50 



JOURNAL, OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



reception of scientific papers and the 

 meeting- will be open to the public. 

 The Gardiner members will entertain 

 all visiting members who will send 

 tneir names to Wm. L. Powers, 18 

 Pleasant St., one week in advance of 

 the meeting. Members should strive to 

 reach Gardiner Friday forenoon and to 

 remain until Saturday afternoon. It is 

 earnestly hoped that every member 

 will prepare a paper for this meeting 

 and thereby insure the success of the 

 journal for another year. The Maine 

 Central will offer the usual reduction 

 in tares to members. 



WM. L. POWERS, Secy. 

 Gardiner, Oct. 25, 1903. 



NOTES ON THE FINCHES FOUND 

 IN MAINE. 



Arthur H. Norton. 



These notes were primarily intended 

 to present certain unrecorded occur- 

 rences of the rarer species and sub- 

 species, and a number of observations 

 upon a group of birds that has been of 

 much interest to the author. 



Especially to be mentioned in har- 

 mony with this design, are the genera 

 Acanthis, Calcarius, Ammodramus, and 

 Melospiza, among which a number of 

 new state records are to be presented; 

 some observations upon the spring 

 movements of the sharptails (Ammod- 

 ramus) will also be reported, together 

 with observations upon these birds, 

 later than those published in 'i~ pro- 

 ceedings of the Portland Society of 

 Natural History in 1897. 



While thus engaged, it was tl ought 

 that it would prove a convenience to 

 bring up to date the several changes in 

 nomenclature affecting the Maine 

 species, that have been adopted by the 

 committee of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, since the publication of 

 the second edition of their checklist of 

 North American Birds, in 1895; especi- 



ally so, as a number of these changes 

 have taken place since the publication 

 of the "Birds of Maine" by O. W. 

 Knight in 1897. Having gone thus far. 

 it was decided to mention all of the 

 Maine finches together with annota- 

 tions. 



Hesperiphona vespertina (W. Coo- 

 per) — Evening Grosbeak. During the 

 winter of 1889-90, an eastern movement 

 of these birds of considerable magni- 

 tude took place during which severaT 

 appeared in Maine. A male was taken 

 on Bates College campus, Lewiston, 

 Jan. 10, 1890 and is now in the collec- 

 tion of Prof. J. Y. Stanton of that in- 

 stitution. This was recorded by Mr. 

 Herbert E. Walter in 1891. (Walter. 

 Bds. of Androscoggin Co. in Hist. And. 

 Co., p. 14; also issued separately). An 

 adult male was seen at Orono, Me., 

 Feb. 28, 1890 by Robert H. Fernald and 

 recorded by him: (Fernald Orn. & Ool. 

 Vol. io No. 3, p. 46, Mch. 1890). This 

 probably is the first record published. 



Two were seen at Bangor, March 18 

 1890, one was taken, the other escaped. 

 These were reported by Geo. P. Shep- 

 herd. (Shepherd Ool. May, 1890, p. 86). 

 Mr. Ora W. Knight records two others, 

 one taken at Fryeburg and mounted by 

 Mr. J. Waldo Nash of Norway. The 

 other taken at Brewer and seen by the 

 late S. L. Crosby, (Knight, Bds. of Me., 

 p. 89-90, 1897.) 



Pinicola enucleator leucura (Miller) 

 — Pine Grosbeak. Irregularly' abund- 

 ant throughout the state in winter, 

 and probably a regular winter visitant 

 in the northern, eastern, and mountain- 

 ous sections. 



Its status as a rare summer resident 

 is well attested. In 1838 Andubon as- 

 serted that he had "Ascertained it to 

 be a constant resident in the State of 

 Maine." (Orn. Biog. IV 414). In 1878 

 Mr. Wm. Brewster described the 

 juvenal plumage of the male from a 

 specimen taken at Upton, Me., Aug. 27, 



