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JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



place it among the rarest of North 

 American species. Cf. Brewst. Aiik 

 II, 65. Faxon Auk XIII -207. Both 

 of these authors have given full accounts 

 of the bird's history. 



Westbrook, Me., June 15, 1899. 



General Notes. 



A Few Winter Notes from Calais. 



A few Horned Larks were seen in 

 March, and our taxidermist had one. 

 It was 0. a. praticola. 



A Meadowlark was brought to me in 

 January. It was found upon a fence, 

 frozen, with its head under its wing. 



There has been a small flock of Rusty 

 Blackbirds about town nearly all winter, 

 the first I have ever known to be here 

 in winter. Geo. A. Boardman. 



The Screech Owl in Cumberland 

 County. 



A Harrison gentleman brought a 

 Screech Owl, gray type, to Mr. Spratt, 

 the 23rd of March. This bird is rare 

 enough in this locality to be deserving 

 of mention. I have handled but two 

 specimens in twenty-seven years, and 

 have not known of half a dozen taken 

 witliin a radius of twenty miles. 



J, C. Mead. 



Caterpillars Distuhbing the Birds. 



The unusual abundance of caterpillars 

 this year seems to cause the birds some 

 inconvenience. They so cover the 

 trunk and limbs of the trees that the 

 birds will not remain on the nests. I 

 know of two Redstarts' nests which have 

 been deserted after eggs had been laid, 

 because the caterpillars took possession 

 and it seems probable that many other 

 birds which build in deciduous trees will 

 be driven from their nests. 



C. H. Morrell. 



The Black-throated Loon in Kenne- 

 bec County. 



Mr. Homer R. Dill, the well-known 

 Gardiner taxidermist, writes: "The 

 most remarkable bird I have received 

 this spring is a very large Black-throated 

 Loon which was taken near China, on 

 April 19th, 1899, by Wm. S. Hunnewell 

 of China. It weighed fourteen pounds 

 and measured thirty-two inches around 

 its body and thirty-eight inches from 

 the tip of its bill to the tip of its toes." 



A Nest of the Olive-backed Thrush. 



The Olive-backed Thrush seems rare 

 here and consequently I was somewhat 

 surprised to find a nest of this species, 

 on June 11th, containing four young 

 nearly ready to leave the nest. The 

 nest was placed close to the trunk of a 

 small hemlock bush, about two feet 

 from the ground. The locality was a 

 rather open mixed growth near the river. 

 The nest was built of coarse grass and 

 twigs outwardly — not in great quantity — 

 then a mass of dirt and moss, largely 

 dirt, such as one always finds present in 

 a Crow's nest, and on this was the lining 

 of moss and a few roots. The nest 

 contrasted strongly with that of a 

 Wilson's Thrush which I found but a 

 few rods distant, placed in a ground 

 hemlock about eighteen inches from the 

 ground. This nest was of the usual 

 type — a small quantity of grass and 

 twigs, no dirt, and a main structure of 

 dead leaves. This nest contained four 

 eggs and the bird was quite fearless, 

 while the Olive-backed was rather wild. 

 This is the first instance of the nesting 

 of this species in this locality in recent 

 years that has come to my notice. 



C. H. MORRELL. 



