Various

“ I rushed out of doors with my glasses, and sure enough the little fellow was perched on a high branch of a young birch tree in our garden, his cinnamon back gleaming in the sunlight, and his joyous notes fairly crowding from his bursting little throat. This is the earliest spring record that I have of the Fox Sparrow. ”

“ It is pathetic to hear him chirp at his own image in the mirror, and for some time he has been tearing paper in his cage and trying to make string or paper stay upon his perch, apparently as the foundation of his nest. Much as we love him, we would gladly set him free could he but hold his own in the bird world and escape his enemies. Could we but find someone who could set his wing so that he could fly among his kind, we would be gladly content with only the memory of a brave, patient, trusting, dainty, delightful friend.
The Bohemian Waxwing in Maine. By Ora W. Knight, Bangor. ”

“ Often pursued, they trust to their legs for escape, or may crouch low in the grass, motionless, trusting to their plumage's matching tones to render them invisible. When flushed they rise with a loud whirr—the flight rather labored until under way, when they glide on bowed wing rapidly and easily. As to their qualities as game birds it is somewhat too early for us to speak with full decision. ”

“ The cage is placed on the end of the piano and often when we play and sing, Cedric sits very still and accompanies us with his soft, whispering trill.
Every morning Cedric has his bath in the big bath tub, where he is sprinkled with cold water from a bath sprinkler. He spreads his feathers and prances about apparently in great delight. He always seems sorry when his bath is ended. Notwithstanding his daily bath, he frequently goes through the motions of taking a second bath, this time in his drink dish, though no water gets farther than his eyes. ”

“ The Maine Ornithological Society comprises in its membership the leading ornithologists and bird students of Maine. The membership is constantly increasing and the interest in the society was never greater than now. If you are interested in birds and wish to know more about them you should by all means send in your name for membership in this society. The dues are one dollar a year, and payment of this sum entitles each person elected to membership to the Journal free of charge. ”

“ We note with much satisfaction the increasing frequency with which the members of our society report to this Journal their ornithological observations. This is an important part of our duties, one to another, and should be shared in by all interested in bird life. The Journal's columns are always open to contributors of items of general interest relating to Maine birds, and we trust our members will, though this medium, disseminate such knowledge as they personally possess. ”

“ An examination of the list is of unusual interest on account of its clearness and completeness, as well as the systematic order in which it is arranged. Many birds which one would expect to visit the Public Garden frequently in migration are noted as very rare. On the other hand, birds often are recorded as common which one would not expect to find their way to that locality. The book, as a whole, is of great value to the bird student, and it is so well done that it is worth a place in the library of any ornithologist. ”

“ I had ample opportunity to observe all the distinguishing features of the Bohemian Waxwing, the shape of the crest, the white on the wings, the chestnut coloring of under tail coverts and forehead, which in the sunlight looked almost a rich orange. I think I never enjoyed a more interesting and beautiful bird sight.—Bertha L. Brown, Bangor.
Phillips Bird Notes.—I had never been able to find the Fox Sparrow in spring until last year. This spring I have found this 58 species common, and most of the birds that I saw were singing. ”

“ When very hungry, about eighteen flies seem to be a satisfying portion, though often half as many suffice. A half dozen bits of meat the size of a green pea, and a less amount of fruit are sufficient. Of course these meals are frequent, six or eight a day, while he always has access to the dried currants which we keep in his food dish, and which are washed and soaked before putting in the dish. If the currants are too dry, he will roll them about in his bill and toss them scornfully over his shoulder. Any food which we offer him that he does not want is promptly thrown down. ”

“ They are swift of foot and very quick in all their movements. If I were to express any opinion at present, I should say that I should expect them to do a great deal of running before the dog, especially when the young have become well grown, and from the little I have seen I should judge them to be far inferior in wing power to Grouse or Quail.
I was fortunate enough to have a colony of these birds left in 37 my care for setting out, and I took them home with me. During the evening I brought a male bird in to make the acquaintance of the family. ”

“ Late Myrtle Warblers.—On account of illness I have been unable to watch the migration of birds except from the piazza of my cottage in South Portland. As late as May 22nd, a considerable flock of Myrtle Warblers frequented the small gray birch trees which abound here. There were from twenty-five to forty individuals, in all grades of plumage. The adult males are very brilliant in slaty blue, black and yellow. This date seems to me to be quite late for so many of these birds to be in this section of the state, as they rarely nest here. ”

“ It is wellnigh impossible to see the bird upon her nest, where her blending colors of gray and brown so closely match the surroundings of dry grass and herbage. Both parents tend the young and employ the same wiles and tricks to mislead the intruder as does the Ruffed Grouse or the Bobwhite in a similar situation. Large numbers of eggs are never hatched, and many a chick falls victim to his enemies in fur or feather, owing to the exposed position of the nest or the feeding ground. ”

“ Practically all our winter birds seem to come in fewer numbers and less frequently and regularly than formerly, though even in those early days such eccentric creatures as the Bohemian Waxwings, Crossbills, and to a lesser extent the Pine Grosbeaks, could never be depended on.
Formerly we always found the Crossbills in winter, not at any other season, while now about Bangor both species of Crossbill occur more commonly and regularly as summer birds in May, June, July and August. 51
Birds of the Boston Public Garden. Birds of the Boston Public Garden. A Study in Migration. ”

“ Cedric seems to like flies best when their wings are buzzing, and if he is at the farther side of the cage when a fly is offered him he will jump to the perch near the fly and oftentimes seems to catch the fly in his bill before his feet have touched the perch. ”

