380 Norton, Notes on some Maine Birds. [oct. 



in the fall of 1903, that three were shot at Cape Elizabeth, a few years ago, 

 which he saw. In the fall of 1903 one was shot at Falmouth by James 

 (not John) Whitney. ^ 



In the fall of 1904 a remarkable visitation of this species to Maine took 

 place. At Merrymeeting Bay, Frank T. Noble shot a female October 27. 

 He stated, " On the 28th and 29th they came in fairly good-sized flocks, 

 fifteen or more being repeatedly seen together." - 



Seven were shot in Scarborough, about the same time or early in Novem- 

 ber. Two of the seven, two adult males, were taken by E. B. Pillsbury, 

 November 4. One of the seven was plucked, but the others were 

 mounted and scattered. November 7, a male was shot in Windham, on 

 the Presumpscot River, and is preserved in the writer's collection. 



Marila americana. Redhead. — - The Redhead, though of frequent 

 occurrence and formerly breeding, has seldom been observed in spring. 

 It is therefore worthy of note that a pair of these birds were shot at Scar- 

 borough March 27, 1905. 



Marila valisineria. Canvas-back. — The Canvas-back has been 

 considered one of the rarest of Maine ducks; the recent increase of un- 

 published records would seem to indicate 4hat it has visited the state with 

 greater frequency the past dozen years. Yet the bird is sufficiently rare 

 to make the citation of records desirable, especially so, since the last 

 summary ^ is incomplete and leaves an erroneous impression. 



E. A. Samuels wrote, " I once killed one in Lake Umbagog." ^ 



Mr. N. C. Brown recorded the fact that two were killed near the mouth 

 of Portland harbor in the fall of 1874,^^ and that he heard of thi-ee more. 



Of this same occurrence " Roamer " [Everett Smith] reported " one, 

 October, 1874," ^ thus losing sight of one specimen. The latter communi- 

 cation has been taken as the source of the 1874 record by Knight in both 

 of his works. 



In his ' Birds of Maine ' Mr. Smith reported a pair, male and female, 

 taken at Great Pond, Cape Elizabeth, November, 1880.' Cm-iously, in 

 citing this record Dr. Knight omitted one of these, recording but one. 



Four were taken at Nahumkeag Pond, Pittston, " about the eighth of 

 October, 1896." * by Charles Thurber, two of which were preserved. 



These are the same birds reported in 'Bulletin 3, University of Maine', 

 page 158, as taken in 1895. Since I have a vivid impression that Dr. 

 Knight told me he had been wrongly informed of the date as given in that 



1 1908. Knight, Birds of Maine, 85. 



2 1905. Noble, Journ. Me. Orn. Soc, XII, 12. 



3 1908. Knight, Birds of Maine, 97. 



4 1870. Samuels, Bds. N. Eng., 508. Earlier editions? 



6 1874? Brown, Am. Sportsman. [Mr. Brown's letter was written in December, 1874, 

 I cannot cite exact date of publication. 



8 1874. Boamer [Everett Smith], Forest & Stream, III: 324. 



' 1883. Smith, Forest & Stream, XX: 184. 



8 1913. Thurber, in Epist., April 21 (1913). 



