of a perpendicular 

 cliff, and composed of mud lined with 

 grass and feathers, was evolved. Now 

 nests of this type were open to the at- 

 tacks of only one class of living foes, 



