JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



they usually congregate in larger 

 flocks than earlier, and with the ad- 

 vance of the season like other boreal 

 finches they become very restless and 

 their flights are likely to have a 

 northerly trend. 



During tlie cold weather of mid- 

 winter they often settle in a good 

 sized grove of alders or birches where 

 tlaey remain until the seeds become 

 exhausted when they seek new quar- 

 ters. In feeding here many of their 

 movements among the twigs resem- 

 ble those of chickadees, flitting about 

 and hanging upside down as they 

 probe between the scales of the cone, 

 a use to which their small, pointed 

 beaks are beautifully adapted. As 

 they move about they scatter much 

 seed to the ground and with the econ- 

 omy born of arctic dearth, they will 

 descend to the snow and glean the 

 fruit from its surface. The diet is oc- 

 casionally varied by visits to spruce 

 or hemlock trees, or more often to 

 the larch. 



AcanUii.s iinaria holbailu (Brehm.) 

 Holbols Redpoll. 



Probably a casual winter visitor 

 rather than an accidental straggler. 

 But two Maine examples are now 

 known, one of which has been record- 

 ed: it was captured by Hon. James 

 C. Mead at North Bridgton, Me., Nov. 

 25, 1875. (Mead, Maine Sportsmen, 

 April 1897, p. 6.) The specimen 

 which is intermediate' with Acnnthls 

 Iinaria is in the collection of Mr. O. 

 W. Knight. (Knight, Bds. of Me., 

 p. 93.) 



The unrecorded specimen is a fe- 

 male, taken in Gorham, Me., Feb. 3, 

 1903, and is preserved in the collec- 

 tion of the writer. In this specimen 

 the characteristically long, pointed 

 bill, suggesting that attenuated organ 

 in the Siskin, was so evident that it 

 atcracted attention on the spot, even 

 without another bird for comparison. 

 The specimen shows the following 

 measurements: Bill below nostril, 

 9.05 m m; wing, 72; tail, 54 m m. It 

 occurred in an alder thicket with a 

 small flock of common Redpolls. 



Acanthia Iinaria rostratra. (Coues.) 

 Greater Redpoll. 



A winter visitor of frequent occur- 

 rence and sometimes locally at least 

 common. ' 



Its first detection In Maine perhaps 



*See Mead as cited above. 



was at Westbrook where it was com- 

 mon from Jan. 26 to Feb. 27, 1896. 

 (Proc. Port. Soc. Nat. Hist, ii p. 104.) 

 Upon finding the bird other collectors 

 were informed and asked to watch 

 for it, with the result that Mr. Fred 

 Rackliff secured a female at Spruce 

 Head, Maine, on February 17, 1896. 

 (Rackliff in personal Epist., Feb. 24, 

 1896, and Knight, Bds. of Me., p. 93.) 

 The following December, Prof. Wm. 

 L. Powers, to whom is due the credit 

 of giving the first published record 

 from the state secured a specimen at 

 Gardiner on Dec. 30, 1896. (Powers, 

 Maine Sportsman, Feb., 1897, p. 9, 

 also Auk. XIV, 219. 



Another specimen which can easilj' 

 be referred to this form was taken at 

 Westbrook on December 12, 1903. In 

 habits it does not seem to differ from 

 Acanthl.s Iinaria with which it freely 

 associates. It may, however, prove 

 to be a little more partial to conifer- 

 ous fare, as several of those collected 

 in 1896 had their bills coated with 

 pitch, and the birds often resorted to 

 the hemlock trees to feed. They also 

 resorted to the ground to glean as did 

 ^1 Iinaria 



The note contributed by George 

 Ord in his edition of Wilson's Ameri- 

 can Ornithology, based upon a flight 

 of Redpolls to Philadelphia in the 

 winter of 1813-14, where he describes 

 "One male considerably larger than 

 the rest" and having "The crown spot 

 of a darker hue" is interesting, prob- 

 ably affording the first description of 

 the present siabspecies, and at the 

 same time the southernmost known 

 extent of its winter range. His de- 

 scription indicates a young male, and 

 indeed most of the males taken at 

 Westbrook are in the first winter 

 plumage. 



(To be continued ) 



LOST IN A FLORIDA SWAMP. 

 James Carrol Mead. 



(Read at the 8th annual meeting of the "Maine 

 Ornithological bociety at Gardiner, Nov. 39, 1903.^ 



"If you will go ashore and buy the 

 Christmas presents. Cad, I will look 

 out for the boat and things until you 

 get back." The speaker was a well 

 known Maine educator, the writer 

 was the person spoken to and the 

 time was Christmas eve, 1880. I can- 

 not give you the exact latitude and 



