{T^^; 



74-. /} 



Tlie Joiinial of Tlie laine Ofnilliologicel Society. 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGY. 



'^Mi proteotioiij bird siudyj the spread of the knowledge thus gainedj these are out objects/ 



Vol. I. 



BANGOR, MAINE, JULY, 1899. 



No. 



Cbe IHaine Ornitbological Socletv* 



O. W. Knight, M. S., Bangor, - - President 

 Wm. L. Powers, Gardiner, - Vice-President 

 L. W. ROBBixs, Gardiner, - - Sec'y— Treas. 



C. H. MORRELL, Pittsfield, Editor 



Prof. A. L. Lane, Waterville, - - Councilor 

 Capt. H. L. Spinney, Seguin, - - Councilor 



The Loon in Inland Waters. 



All subscriptions and Ijusiness communications 

 should be sent to O. W. Knight, Publisher and 

 Business Manager. Bangor, Maine. 



All articles for publication must be sent to the 

 Editor. 



All communications requiring an answer must 

 be accompanied by stamps to prepay the reply. 



SUBSCRIPTION. 



25 Cts. per Year. Single number, 10 Cts. 



Advertising rates furnished on application. 



Entered as second class matter at the post-office 

 at Bangor, Maine. 



(Sbitorial. 



Owing to the scarcity of materinl, 

 this number is eight pages instead of 

 twelve, as intended. The editor is 

 much in need of articles and short notes 

 for the next issue which will be twelve 

 pages. Articles by new writers would 

 be especially welcome. Each member 

 should do his pai't toward making our 

 Journal valuable and interesting, and 

 it is only by combined effort that much 

 can be accomplished in the study of the 

 distribution and habits of our Maine 

 birds. Let each member send in some 

 note however short, to help the work 

 along. 



J. C. MEAD. 



Read at the annual meeting at Portland^ 

 January 1st, 1898. 



Although one of the earliest wild 

 sounds that I can remember, is the loud, 

 weird cry of the Loon, I am forced to 

 admit that in the treatment of my sub- 

 ject I shall be able to advance no new 

 scientific facts or theories, I shall 

 attempt nothing more than a superficial 

 life history of this bird during its sum- 

 mer sojourn amid the inland waters — a 

 stale subject, and yet one always pos- 

 sessing a certain interest to those whose 

 lives are passed within sight and sound 

 of the big ponds of Maine. We listen 

 for its earliest cry in the spring as we 

 do for the peeping of the first frog or 

 for the opening of the mayflower. 



Gradually the ice has become worn 

 and melted away from the shores and 

 water-soaked and blackened under the 

 rays of the April sun. The brooks have 

 cut their channels well into the solid 

 body, making small fields of open water, 

 when, some morning, before the sparkle 

 of frost is fairly out of the atmosphere, 

 we are gladdened by the sight and 



