Field Notes from the Upper Penobscot, Maine 



By J. W. Clayton 



ABOUT the middle of June I took two Red-Shouldered Hawks from the 

 nest and found their ears full of maggots. I picked five out of one ear 

 and the other was full also. I intended to save some to send away for iden- 

 tification but the next day they had all left, showing they were not the com- 

 mon blue flesh fly. I have found them under the wings and on the neck of 

 young Swallows and they changed into a fly very similar to the common 

 blue fly. The skulls of these Hawks were considerably blood-shot and in- 

 flamed. The ears were swollen to such an extent that one was closed. I 

 found quite a nunber of green hemlock boughs in the nest and in the bottom 

 of the nest was a stick about one inch through at each end and fully four 

 feet long. There were the remains of a freshly killed warty toad in the 

 nest which was situated in a beech tree about 35 feet up. 



About the 25th of June I spent considerable time watching a Yellow 

 Palm Warbler, a female I think. Her actions indicated that she was look- 

 ing up a chance to build. She would go under the low evergreens and look 

 into all holes, sometimes picking up a few bits of wood, etc. I felt sure of 

 finding a nest there in the near future. I returned on the 2nd of July and 

 took up the search again. Could not find any nest on the ground nor could 

 I start the bird anywhere, but in a low fir bush I found a nest partly de- 

 stroyed with one egg in it and it so closely resembled the nest of the Yellow 

 Pine Warbler that I am tempted to believe that this bird sometimes builds 

 in low bushes. I have taken the nest and egg for ^identification. The only 

 other bird that it would be likely to be in this vicinity is the Black Throat- 

 ed Blue Warbler and I never saw a nest of this bird with no feathers in its 

 makeup. The nest of young Yellow Palm Warblers which I previously found 

 was in a pasture under a cedar bush about 150 feet from a house. The next 

 time I visited it, which was long before the young could have left the nest, 

 it was empty and no amount of hunting revealed the old birds. I concluded 

 that it was the work of a cat or crows. 



I did not find either Tennessee or Wilson's Warblers' nests this year. 

 I observed two pairs of Tennessee Warblers that were evidently nesting and 

 I spent considerable time hunting for them but was not successful. Quite 



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