SPARROWS 415 



wintering from the more southern States into Mexico ; migrating through 

 the United States in fall and spring. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; fairly common migrant, (Johnson) ; 

 seen near Livermore at various times in spring, (Briggs). Aroostook; fairly 

 common migrant, also seen in the Woolastook Valley in August, (Knight). 

 Cumberland; common migrant, (Mead). Franklin; rare migrant, (Richards); 

 saw a pair at Farmington late in June, 1887, (Swain). Hancock ; rare mi- 

 grant save along the coast where it is occasionally locally common, (Knight) . 

 Kennebec; rare migrant, (Larrabee). Knox; (Rackliff). Oxford; visitant, 

 (Nash). Penobscot; fairly rare migrant, but some springs seen in numbers 

 for a day or so, (Knight). Piscataquis; common migrant, (Homer). Saga- 

 dahoc; common some springs, not often seen in fall, (Spinney). Somerset ; 

 they are never very common, though of regular occurrence, (Morrell). 

 Waldo ; seen in numbers at just the right time for a day or so in spring, 

 (Knight). Washington; very rare, (Boardman) ; spring migration, May 22 

 to 24, in limited numbers each year, (Clark). York; migrant, (Adams). 



Mr. Brown states that near Portland they usually occur from 

 May ninth to fifteenth for about ten days and again about 

 October first. The species passes rapidly through the State 

 in migration, spring and fall, more often being seen in numbers 

 and more generally in spring. I am inclined to think they 

 occur regularly and in considerable numbers throughout the 

 State in spring and not at all rarely in fall, during the last 

 few days of May and again in early October, the exact time of 

 their appearance depending on the weather. They pass quickly 

 through the State at times, again tarrying some seasons for a 

 few days, probably entirely on account of weather conditions 

 beyond our ken. 



Generally near Bangor in the spring seasons when they are 

 common, they are seen only a day or two in numbers, and 

 then all are gone. Seasons when they are not so numerous 

 they tend to straggle along for a few days in spring and in 

 fall as far as my observations go they always straggle for ten 

 days or so. I feel compelled to judge that the holding back 

 of the tide of migration in spring sometimes occurs, and that 

 birds gathered together south of us suddenly appear in numbers 

 as soon as the migration conditions are favorable and pass 

 quickly on. Other seasons when there is, so to say, no dam- 

 ming of the tide of migration they pass through more scattered 



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