518 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



hoc ; one specimen in spring, (Spinney). Somerset ; rare migrant. Carpenter 

 records it as common about Flagstaff Lake where he found nests, (Morrell, 

 Me. Sp. Nov. 1898, p. 2) ; local summer resident of the northern wilds, 

 especially about ponds, (Knight). Waldo; (Newell). Washington; not 

 uncommon summer resident, (Boardman). 



Mr. Brown in his Catalogue records the species as occurring 

 near Portland in the spring about May twenty-second to 

 thirtieth and again in the fall August third to the twenty-sixth. 

 Mr. Brownson records the species as seen on morning of May 

 14, 1905, near Portland, (J. M. O. S. 1905, p.44). Near 

 Bangor it occurs rarely from May twenty-eighth to the middle 

 of August. The species is rare and local, even in migration, 

 and as a summer resident is chiefly confined to the deeper 

 wilder sections of the State within the Canadian fauna. 



In migration the individuals prefer to flutter through the 

 branches of the rather open hard wood groves, generally hop- 

 ping or flying from limb to limb, often two or three alone by 

 themselves or mixed in the usual jumble of migrating Warblers 

 and Vireos. The only calls I have heard them utter are a 

 "chip" and a "tsip." When the nest with young is approached 

 they utter the "chip" very decidedly. Mr. Maynard has 

 described the song as being in its beginning like that of the 

 Black Poll, terminating with a warble similar to that of the 

 American Redstart. He writes of them as being "the most 

 abundant of the Sylvicolidae about Umbagog," but that was 

 years ago and Mr. Brewster has since recorded the fact that 

 the species is now rare in that region. Mr. Sweet records the 

 song as much like "sisser sisser see." 



The few pair that remain to nest in southern Penobscot 

 County are to be found in the low, rather swampy maple and 

 birch growth, mixed with firs and spruces. One nest found 

 with four young, June twenty-fifth, was practically on the 

 ground, for though the branch of a spruce shrub was under 

 the nest, the branch was imbedded in the mossy hummock on 

 which the nest was. The other nest, found June fifteenth, was 

 three feet from the ground in a low, shrubby spruce and con- 



