September, 18S1.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



51 



the nest being attached to one of the logs 

 inside, and the parent birds coming in and 

 going out while the camp was occupied 

 and showing no fear at the presence of 

 man. 



W()<_)i)PECKKRS — We found the Hairy, 

 Downy, Golden-winged and the Yellow- 

 bellied Woodpeckers — the latter common 

 and breeding. Its alarm note so closely 

 resembles that of the Blue Jay that we 

 started from our bed of pine boughs early 

 one morning expectirg to find the Jay and 

 were somewhat surprised to see a beautiful 

 specimen of Sphyrapicits varius. 



Shkldrake. — The most common ot the 

 Anatidae was the Sheldrake {Mergus Mer- 

 ganser. We saw the young in company 

 with the famale and found one nest on an 

 island. June 19th, containing ten eggs near- 

 ly fresh. This nest was in a hollow under 

 the roots of a standing tree; the roots, 

 earth and moss forming a perfect roof, so 

 that the nest, after the heavy shower of that 

 day, seemed well protected and was quite 

 dry. The eggs were covered with leaves, 

 moss and feathers — mostly feathers. The 

 old bird was seen to leave the nest. Our 

 guide remarked that the male Sheldrakes 

 disappear soon after nidification commences 

 and also said that several times he had wit- 

 nessed battles between female Sheldrakes 

 when each had young— the victor swimming 

 oft with all the little ones. 



Gulls. — Several pairs of the Herring j 

 Gull Larus argcntattis) were seen, and we 

 found one nest, June 13th, on a rock at one I 

 end of an island. It was composed of dry 

 grass, twigs and moss, and contained one 

 young, perhaps thirty-six hours old, one 

 egg just hatched and one addled egg. 

 We fed the young nestling on trout, of which 

 it pat took freely Another nest was found 

 on June i6th composed of the same mate- 

 rials as the first one. It was placed on a 

 rock on a point of land projecting into the j 

 lake, and contained three eggs — the em- I 

 bryos being slightly advanced. 



Loon. — The Loon [C. torquatus^ was 

 seen in all parts of the lake, and we found 



two fresh eggs on one of the islands. Our 

 guide informed us that the young appear 

 early in July, seem stupid, and are easily 

 caught by hand — J. H Sage, Portland, Ct. 



Notes from Bangor, Me. 



I ended my collecting for this season Au- 

 gust 12th with a nest and four eggs of the 

 American Goldfinch. During the season 

 my friend Mr. Harry Merrill and myself 

 have taken the following eggs in this local- 

 ity, which we consider quite good "finds:" 

 Two sets of the Loggerhead Shrike, one 

 set Hermit Thrush, one set Yellow-rumped 

 Warbler, one set Black-throated Warbler. 



The first part of the summer we made 

 two visits to our coast where we obtained 

 large numbers of the followmg eggs : Fish 

 Hawk, Herring Gull, Wilson's Tern, Night 

 Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Leach's 

 Petrel. — Neivell A. Eddy. Bangor, Me 



Pine Groesbeaks — Since July 4th I 

 have seen several flocks of fifteen to twen- 

 ty Pinicola eniicleator almost daily, consist- 

 ing of both old and young birds. I have 

 not noticed them here before this season. 

 They are very tame, lighting in the cherry 

 tree close to the house when I ha,ve been 

 sitting on the porch. For the last three 

 years there has been a pair of birds nesting 

 in the town of Albion known as Grey- 

 backed Robins. 1 have never had a satis 

 factory view of them till this summer when 

 my brother shot one which proved to be 

 the common Robin partly Albino. — H. 

 Gray, Albion, N. V. 



Little Blue Heron. — A flock of a half 

 dozen small White Herons visited our 

 shores last Friday, August 1 2th, and with 

 a little effort one of them was at last se- 

 cured and I have it mounted, and after 

 careful examination with " C'oues' Key" 

 conclude it to be the '' Little Blue Heron" 

 in immature plumage. The bird is pure 

 white with the exception of the tips of the 

 primaries which are light blue. It has 

 green legs and yellow iris. It is the first 

 specimen of the kind I have ever known of 

 at Saybrook, Conn. — /ol/n N Clark. 