“ In its numerous species and varieties the race is scattered all through temperate Europe, prospering best in its milder regions and shunning extremes of either heat or cold. Its range extends from southern Scandinavia and England on the north and west, Naples on the south, eastward through Persia, India and Tibet, to China. 34 As is natural over so wide an extent of territory, there is much variation in size and coloring, but it is upon the great wheat plain of Hungary, where they thrive best and are exceedingly numerous, that the birds of this species attain their greatest size. ”

“ Of our American Partridges the species most suggesting this bird is the Plumed Quail of California, though Perdix lacks the plumes, is rather more brownish in his tones, and is of generally lighter coloring. Our new citizen is plump and stocky, powerful in figure, short of wing with a short tail, carried low in Quail fashion. ”

“ W. H. Simmons, of Bangor, called me up on the telephone and said he wished to tell me about the flock of Bohemian Waxwings which he had seen daily near his home since the middle of February. He stated that there was a good sized flock of the birds, and that they had been feeding daily on the fruit of a mountain ash tree which grew beside a window of his home, where he could look down on them. ”

“ The dark chestnut 'horse-shoe' on the gray breast is nearly obsolete in most adult females; female invariably distinguished by widest buff bands on black scapulars and adjoining wing coverts, which in cock are light brown with black vermiculations and chestnut blotches. ”

“ Cedric does not appear to regard his cage as a prison, and, though he sometimes shows fear of strange inanimate objects, is not afraid of any person, and will take his favorite tidbits from any offering hand. When first we offered food we found black cherries 46 and choke cherries were his choice, but when cherry time had passed he reluctantly accepted as a substitute dried currants such as are used in cooking. It is interesting to watch him eat a cherry or currant. ”

“ Cedric, for so we have named him, can hop from perch to perch of the canary bird cage and from the floor of the cage to the perches. When I take him out of the cage on my finger, Cedric will sometimes try to fly, but succeeds only in flopping down upon the floor, often striking heavily. Although frequently trying to fly upward, he cannot use his left wing well enough to raise himself wholly from the floor. ”

“ In those early days Bohemian Waxwings and other northern birds used to visit us rather more frequently than they do now, as we used to see them every three or four years, but now that twenty years has elapsed from their last call to the present visit it is indeed a pleasure to be able to see them once more. ”

“ Their markings are as follows: top of the head, dark yellowish brown; throat, light reddish buff, with a broad band of the same shade running back above the eyes to the hind head; above, in general a brownish or yellowish ash, lightening toward the rump, the feathers here, as also on the tail coverts, crossed by a broad subterminal band of chestnut, and everywhere the feathers are finely barred with broken, irregular dark lines; the scapulars with more or less reddish 35 or chestnut, and central lines of pale buff; the tail short, carried low like a Quail's, bright reddish brown ”

“ He then examined the birds critically and identified them as Bohemian Waxwings by their having white wing bars, yellow tips to their tail feathers, and by their prominent crests. Dr. Simmons also states that in February, 1908, a flock of birds of the same size were daily in the habit of visiting the same locality, but at that time he took no particular notice of them, though he is inclined to believe that they were of the present species. ”

“ I discovered a good sized flock among some apple trees in a neighbor's yard. For a good half hour I watched the birds at close quarters. They were busy with the old fruit on the trees and flying back and forth to the ground, the snow under the trees often being thickly dotted with them. ”

“ Rarely does the Gray Partridge desert the open for the woods, even in hot weather, only seeking shelter under low brush, or the broad leaves of the crops, the corn, the cabbage, the turnip, the clover clump. The larger the cultivation in a district the better their chance of prospering. ”

“ They are highly esteemed in Europe, but are more often driven than hunted over dogs, mainly, it is said, because the cultivated ground has so little of waste spaces in hedgerows or brush to lead them to lie close, so they are apt to run unseen to the end of the furrows and so flush wild. ”

“ The American group, as most of our members probably know, is separated from its over-sea relatives chiefly because its members have a more or less distinct serration on the cutting edge of the mandible near the tip. This is scarcely apparent in some species. The bill in our American group (Odontophorinæ) seems more arched, giving it a shorter and heavier appearance. ”

“ Birds contained fragments of copepods. Nothing found in proventriculum; everything in gizzards and intestines.
May 23. Latitude 44° 23 ́ north; longitude 63° 51 ́ 30 ́ ́ west; 7 P. M.; temperature of air 42.5° F.; light east southeast breeze; cloudy; sea smooth. Shot five Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisea) and three Phalaropes (P. lobatus) . Terns had been eating crustacea; contained fragments. Phalarope had copepods in gizzard. The Terns were very common to-day. If one is wounded and utters a cry when shot, the others will hover over it and everyone could be killed. ”

“ Latitude 38° 13 ́ north; longitude 74° 20 ́ west. Phalaropes have been common this morning. A few Arctic Terns observed. Phalaropes mostly on the wing, but flying in no particular direction.
April 25. Latitude 37° 35 ́ north; longitude 74° 47 ́ west. Occasional flocks of five or six Phalaropes each have been seen to-day.
April 26. Latitude 38° 3 ́ north; longitude 74° 31 ́ west; 12 M. Very few birds thus far to-day. Two Loons heard crying. East northeast; 5.2 knots from latitude 38° 17 ́ north; longitude 74° 26 ́ west; 5 P. M. A small flock of White Gannets seen sitting on the water. ”