JOURNAL OP MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



bership must remain undone from lack 

 of funds. Hitherto the honor of hold- 

 ing office has brought with it the re- 

 sponsibility of meeting current expenses 

 by donations from the officers' private 

 resources. More than $20.00 were con- 

 tributed by the officers during the 

 past year. How this difficulty can be 

 successfully overcome must be your 

 first consideration. All other ques- 

 tions are secondary to this and must 

 wait for its successful answer before 

 they may be considered. 



One scheme for increasing our funds 

 is to make the price of the Journal 

 fifty cents per year instead of twenty- 

 five. This change would double the 

 income received from all subscribers 

 who are not active members of the 

 society. I am informed by our editor 

 that we have ninety of these on our 

 list, and hence the increased revenue 

 from these alone would meet future 

 outlays. 



And now with confidence in our 

 cause and with expectation of our ul- 

 timate triumph and success, I wish to 

 thank you for the honor you have 

 conferred upon me by twice electing 

 me to the honorable position of presi- 

 dent of The Maine Ornithological 

 Society. May our efforts be crowned 

 with success. 



WM. L. POWERS. 



Gardiner. Me. 



SOME ORNITHOLOGICAL PROB- 

 LEMS FOR MAINE. 



Read before the Maine Ornithologi- 

 cal Society at Augusta. Nov. 30. 

 1901. 

 Having through a correspondence 

 and experience, extending back a num- 

 ber of years, come to a realization of 

 the impetus given the study of any 

 branch of Natural history, that has, 

 in view, definite objects for investi- 

 gation, that promises the possible 



discovery of some new organism, or 

 some new fact of general interest. I 

 have chosen the present subject for 

 the purpose of this meeting. 



No attempt has been made to treat 

 the matter exhaustively, time, space 

 and my own inability forbid such an 

 attempt. I have only aimed to bring 

 briefly, before the attention of a cer- 

 tain class of students, a number of 

 cases which I have found in my in- 

 vestigations still open before us, hop- 

 ing, thereby, to be benefitted, mutual- 

 ly with them. 



Another might find other species, 

 equally entitled to attention, with cer- 

 tain of these here mentioned. Works 

 describing birds are now so numerous 

 and inexpensive that descriptions are 

 here superfluous. 



While living birds appeal to all. 

 there is an interest attached to fossil 

 birds which appeals especially to the 

 scientist. The number of fossil forms 

 known to science is indeed very small 

 and each earnest student should be 

 zealous to increase the number. There- 

 fore every opportunity to explore any 

 geological outcropping of a more re- 

 cent period than the Jurassic, should 

 be improved with that end in view. 

 Another field, which has not been ex- 

 hausted, is the shell heaps of the 

 aboriginal tribes, which are so co con- 

 spicuous in many places. The little 

 work that has been done upon the 

 bones found in these heaps, as they 

 are in Maine, has been very interest- 

 ing and they still have much to con- 

 tribute to our knowledge of the earlier 

 distribution of many of the larger 

 birds. 



Taking the standard . American list 

 of birds for our basis, the Black 

 Throated Loon is the first to appeal 

 to us in the present connection. It 

 is an aquatic species, smaller than the 

 large specimens of the common loon, 

 and in nuptial plumage differs mark- 

 edly from that species. 



