JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



seen earlier in the winter. We had 

 reports of them from many parts of 

 the state. W e observed them in Som- 

 erset county on Nov. 10. Mr. E. L. 

 Haley saw them at Range ley on Nov. 

 8. We have seen them on several of 

 our trips during the last few weeks. 

 Large flocks of snowflakes have ako 

 been reported. While on a carriage 

 drive on Saturday, Nov. 22, we saw 

 the largest flock that it was ever our 

 privilege to see. A flock of pine sis- 

 kins were seen in Athens, Somerset 

 county, and a flock of redpolls were 

 seen in Cornville in the same county. 



As the Journal goes to press it leans 

 with great regret that the fire in Au- 

 gusta on the morning of Jan. 7th 

 seriously damaged the fine ornithol- 

 ogical collection of our associate edi- 

 tor, Frank T. Noble, which was kept 

 in his private office, next door to 

 Meouian hall. The entire contents 

 of the offices on the second floor were 

 hastily removed when it seemed cer- 

 tain this structure would also be des- 

 stroyed, with the result that the 

 beautiful collection of eggs of New 

 England birds, one of the finest in the 

 state, is in a sad condition, being in a 

 hopeless jumble and many badly 

 broken. The beautiful collection of 

 bird skins which has been so often 

 admired by many of our readers was 

 also badly shaken up, the contents of 

 each cabinet being ruthlessly jammed 

 into the corners of the drawers. Just 

 how they are coming out has not been 

 fully ascertained. The collection was 

 housed in large oak cabinets especi- 

 ially designed by Mr. Noble for 

 their reception and probably no col- 

 lection of the kind, great or small, 

 was ever made or arranged with 

 greater care. The owner will cer- 

 tainly have the sympathy not only of 

 his many friends, but of all ornithol- 

 ogists here and elsewhere. 



Mr. Frank T. Noble, our associate, 

 is well known to our working mem- 

 bers as an enthusiastic field ornithol- 

 ogist, having had many years experi- 

 ence in the study of birds. We trust 

 that our members will remember that 

 the editors cannot alone make the 

 Journal a continued success. We hope 

 to continue the migration reports, as 

 made by the several members of our 

 society, in this volume. Mr. Norton's 

 paper on the finches will be com- 

 pleted in this volume and will prove 

 of great value to all working orni- 

 thologists, whether members or sub- 

 scribers. In the April number will be 

 begun a series of papers on "The 

 Warblers Found in Maine." These 

 papers when completed will be of 

 much value, as the four active mem- 

 bers who have this work in charge, 

 have done a large amount of work 

 with this most interesting family. 

 Capt. Spinney has had excellent op- 

 portunity to record the arrival and 

 departure of these birds, as well as to 

 note the abundance or scarcity of 

 them as they come and go in the 

 spring and fall. We shall have access 

 to our late fellow worker's, Clarence 

 H. Morrell's, notes and data,which will 

 be of great value, as he made consid- 

 erable study of the warblers, and has 

 some very interesting notes and rec- 

 ords, which in connection with Prof. 

 Knights' and our own experiences on 

 such species as yellow palm and 

 Wilson's blackcap, will be sought 

 after with much interest by all work- 

 ing students of birds, as well as be of 

 interest to those of our members and 

 readers, who love the study of this 

 family from an aesthetic standpoint. 

 Prof. Stanton's most interesting paper, 

 "Man's Relation to the Lower Ani- 

 mals," will appear in this volume and 

 cannot fail to interest all, coming as 

 it does, from one of the greatest orni- 

 thologists of his time, who has made a 

 deep, searching study of all animate 



