JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



n 



worst enemies; but give the boy a gun, 

 and he will shoot this hawk as readily 

 as another. And. strange to say. the 

 act will be commended as a service 

 done to the entire farming community. 

 There is also another, and very im- 

 portant, side to the question; that is, 

 the effect that organized and unlimit- 

 ed destruction of this kind may have 

 on the enforcement of laws made for 

 the protection of other birds. At best 

 it is an extremely difficult matter to 

 insure the proper carrying out of pro- 

 tective laws; — and we know that ab- 

 solute license in one direction is al- 

 most sure to lead to looseness in other 

 directions. It seems to me, then, that 

 to insure a proper enforcement of 

 these laws, it is advisable at least 

 to discourage such matches as I have 

 mentioned. 



Would it not be well, considering 

 these points, to take such measures as 

 are possible toward giving the farm- 

 ers, and also the general public, some 

 definite idea of the true relations 

 which hawks and other birds bear to 

 man? Of course it would be deeply- 

 seated prejudice; but much could easily 

 be done toward this end by leading 

 thinking people to take a proper and 

 fair view of the true state of the 

 matter. F. F. BURT, 



Pomfret School, Pomfret Ctr., Conn. 



| This old time custom, the shooting- 

 match or annual hunt, is not so pre- 

 valent as in former years. Several 

 years ago. in many of the Maine 

 towns, they held their annual shoot, 

 the losing side furnishing a game sup- 

 per for the crowd. 



As game has grown more scarce 

 near our country villages, this custom 

 has gradually become a thing of the 

 past. Many harmless birds and ani- 

 mals naturally fell a victim to the 

 ruthless gunners. Three such matches 

 occurred on my terrritory the past 

 fall. One at Whitefield. (Kennebec 



County,) and one in Damariscotta and 

 New Castle (Lincoln County) and one 

 in Thomaston (Knox County.) The 

 hunt at Whitefield did not bring in 

 game enough for the supper, as I saw 

 some of the members of the gun club 

 killing chickens for the "game supper." 

 I examined the game brought back 

 on all of these matches and found 

 practically nothing but legal game. A 

 large lot of ducks, and smaller game 

 birds, and a fine large buck fell to the 

 gunners at the " 'scotta hunt." At 

 Thomaston one of the Capts. told me, 

 (by the way most of the gunners I saw 

 at this hunt were feeling rather hilari- 

 ous, at night, and their breath sav- 

 ored of "fire water".) that he did not 

 believe there was a man on the list 

 who would buy any game, yet, not an 

 hour before, I saw one of his chosen 

 men. who sat at the hotel table with 

 us. as he spoke, who picked up a crow, 

 that one of the village boys had shot a 

 few hours before, and placed it in his 

 game bag. — Ed.] 



A PHOEBE'S SUMMER. 



By C. H. Morrell. 



A little later than the Robin, Blue- 

 bird, and Song Sparrow, but well 

 ahead of the main army of returning 

 migrants, comes the hardiest of the 

 Flycatchers — the plain-colored, active, 

 restiess Phoebe, better known as tbe 

 Bridge Pewee. 



Too social to desire seclusion, too 

 common to escape attention, it is 

 known to everyone who gives tlie 

 slightest attention to the birds — and 

 such attention is never regretted. 



It was the morning of April 1.1th, 

 about the average date, that I heard 

 the "pe-er-wee" of the first Phoebe, 

 the first bird was quickly followed by 



