THE OOLOGIST 



29 



23 lbs. Squirrel Tails. 



63 Squirrel. 



When we remember the about one 

 million men armed with the very 

 latest and best death dealing imple- 

 ments take the field against the wild 

 life of the United States every year, 

 we wonder where it will all end. 



Winter Birds from the North 

 By H. H. Johnson, Pittsfield, Me. 

 The winter of 1918-19 so far has 

 been one of mild temperature as con- 

 cerns this section of the United States. 

 We have been led to expect migra- 

 tions of residents of the north only in 

 severe winters, yet, visitors from the 

 North-land are plentiful this winter. 

 Perhaps that means a lack of food in 

 the summer home of our visitors, or a 

 much colder winter to the north than 

 here. But whatever the reason they 

 have come and come in goodly num- 

 bers. The Evening Grosbeaks are re- 

 ported from various sections of the 

 state. Bangor being the latest. Its 

 relative, the Pine Grosbeak, is also 

 here in numbers; a flock of a dozen 

 having just made me a Sunday call 

 (Jan. 26th) one third of whom wore 

 the rose red of the adult male, the 

 others shading down to the slaty grey 

 of the female. Apples left on the 

 crabapple tree being the attraction; 

 these they attacted, digging into them 

 after the seeds, that being the only 

 part they appeared to care for. There 

 was some quarreling and scolding dur- 

 ing the process. Soon one left going 

 in the direction of another apple tree 

 some distance away, followed in a 

 little while by the rest of the flock. 

 These Pine Grosbeaks have been in 

 this neighborhood for over a month. 

 Knight in Birds of Maine records the 

 nesting of the Pine Grosbeak near 

 Jackman, Me. He also gives a lengthy 

 report of the breeding of some captive 

 birds that he had, the eggs he des- 



cribes as greenish blue color, spotted 

 with black and lilac. A set of five 

 deposited May 28th to June 7th meas- 

 ure as follows .92 x .69; .83 x .66; 

 .93 x .71; .88 x .70; .88 x .69 inches. 

 The Snowy Owl is another of our win- 

 ter visitors, two have been shot near 

 here this winter and a local hardware 

 dealer has the amounted specimens on 

 display in his window; these are very 

 handsome specimens. The winter of 

 1901-02 brought them here in large 

 numbers, some 125 being sent to vari- 

 ous taxidermists. 1905-6 also there 

 was a rather unusual flight fully 200 

 were killed that winter in Maine. 



Knight reports the examination of a 

 large number of stomachs of the 

 Snowy Owl taken in Maine and all of 

 which were practically empty, and it 

 seems probable that a lack of food is 

 the cause of their migration here. 



Redpolls are reported in numbers 

 though I have noted- that they seem 

 most plentiful on the return migra- 

 tion sometime in March. Snowbirds 

 are also reported in large flocks. The 

 Robin while not a migrant of the 

 north must be placed in this list as 

 wintering here this year, several be- 

 ing reported from different localities; 

 these birds must subsist at this season 

 mainly on frozen apples and the ber- 

 ries of the mountain ash. While out 

 watching my visitors the Pine Gros- 

 beaks my attention was detracted by 

 the whistle of the wings of some fly- 

 ing ducks as they passed up the river; 

 later after my callers had gone I went 

 down to the river to see if I could lo- 

 cate and identify the ducks, but was 

 unable to find them, they apparently 

 having gone further up the river as 

 there is plenty of open water this win- 

 ter. 



The Downy Woodpecker 

 By H. H. Johnson, Pittsfield, Maine 

 While driving my grain binder 



