JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



49 



branches (if the fruit trees, I saw the 

 male fly ti) the nest of a pair of Balti- 

 more Orioles that were nesting in a 

 Balm of Gilead tree, and h:id nested 

 near by for years. He perched on the 

 side of the nest, the oritdes being 

 away, and peered down into the nest, 

 which contained eggs. He began peck- 

 ing at the eggs, apparently, but I was 

 not able to learn whether he did any 

 injury to them or not. My mind 

 went back to the old days when the 

 boys said. "The catbird eats other 

 birds' eggs." 



I mentioned this instance to Mr. E. 

 H. Forbush, Massachusetts State Or- 

 nithologist, while in Cambridge, and 

 he said, "The catbird has been known 

 to disturb other bird's nests." But I 

 do not believe it is. by any means, a 

 common occurrence, and that the cat- 

 bird can be set down as an enemy to 

 our other song-birds. 



Deviating from my subject, some- 

 what, I wish to mention a series of 

 nests of the above mentioned pair of 

 Baltimore Orioles. As the winds have 

 blown them down after they have 

 served to rock the young orioles in, I 

 have saved them, and they show some 

 very interesting facts. One nest I 

 have is made almost wholly of bits 

 of twine, woven into a neat pocket 

 nest. These bits of twine I threw on 

 the ground beneath the tree, when tlie 

 Orioles had commenced to construct 

 a nest. The birds would soon come to 

 my feet, and after watching me with 

 many sidewise glances, to see if I 

 really meant them no harm, they 

 would take the twine in their beaks 

 and fly to the nest site and carefully 

 weave it into the structure, soon re- 

 turning for more. Morning after 

 morning I tlirew out twine for them, 

 until they completed a nest, almost 

 wholly of twine. One other year I 

 threw out hemp, in a similar manner, 

 and got a unique nest in the fall. An- 

 other point in comparing the nests: 

 In each nest, a string is securely wov- 



en into the top or rim, and cariied up 

 to a twig and wound about the branch 

 twice, so it cannot slip, as it rocks 

 to and fro in the breeze. The peculiar- 

 ity is that the hitch they take about 

 the limb is the very same in each nest, 

 a peculiar way it is wound about the 

 twig, drawing tightly, so it cannot 

 loosen cr slip, one proof that it is the 

 same pair that return year after year. 



Tlie cunning of so small a creature 

 is wonderful. It is more than cunning, 

 it is reasoning power, I am led to be- 

 lieve. There are worlds of knowledge 

 to be learned and pleasures untold, for 

 those who would study closely the life 

 histories of our birds, in their natural 

 elements. It is always a source of 

 pleasant anticipation that I look for- 

 ward to my summer vacation and 

 meeting my old friends, the catbirds. 

 How many years will they live to re- 

 turn to the same locality, and help to 

 make it a pleasant spot, by their 

 presence and songs? Only time can 

 tell. 



.1. MERTON SWAIN. 



Wood fords, Dec. 20, 1900. 



REMINISCENCES OF BIRD LIFE 



ON OUR COAST, AND THE 



RAPID DECREASE IN MANY 



OF OUR SPECIES. 



[Read before tlie Maine Ornithological 

 Society, at Lewiston, Dec. 22, 1900.] 



How silently but surely the environ- 

 ments of the animal kingdom are 

 changing, would be at once manifested 

 if we but stop for a moment and re- 

 view the recollections of a few years. 



It seems to me that no class of this 

 great kingdom has had a more varied 

 history, geologically and anatomically, 

 tlian has the class Aves. The changes 

 most noticeable to us at this period of 



