64 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



climate the same great mortality is 

 noted during the past extreme win- 

 ter, and it would seem that some ar- 

 tificial means must be adopted if 

 these birds are to be preserved. 



The Bulletin of the Penna. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture advocates catch- 

 ing the Quail in traps in the fall and 

 keeping them housed and properly 

 fed during the winter, liberating 

 them in the early spring to breed. 

 This plan may yet prove the only 

 practical way in which the birds can 

 be preserved to us in Maine. 



We regret that the Journal has 

 received so few reports on the win- 

 tering of Bobwhite from its corre- 

 spondents, but probably their non 

 appearance this spring explains all 

 too forcibly why we have not. 



BOBWHITE AT CLIFF ISLAND, 

 MAINE. 



In the spring of '99 while at Cliff 

 Island, Casco Bay, Me., looking after 

 breeding colonies of gulls, terns and 

 petrels, as we were making trips in a 

 dory to Outer Green and Junk-of- 

 Pork, The Brown Cow and other ad- 

 jacent islands, we passed near Jew- 

 ell's Island, and I heard the unmis- 

 takable call, Bobwhite! Bobwhite! 

 and upon inquiry, my guide informed 

 me he had heard a Bobwhite on Cliff 

 Island but a few days before. He in- 

 formed me that the owner of Jewell's 

 Island, Mr. McKenney of Phila., Pa., 

 had brought some of these birds to 

 the island and liberated them. We 

 at once pulled across the channel to 

 Jewell's Island. At the cottage we 

 found Mrs. McKenney and her two 

 daughters, who, when told that we 

 had come to inquire about the Bob- 

 white, asked us to be seated upon the 

 veranda and informed us that they 

 had brought twelve of these birds 

 with them the year before and libera- 

 ted them on the island. They have 

 cattle and horses which they leave 

 on the island in care of a man who 

 lives there through the winter. 

 When snow came in the fall the Bob- 

 white came and fed with the hens in 

 the yard, remaining about there all 

 the winter. She said that they had 

 not been back long enough to learn 

 how these birds were getting along, 

 and asked us to take a look about the 

 island. Jewell's Island is a large 

 outer island of some two miles in 



length and nearly one mile in width 

 in places, mostly heavily wooded 

 with scrub spruce and fir, but at the 

 upper end we found a field that was 

 cleared. At the edge of the field 

 near the buildings we were greeted 

 with mellow whistles, Bobwhite! 

 Bobwhite! soon to be answered by a 

 similar call not far away. We se- 

 creted ourselves and I began to whis- 

 tle an imitation call, which to my 

 great pleasure was soon answered. 

 But though "Bob" frequently an- 

 swered my call, I could not succeed 

 in calling him from his hiding place. 

 On moving across the field, we flush- 

 ed a bird which went whirring across 

 lots to a cover near by. We flushed 

 seven or eight birds during our ram- 

 bles about the island. It was then 

 nearing the breeding season. We 

 returned to the cottage and Mrs. Mc- 

 Kenney requested us to post some 

 A. O. U. warning notices about the 

 island, and stated that occasionally 

 so-called sportsmen came to the is- 

 land, shooting any kind of birds that 

 came within range, although her 

 man always warned them off. We 

 posted the notices and hoped the lit- 

 tle fellows who were strugglhig for 

 existence during the long, cold win- 

 ter on this outer, bleak island, might 

 be prevented from falling a victim to 

 the ruthless gunner. The following 

 two seasons I made a trip to Cliff 

 Island, intending to go across to Jew- 

 ell's to learn how fared c'c/'hi/n, but 

 both trips the surf was running high 

 and we could not make the trip 

 across in a dory with safety. But 

 Mr. Walter Rich, one of our fellow 

 members, saw several Bobwhite along 

 the Falmouth Foreside or Cumber- 

 land shore, and I concluded some of 

 the Jewell's Island birds had flown 

 across to the mainland. Several 

 other reports of the occurrence of 

 these birds along the mainland would 

 go to prove the above theory. This 

 will help to demonstrate the fact that 

 Colinns is capable of withstanding our 

 long, cold winters, and we hope to 

 make a visit to Jewell's Island this 

 season to learn further of the fate of 

 the Bobwhite. J. M. S. 



June 1, 1903. 



Dana Sweet of Avon writes the 

 Journal that he observed a Canada 

 Jay in that town Nov. 12, 1903, also 

 that a species of the Rough Legged 



