48 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



parent bird might not come to claim 

 her baby. One appeared almost as 

 soon as I withdrew and the joyous 

 peepings and fluttering of wings on 

 the part of the waif as soon as he 

 recognized her presence, attested the 

 relationship. I thought him sufficient- 

 ly fed for a while, but Mamma Red- 

 eye apparently thought otherwise, and 

 hurrying off, directly afjter greeting 

 the wanderer, straightway returned, 

 bringing, as if in measure of her joy, 

 a large sphinx larva, which far out- 

 sized the worms I had so carefully 

 sectioned. 



I wondered how in the world it was 

 to be gotten down. Mamma Red-eye 

 delivered it into her baby's bill, and 

 the baby essayed to swallow it — tried 

 and tried again! The great fat green 

 delicacy could not be managed, but 

 would keep curling around and tumbl- 

 ing out of the inexperienced bill. 

 And this is how it was finally accom- 

 plished. Of course, Madam knew how 

 to feed her baby. What are mothers 

 for? Taking one end of the worm in 

 her bill and again presenting it, as 

 soon as the novice had a firm hold 

 upon the other end, she moved slowly 

 and carefully away. Any worm will 

 become small around with stretching, 

 you know! Then the novice began to 

 swallow and Madam to dole the lunch- 

 eon out. Gulp, gulp, gulp — and at last 

 it was down! The dite stretched up 

 several times, as if pulling himself 

 over the worm — first on one foot and 

 then on the other, and perhaps, 



t 

 "On which one he felt the wust. 



He couldn't ha' told ye neither." 



He had rather a surprised look, 

 turning and twisting his head, as if 

 saying: "Why, where is it all? Did it 

 all go down? Oh, my!" Then, after 

 a little time he settled down upon the 

 twig and puffed himself out'in a very 

 ludicrous fashion with the evident in- 



tention of taking a long morning nap. 



There I found him two or three 

 hours later in good spirits, but with 

 no disposition to fly. I searched 

 about ana finding another worm, per- 

 haps half as large as Madam's, suc- 

 ceeded in persuading his little self 

 that it was quite as good in flavor as 

 the one his mother had brought and 

 that I could manage the extension act 

 equally well. But Madam's motherly 

 instincts were now thoroughly arous- 

 ed. With tempting dainties she coax- 

 eu her birdling to a higher and yet 

 higher branch, then to a birch tree 

 and over to the tall maple beyond. 

 And there I left them. 



ABBY F. C. BATES. 



Waterville, Me. 



THE SONG OF MISS TOOLOORAL. 



Recently while passing through the 

 orchard at my home, where the least 

 flycatchers are plentiful and have 

 nests, I heard a sweet, pretty song in 

 one of the apple trees. This seemed 

 to be a bird that I had never heard 

 before. I walked up quietly and as I 

 caught sight of it, it flew upwards 

 and began to sing an entirely diffex - - 

 ent song, which sounded to me very 

 much like the Indigo Bunting. After 

 flying Wildly about high in the air, 

 singing continually, it flew downward, 

 and I could distinguish the notes 

 chebec, chebec, chebec, uttered in quick 

 succesion. As it lighted in a tree near 

 me I saw that it was a Least Fly- 

 catcher. This occurred at dusk. 



Avon, Me. DANA. W. SWEET. 



Mr. J. M. Nichols of Portland took 

 a specimen of the Red-Headed Wood- 

 pecker in a wood near Biddeford in 

 May, 1900. He mentions several 

 other specimens seen near the New 

 Hampshire line in the southern part 

 of the State. 



