58 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



l&xrb Nnfra. 



Notes and observations upon bird life within our State are earnestly desired for publication in this 

 column from all our readers, and should be sent to The Journal, 22 Elm Street, Portland, Maine. 



Some Observations near Isle au Haut. — I have just 

 returned from a trip in Jericho Bay, with headquarters at Isle au 

 Haut, and thought the Journal readers might be glad to hear 

 about the birds in that section. I was accompanied by Mr. F. M. 

 David. Of the Eiders we saw a dozen nests with eggs or young. 

 The Gulls are in large numbers on Little Spoon Island. There are 

 numbers of Terns on both of the Spoon Islands and many Petrels 

 on Big Spoon. There are also Gulls on both of the Horse Ledges, 

 and Shags on the Black Horse. We saw a number of Ravens, and 

 in a nest on Big Spoon Island, from which the young had long since 

 departed, we found an infertile egg. We also saw a pair of Shel- 

 drakes and a pair of Old Squaws about the Spoon Islands.—/. Mcr- 

 ton Swain, Farming ton ^ Me. 



Horned Larks near Hinckley. — The morning of July 

 26th, while driving to Hinckley to take the train, I saw a flock of 

 about twenty-five Horned Larks on the sandy plains east of the 

 Kennebec River. Although not able to identify the birds subspecif- 

 ically they were doubtless Prairie Horned Larks. — O. W. Knight. 



The Natal Down of Chipping Sparrows. — Until this 

 summer (1910), I had never happened to see Chipping Sparrows 

 just out of the shell. The nest was very familiar to me, but I had 

 heretofore either found nests too high up to be observed easily or 

 they already held young when discovered. This season a structure 

 on the level with my eyes contained four eggs when I came upon it. 

 I visited the nest each morning and timed one observation trip so 

 that I saw three young that were just hatched. The nestlings were 

 so strong that they raised their heads for food and kept them in that 

 posture for a length of time. What astonished me most was the fact 

 that the young were nearly as well covered with burnt umber natal 

 down as the woolly bear caterpillar is with hairs. The four active, 



