114 CHANGE OF HABITS OF SOME MAINE BIRDS. 



ends of board-wood and bark piles, and in fences. Where 

 unmolested they learn to follow people hoeing in gardens, 

 and pick up the worms just as chickens do ; and where 

 sprinklers are used on lawns, may often be seen directly 

 under the falling drops, seeking for the worms which they 

 have learned come to the surface for the moisture, as they 

 do in rain-storms. Of late years, all along our coast. Fish- 

 hawks, which formerly always nested in trees, have been 

 forced by the trees in many places either being cut or blown 

 down, to find other nesting sites, or abandon their old fishing- 

 grounds. Some now build on roots of upturned trees ; 

 some on the ground ; others on rocks ; and I saw one pair 

 building on the top of a derrick near an abandoned marble 

 quarry. In some of these cases the material for building 

 was changed, no sticks being used. One nest was composed 

 wholly of kelp and sea-weed, and another of cedar bark. 

 Formerly, Herring Gulls nested on the ground ; now many 

 of them along the seacoast nest in trees, while at our large 

 inland lakes they build wholly on the ledges as formerly, 

 making their nests of moss and grass. The reason of the 

 change in their case is on account of their nests being so 

 persistently robbed on the seashore. Not only the Herring 

 Gulls, but also Bonaparte's Gulls, and Terns, resort to our 

 lakes to nest in larger numbers than formerly. Forty years 

 ago. Ruffed Grouse fed largely on grasshoppers in August 

 and early September. I have seen whole broods chasing 

 them exactly as hens or turkeys do ; but although I have 

 examined many hundreds of their crops it has been a great 

 many 5'ears since I have seen any trace of their having fed 

 on these insects. This is the more remarkable, as grass- 

 hoppers are the only kind of animal food which I have ever 

 found in the crops of Ruffed Grouse. They formerly resorted 

 to the edges of fields and old roads in the fall to feed on 

 clover leaves, their time for feeding being from four o'clock 

 till dark. Now one is seldom seen doing this, but instead 

 they may often be seen just after sunset, quietly sailing 



