AMERIOAN ORNITHOLOGY. 209 



half buried amid the wildest confusion of brambles and ferns, and 

 effectually disguised by the moss and creeping vines which encompass 

 it. The brook now gurgles and babbles into the meadow beyond, glad 

 to be released from the swamp growths which hindered its progress. 

 The birds are about all here that are due and I will mention a few as I 

 pass along. 



The oranipicient Catbird slinking and snarling, the Oriole that wel- 

 come visitant from the tropics is now arrived. Thrushes and Thrashers 

 are here in abundance. Towhees in their happy security under the 

 skunk cabbage leaves, with their little grey shirt fronts and rufous 

 colored waistcots. The Warblers and Woodpeckers and Kingbirds 

 hovering in the air or darting from a limb after an unsuspecting insect^ 

 returning with his capture to the identical perch. Here immediately 

 before us we start a bevy of quail, and you are startled as they whirr 

 off in a bee line to a more secluded cover among the evergreens. A 

 little beyond the Flicker is flickering about showing his white rump and 

 golden wings to good advantage in the sunshine. 



A lazy Song Sparrow is taking advantage of a snug little hole in 

 the turf on the slanting bank, near the water's edge, and is rounding it 

 out for a nest, preparatory to laying the eggs. These are but a few 

 items of what I call "observing things" and in my case is not to be 

 dignified by the name of study. 



MAINE BIRD NOTES. 



Myrtle F. Smart. 



The following "Bird Notes" were taken in the spring and summer 

 of 1903. Most of my observations were made on farms in the towns 

 of LaGrange, Maxfield and Rowland, Penobscot county, Maine. 



The farms are situated on a hardwood ridge, five miles west of the 

 mouth of Piscataquis River. My home farm consists of about fifteen 

 acres of field and orchard and eighty-five of rough pasture and wood- 

 land. 



Not far from the house is a maple orchard of two or three hundred 

 trees and also some groves of spruce and fir, these latter being a fav- 

 orite nesting place for crows. A large Martin house of twelve rooms 

 and a box in which a pair of Tree Swallows nest are near by. Several 

 Barn Swallows' nests are in the barn and over fifty in one on an 

 adjoining farm. 



1903 was a bad year for birds in my locality as the red squirrels 

 were very plentiful and robbed nearly every nest, one squirrel being 

 shot in the act of throwing young birds from the Martin house. 



