56 



ORNITnOLOGTST 



[Vol. 6-No. 7. 



Notes from Maine. 



The O and O. has reached me here 

 where I have been camping out for seven 

 weeks. I promised to write something 

 about Traill's Fly catcher, under the im- 

 pression that they were as rare elsewhere as 

 here, but finding that they are plenty in 

 some localities I do not care to write what 

 others have probably observed ard written 

 of before, but I will write a few lines con- 

 cerning the changes which have occurred 

 in birds within my recollection east of tlie 

 Penobscot. 



For ten years at least I have not seen a 

 common House Wren, although formerly 

 very abundant. I can find no one who re- 

 members having seen one for years.. The 

 Blue Jay, once abundant, is now compara- 

 tively scarce. Also the Golden winged 

 Woodpecker, which once were so plenty 

 that I shot twelve in one afternoon. Hawks 

 of all kinds are extremely rare 1 do not 

 see a dozen of all kinds in a season ne.ir 

 Bangor, although I travel a great deal. 

 Since 1876 I have spent fourteen weeks 

 camping here, and have traveled hundreds 

 of miles in this vicinity and have 1 ever 

 seen but one in that time, though the 

 mountains and ponds would seem to be 

 suited for favorite resorts for them With- 

 in two years the Red-bellied Nuthatch is 

 leaving us. I used to see them every day, 

 summer and winter, but have not seen one 

 for a year. The Baltimore Oriole was un- 

 known here a few years ago but is now quite 

 plenty west of the Penobscot, and crossed 

 It to remain some ten years ago, though still 

 rarely ever seen three miles east of it. I 

 think I travel east of Bangor at least fifty 

 to seventy-five days in the si)ring and sum- 

 mer, but while for som,> ten years 1 have 

 seen them nesting all along the river with- 

 in a quarter cf a mile from it, I have yet 

 to see the first one a mile from the river. 

 The Bob o-link and Chi[>{3ing Sparrow are 

 both getting scarce, while the Crow Black- 

 bird, almost unknown thirty years ago, is 

 now very numerous. The Bluebird has in 

 creased, also the Least Flycatcher and 



Wood Pewoe, though seldom seen far from 

 houses The Wild Pigeon, once here in 

 thousands, is so rare that it is hard work to 

 get specimens for collectors. The House 

 Sparrow has visited us in winter for the 

 last two years, but have never seen any af- 

 ter March. They have come and gone at 

 about the same dates as the Snow Buntings. 

 I saw a new thing en August 20th. I wing- 

 broke a Palmated Sandpiper when it instant- 

 ly took to the water and dove, swimming 

 from fifteen to twenty-five feet at a dive, 

 rarely taking time to breathe till it got be- 

 yond the reach of stones thrown at it. I 

 knew tliey could swim but never knew they 

 could swim like a Grebe under water. 



Please excuse this as I write on my knee 

 for lack of a desk. — M. H. Camden, Me. 



Growth of Robins, &c. 



I was very glad to hear from you in re- 

 sponse to my recent note in relation to the 

 strange method birds adopt to preserve the 

 purity of their nests. A few days after I 

 wrote to you, while sitting on my front 

 porch, I noticed a Sparrow leave a wood- 

 bine on the house of Mr. Harper, who lives 

 directly opposite my residence on South 

 High Street, having in his bill some white 

 object. He flew directly to the center of 

 the highway, and dropped in the mud the 

 substance he had held in his bill and im- 

 mediately flew away. I went directly to 

 the spot and saw a lump of excrementitious 

 matter larger than a common pea, smooth- 

 ly rounded, white for the most part, though 

 one side or end was green. I knew it to 

 be the excrement of a bird, and saw it was 

 the same process as observed in the Robin 

 repeated by the Sparrow. It confirmed, to 

 a great extent, the view I had of the man- 

 ner by which nests are kept clean from the 

 abservations that I n»ade with respect to 

 the Robin's nest near my house. 



P S. My son, twenty-four years old, and 

 witness oi tlic act, believed the old bird 

 swallowed it. I saw it seized by the old 

 bird but did not suppose or see any act in- 

 dicating th It it was swallowed. — Dr. S. W. 

 Hart to Dr. Win. Wood. 



