New note of Sphyrapicus. Vireo philadelphicus
MAINE, (L. Umbagog. [Umbagog Lake, Maine]) Habits of the Night Hawk
Wednesday
May 31 [May 31, 1876] Clear with cool N.W. [northwest] wind. Off after breakfast
taking my boat and going out alone on the
lake while S. [William Stone] & H. [Edward Harrington] took the Tyler road. I shot
14 birds the best Picoides Arcticus [female], Dend.
Blackburniae [Dendroica blackburniae] 5 [males]. E. flaviventris [Empidonax flaviventris] 1, D. castanea [Dendroica castanea]
2 [males], My. Canadensis [Myiodioctes canadensis] [male]. Found two nests of
Sphyrapicus varius both in high beech stubs
at least 50 ft. above the ground and probably
inaccessible. Heard a new note from this
bird to day: it was a chattering cry analogous
to the peculiar yew-wick, you-wick of Colaptes
but more run together and not so emphatic.
Heard a number of D. castanea [Dendroica castanea] singing. This
song is very uniform in different individuals
and is almost undistinguishable from the
feeble variation of S. ruticilla's [Setophaga ruticilla] song: it also
resembles somewhat the cree cree cree of Regulus
satrapa. Redstarts are excessively abundant
here and I notice that nearly all the males
are adult birds; indeed out of hundreds
that I have seen singing I do not now
recollect a single immature individual.
Quiscalus purpureus is quite abundant among
the stubs and very tame, so much so in
fact that it is perfectly easy to walk up
within 15 yds. of them. I heard another Buteo
Pennsylvanicus in the woods this morning
its shrill whistle sounded quite plaintive
in the distance. Have not seen a single
Helminthophage of either species or D. tigrina [Dendroica tigrina]
this week. Stone came in with a Vireo Phil. [Vireo philadelphicus] and
Harrington killed another. Night hawks came about
the house in unusual numbers in this evening & I
killed two. The [They] come sweeping in over a little garden
patch in Mr. Abbotts and after scaling along like ghosts
near the ground the [they] make a half circle & alight on the
[margin]fresh loam. Sometimes as many as three or four would pitch down together. I watched them carefully and was much interested by their peculiar actions. When one lighted
it would sit motionless for a moment with its neck stretched up to an astonishing length; then it bobbed its head up & down a number of times somewhat as Scops will do. Then if all 
remained quiet it would make a short run and pick up an insect from the earth. They ran very quickly, though awkwardly and frequently one would tumble over on its head & flutter awkwardly to regain its balance. They reminded me forcibly of so many toads & picked up insects in nearly the same way. As they carried their tails raised like terns & the wing tips trailing. All that come to the garden are [females] the [males] are meanwhile "booming" high up in the air over Cambridge river.[/margin]