Bulletin No. ij. 15 



ter one bath and preening the feathers sometime, back they go for 

 another plunge and such spattering and shaking of wings ! They bathe 

 just as a canary does in its bath tub. 



Mrs. T. D. Dershimer, Square Tof, Wyoming Co., Penn, 



GENERAL NOTES. 



Somat frid 'dresser i Sharpe, Breeding Along the Maine Coast. — 

 The American Eider formerly nested in considerable numbers along the 

 Maine coast, but of late years they have been sadly reduced in numbers 

 during the breeding season, although they still continue to be common 

 winter residents. In 1895, at least ten pairs of these birds were nesting on 

 various small islands near Isle au Haut. In June, 1896, I again visited 

 the haunts of the Eiders and found evidence of only seven pairs having 

 nested. On a small rocky ledge, covered with a scanty growth of Cow 

 Parsnip {Heracleum lanatum Michx). I found evidences of there hav- 

 ing been three nests, but some fisherman had robbed them of their eggs 

 long before my visit. On another island, visited the same day, I found 

 two nests seemingly ready for eggs, but saw no evidences of the birds 

 in the vicinity. The nests of these birds are, however, readily distin- 

 guishable by the down in them, and by being situated on islands not 

 frequented by other ducks, except the Red-breasted Merganser, the nest 

 of whch is easily distinguishable. 



A few days previous, on June 20th, well over toward Little Duck Is- 

 land, I had found a nest with a partially incubated set of five eggs of the 

 Eider, and this was the only nest found of this species containing eggs. It 

 was found by flushing the female and was in plain view, being placed on 

 the bare rock, near the point of the island. ■ This was an unusual situa- 

 tion, as the. nests of this species found elsewhere were fairly well con- 

 cealed in the shelter of the various plants growing on the islands. An 

 empty nest found this same day was also well hidden in the midst of 

 a clump of Cow Parsnips. This plant seems to be a favorite hiding 

 place for the nests of Eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers, but the fish- 

 ermen are keen egg hunters so that the nests of both species are often 

 robbed to form a welcome accession to the larder. It is only a question 

 of a few years when these birds will cease to nest along our coast. For- 

 merly they nested as far west as Muscongus Bay, while now Isle au Haut 

 is their western limit. To the eastward of this they still appear in deci- 

 mated numbers. 



