14 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Soon the Warblers will wend their 

 way northward, and lend theii' presence 

 to the returning leaves and foliage 

 among our trees and thickets. Let each 

 member be on the alert for the arrivals 

 and book all the notes on this family 

 for comparison and publication that is 

 possible. As only through the united 

 efforts of each member can we get to- 

 gether a large amount of material on 

 this interesting family, and by such an 

 eff.jrt, we ought to be able to publish 

 some very interesting and valuable notes. 

 Let each member feel, he has a part to 

 do in the study for the coming season, 

 and have some report, no matter how 

 small. It will add greatly to the inter- 

 est of the study of a family. 



Notes on the Geese, Ducks, Swans, 

 Swallows and Thrushes for 1893. 



[A Paper l)eforeTlie Oniitholdgical Society of Maine] 



J. MERTON SWAIN. 



Having had very little time to devote 

 to the study of the families of birds out- 

 lined by our committee this year, my 

 notes are very few ; also by reason of 

 not being able to get out of the city to 

 the locality necessary to find these 

 birds. The only place I was able to go 

 to was a patch of woods about one-half 

 mile square — the Baxter woods — near nn- 

 home in Wood fords. There I found a 

 large list of migrant species, and later 

 quite a number of birds nested there, 

 such as Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Crow, 

 Flicker, Alder Flycatcher, Chickadee, 

 and several of the commoner Warblers. 

 And this within the city limits, and only 

 a few rods from the railway where many 



trains go snorting noisily by, and the 

 electrics passing on each of the other 

 sides. 1 did not see the Hermit Thrush 

 there until April 29th. I heard its song 

 occasionally of an eve as I strolled to 

 this patch of woods during the spring- 

 time. But I was treated to several soul- 

 stirring concerts during my vacation at 

 Farmington the last of May and the 

 first of June. But it was a very notice- 

 able fact, as well as a lamentable one, 

 that not more than half the number of 

 Hermits were breeding in the old haunts 

 about my former home. In patches of 

 woods where I had always found one or 

 two nests each year as far back as my 

 memory could recall there would be but 

 one pair, and in others the familiar sound 

 could not be heard and no trace of them 

 could be found, except the old decayed 

 nests of former years. 



I remember one particularly favored 

 locality, a large patch of maple growth 

 on a steep side hill where my father had 

 his sugar camp, where several pairs of 

 Thrushes bred. This year but one pair 

 were nesting there. On June 12th I vis- 

 ited this growth after the maiden-hair 

 ferns that grow so abundantly there, 

 and located the nest with three young 

 about one-third grown. The nest was 

 on the ground among the ferns beside a 

 small hemlock bush, well concealed by 

 the overhanging boughs. 



The young tipped up their heads and 

 opened their mouths as I approached 

 the nest; the old ones flitting nervousl}' 

 about, calling to each other as they 

 stood on some stump or stone near by. 

 That eve I wandered through the or- 

 chard and down to the old stone wall at 

 the brow of the hill overlooking this 

 growth, and listened for the old-time 

 evening concert. But a deep sense of 



