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THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



southern Maine throughout the summer, and though ranging 

 north to at least Houlton and east to the boundary of the State 

 at Calais the species is found in constantly lessening abundance 

 as we proceed north or east of Bangor. 



Their favorite haunts are bushy thickets by the roadside 

 and about the shores of ponds and streams, dense second 

 growth beeches and birches, swampy alder thickets and hard- 

 wood or mixed woodlands. They are generally entirely absent 

 from the thick, deep, dense evergreen woods, and I have failed 

 to find them on the wooded islands along the coast. 



The male sings (if you can call it singing) very frequently 

 at various times during the day and even occasionally at 

 various hours of the night, being especially given to music at 

 twilight. The song is a harsh, churning, grating, grinding 

 "fe-r-r-u-y," repeated several times in succession, I have seen 

 this song written "cheeury, cheeury, cheeury, cheeury, cheeury, 

 cheeury," but it is really hard to reduce to writing, though 

 once heard it will always be remembered as analagous to the 

 crushing, grating, grinding sound produced by the cogwork 

 of some kinds of machinery. The call note is a clearer and 

 more pleasing sound, a clear whistled "wheeu." These notes 

 are generally uttered from a bush, but occasionally the Veery 

 feels called upon to mount into a tree and utter a mixed song 

 composed of a medley of embryonic trills, whistled notes and 

 with the sound "cack" interspersed in a harsh tone. Other 

 call notes are "chip" and "chit." 



The nests are never situated on the ground as far as my 

 experience goes, though one which I have found in the thick 

 branches of a shrubby hemlock bush was nearly resting 

 on the moss of a hummock in the thick woods. This nest was 

 found in the thick woods near Palmyra, June 6, 1897. It 

 was composed of dry maple leaves, beech leaves, spruce twigs, 

 roots and stems, lined with finer roots and petioles of leaves. 

 It measures three inches in depth outside by one and a quarter 

 inside, while the diameter outside is four and three quarters and 



