18S7.J Genera/ Notes. 3 Cj I 



On the Westerly Trend of Certain Fall Migrants in Eastern Maine. 

 — In investigating the influence of the topography of the land upon the 

 flights of migratory birds, an interesting point is to ascertain to what ex- 

 tent the more prominent physical features of a region determine the direc- 

 tion of these flights, and especially is this important when great natural 

 barriers deviate in their line of extent from the general north and south 

 trend of the paths of migration. During a limited collecting experience 

 of two years in the vicinity of the St. Croix River, a few facts seemingly 

 bearing on this subject have come under my notice. I frequently came in 

 contact with some of those species that perform their migratory journeys 

 during the day, and one circumstance that struck my attention was. that 

 in their fall migrations they all appeared to be flying directly west. At 

 first I thought it to be merely a fortuitous circumstance, but repeated ob- 

 servation convinced me that there must be something more in it. I have 

 noted it most frequently in the Swallows and Swifts, and very often in the 

 Nighthawks, and my friend, Mr. Howard H. McAdam, informs me that 

 he has observed this westerly movement in some Hawks when migrating 

 in flocks. 



In the case of the water birds, the surrounding country is so cut up by 

 lakes and rivers, that their evidence, unless very accurately taken, is un- 

 reliable. Mr. William Brewster, in his account of his observations on the 

 small, night-migrating birds at Point Lepreaux light-house ('Bird Migra- 

 tion,' Memoirs of Nuttall Club, No. 1), states that on leaving the light 

 thej' always proceeded due -west. 



The question involved is this : Whether the birds inhabiting Maine, 

 New Brunswick, and the country further northward, proceed directly south 

 in their autumn journey until they reach the coast line, and then massing 

 upon the coast, take their course westward until they can again continue 

 directly south ; or whether they pass across this territory in a westerly or 

 southwesterly direction from the first, holding such a course until they 

 reach the first great migration route tending directly south. My own ob- 

 servations being made only from thirty to fifty miles from the sea, would 

 have little weight, even if more thorough, but I note my experience in 

 order to call the attention of other field workers to a point that would be 

 of some interest to determine, and with the hope that someone else may 

 have had a similar experience. — Louis M. Todd, Calais, Maine. 



A Bird Scare. — At half-past three o'clock on the morning of the 26th 

 August, I was awakened by a noise which I had some difficulty, in my 

 drowsy condition, in making out. I first thought it was from heavy drops 

 of rain on the zinc floor of a balcony outside of my bedroom — such drops 

 as precede a thunderstorm — and I lay back to sleep again. The noise 

 continued, and I then knew it was caused by some objects flying against 

 the windows. There is an electric lamp on a level with the middle of 

 the window and only thirty feet away, and I thought it might be some 

 unusually large moths striking against the glass. The noise was so 

 irritating that sleep was out of the question, and I got up and went to the 



