Mi 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the Cow bird included. But let me say 

 right here that he did not stay around 

 long, notwithstanding the good train- 

 ing and good influence that had, I am 

 sorry to say, been wasted on him. He 

 soon went his way to follow the slack, 

 lazy habits of his tribe. 



The young Yellow birds soon became 

 as large as their parents and with the 

 fluffy plumage, which had grown on 

 them, they looked larger. 



They did not seem to have any fond- 

 ness for their old home in the lilac 

 bush now, and never again went near 

 it, so I did not see quite so much of 

 them. But occasionally I saw them 

 hopping about among the branches of 

 the apple trees, until at last it came 

 time for them to leave for the South. 



And may the kind Providence, who 

 marks the sparrow's fall, watch over 

 and guide them safely to their South- 

 ern home. And when spring returns 

 to our Northen clime, may th^ same 

 guiding hand bring them safely back 

 to the home of their nativity to glad- 

 den the heart of man. 



HOMER R. DILL, 

 State Taxidermist. 



THE BLUEBIRD. 



Sialia Sialis (Linn.) 

 This name brmgs to my mind 

 thoughts of springtime, the melting of 

 the snow and the bursting of the buds 

 and the return of summer with its 

 many Ornithological joys and sorrows, 

 for they are the first of our insectivor- 

 ous birds to arrive from the South 

 and tell us that the dreary winter has 

 passed away. They are also the last 

 to leave us in fall and their sad, 

 mournful notes tell more plainly than 

 the cold and storms that a Maine win- 

 ter has come again. In years past the 

 bluebird was an abundant summer 

 resident in this locality (Livermore), 

 but each year it has grown less com- 



mon until now they can only be called 

 fairly common, what has caused this 

 I am unable to say. But this season 

 I think they were more plentiful than 

 for several years past and I have had 

 the pleasure of becoming better ac- 

 quainted with this bird. I have found 

 them nesting quite common and have 

 had the pleasure of taking five sets of 

 five eggs each, with nests, of this 

 species, all the eggs were pure white, 

 all from the same pair of birds and 

 from the same old orchard of apple 

 trees. Perhaps a brief description of 

 the nests and eggs would not be un- 

 interesting to many. It is as follows: 



Set No. one, now in the cabinet of 

 Mr. J. Merton Swain, Waterville, was 

 found May 1st, 1901. The nest was 

 situated in a hollow apple tree in the 

 vacated nesting cavity of a Northern 

 Flicker, and contained four eggs, 

 May. 2d the set of five eggs was com- 

 pleted and May 10th I collected the set 

 with nest which was composed of dead 

 grasses and rootlets and was very 

 large and bulky. For a complete de- 

 scription of this nest and set of eggs 

 see (The Oologist for August, page 

 121.) 



Set No. two, now in the cabinet 

 of Mr. Everett E. Johnson, Lewiston, 

 was collected May 27th. Situated in 

 a hollow apple tree only a short dis- 

 tance from the first nest. Nest com- 

 posed of course dead grasses and root- 

 lets with a lining of the same and a 

 few feathers and like the first was 

 large and bulky. 



Set No. three, was collected June 

 13th. The nest was built in a small 

 box placed in an apple tree about 12 

 feet from the ground. The nest was 

 composed of rootlets and dead grasses 

 and lined with fine grasses and feath- 

 ers. 



Set No. four was collected June 24. 

 The nest was built in the same cavity 

 as nest No. one and composed of near- 

 ly the same material. 



