September, 1881.] 
AND OOLOGIST 
51 
the nest being attached to one of the logs 
inside, and the parent birds coming in and 
going out while the camp was occupied 
and showing no fear at the presence of 
man. 
Woodpeckers —We found the Hairy, 
Downy, Golden-winged and the Yellow- 
bellied Woodpeckers—the latter common 
and breeding. Its alarm note so closely 
resembles that of the Blue Jay that we 
started from our bed of pine boughs early 
one morning expecting to find the Jay and 
were somewhat surprised to see a beautiful 
[Specimen of Sphyrapicus varius. 
Sheldrake. —The most common of the 
^ Anaiidae was the Sheldrake {Mer^us Mer 
^^a/iser.) We saw the young in company 
with the famale and found one nest on an 
island, June T9th, containing ten eggs near¬ 
ly fresh. This nest was in a hollow under 
‘the roots of a standing tree; the roots, 
;earth and moss forming a perff ct roof, so 
that the nest, after the heavy shower of that 
day, seemed well protected and was ciuite 
dry. The eggs were covered with leaves, 
moss and feathers—mostly feathers. The 
'old bird was seen to leave the nest. Our 
'guide remarked that the male Sheldrakes 
disappear soon after nidification commences 
and also said that several times he had wit¬ 
nessed battles betw'een female Sheldrakes 
when each had young—the victor swimming 
off with all the little ones. 
Gulls. —Several pairs of the Herring 
Gull {Larus argentati/s) were seen, and we 
found one nest, June 13th, on a rock at one 
end of an island. It was composed of dry 
grass, twigs and moss, and contained one 
young, perhaps thirty-six hours old, one 
egg just hatched and one addled egg. 
We fed the young nestling on trout, of which 
it partook freely Another nest was found 
on June i6ih composed of the same mate¬ 
rials as the first one. It was placed on a 
rock on a point of land projecting into the 
lake, and contained three eggs—the em¬ 
bryos being slightly advanced. 
Loon. —The Loon {C. iorquaius) was 
seen in all parts of the lake, and we found 
two fresh eggs on one of the islands. Our 
guide informed us that the young appear 
early in July, seem stupid, and are easily 
caught by hand — J. H Sage^ Portland, Ct. 
Notes from Bangor, Me. 
I ended my collecting for this season Au¬ 
gust 12th with a nest and four eggs of the 
American Goldfinch. During the season 
my friend Mr. Harry Merrill and myself 
have taken the following eggs in this local¬ 
ity, which we consider quite good “finds:” 
'Two sets of the Loggerhead Shrike, one 
set Hermit Thrush, one set Yellow-rumped 
Warbler, one set Black-throated Warbler. 
The first part of the summer we made 
two visits to our coast where we obtained 
large numbers of the following eggs : Fish 
Hawk, Herring Gull. Wilson’s Tern, Night 
II eron. Great Blue Heron, and Leach’s 
Petrel.— Neicell A. Eddy Bangor, Me 
— ♦♦♦- 
Pine Groesbeaks —Since July 4th I 
have seen several flocks of fifteen to twen¬ 
ty Pinicola enucleator almost daily, consist¬ 
ing of both old and young birds. I have 
not noticed them here before this season. 
They are very tame, lighting in the cherry 
tree close to the house when f have been 
sitting on the porch. For the last three 
years there has been a pair of birds nesting 
in the town of Albion known as Grey- 
backed Robins. I have never had a satis 
factory view of them till this summer when 
my brother shot one which jiroved to be 
the common Robin partly Albino.— H. 
Gray. Albion, N. Y. 
l.ri TLE Blue Heron.—A flock of a half 
dozen small White Herons visited our 
shores last Friday, August 1 2th, and with 
a little effort one of them was at last se¬ 
cured and I have it mounted, and after 
careful examination with “ Goues’ Key ” 
conclude it to be the “ Little Blue Heron” 
in immature plumage. The bird is pure 
white with the exception of the tips of the 
primaries which are light blue. It has 
green legs and yellow iris. It is the first 
specimen of the kind I have ever known of 
at .Saybrook, Conn. — John N Clark. 
