BLACK SWIFTS.
The extraordinary volitatorial powers possessed by the Cloud Swifts permit a breadth of daily range unmatched in the case of any other species. We suppose that the flocks which appear here and there at sea-level thruout the summer nest only in the Cascade Mountains; and it is easy to see that a hundred mile dash before breakfast would hardly figure in the day’s work. On this account, we may fairly presume that the Cloud Swifts are really less numerous than might be supposed from the analogy of other birds. Perhaps half a dozen roving bands would comprise the entire population of the State. A company nesting on Glacier Peak might elect to spend one day hawking over Gray’s Harbor, and the next in the Palouse country. Some such diurnal shifting does exist, for at Chelan I have seen the Swifts in June passing down the valley at early morning, and returning in the evening for several successive days, after which they would absent themselves for a month. Again, at early morning, we have seen them filing thru Cascade Pass from west to east, hot-wing, as tho they had business in Idaho.
Taken in Chelan County. Photo by the Author.
CASCADE PASS.
WHERE BLACK SWIFTS HAVE BEEN SEEN.
These Black Swifts nest chiefly in the mountains upon the face of inaccessible cliffs. This much we know, but the nest and eggs are still unknown[67]. The closest call which these elusive fowls have had at nesting time is thus reported by Major Bendire[68]: “The only locality where I have observed this species was on the upper Columbia River, opposite Lake Chelan, Washington, in July, 1879. Here quite a colony nested in a high perpendicular cliff on the south side of and about a mile back from the river, and numbers of them flew to and from the valley below, where they were feeding. The day was a cloudy one, and the slow drizzling rain was falling nearly the entire time I was there; this caused the birds to fly low and they were easily identified. They evidently had young, and the twitterings of the latter could readily be heard as soon as a bird entered one of the numerous crevices in the cliff above. This was utterly inaccessible, being fully 300 feet high and almost perpendicular; and without suitable ropes to lower one from above it was both useless and impracticable to make an attempt to reach the nests. These were evidently placed well back in the fissures, as nothing bearing a resemblance to one was visible from either above or below. In this locality I believe fresh eggs may be looked for about June 25.”
I had word of the nesting of these birds in the summer of 1906 upon a majestic rock wall overlooking the Sahale Glacier in the Upper Horseshoe Basin of Chelan County, but a visit paid to this scene the following season failed to discover either nests or birds, altho local miners were ready to confirm the report of their presence the previous season. Dr. Edward Hasell, of Victoria, informs me that they have nested about a certain cliff overlooking Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island. The cliff referred to is about 1,600 feet high, and access was, therefore, out of the question. Mr. W. H. Wright, the well-known nature student and guide, of Spokane, tells me that he once saw these birds nesting among some cliffs called “The Chimneys,” which are five or six miles distant from Priest, Idaho. He saw the Swifts carrying twigs to the cliffs, but did not take further notice of their actions. He visited The Chimneys at the same time of year on each of two succeeding seasons, but saw nothing of the Swifts. From these reports, and from the fact that the country referred to by Bendire has been ransacked in vain, I conclude that the Black Swifts are continually shifting the scene of their annual nestings, being, in fact, as erratic in this regard as they are in the matter of their local appearances at the lower levels.
A. O. U. No. 424. Chætura vauxi (Townsend).
Description.—Adults: Above, sooty brown, lightening, nearly hair-brown, on rump and upper tail-coverts; below, light sooty gray, lightening, nearly white, on chin and throat; lores velvety black; shafts of tail-feathers denuded at tips a third of an inch. Length about 4.50 (114.3); wing 4.50 (114.3); tail 1.59 (40).
Recognition Marks.—Strictly “pygmy size,” but comparison misleading—to appearance, swallow size; rapid erratic flight and bow-and-arrow-shaped position in flight distinctive. Altho this species is only half the size of the preceding, careful discrimination is necessary while the birds are a-wing.
Nesting.—Nest: a shallow half-saucer of short twigs, glued together with the bird’s saliva and similarly cemented to the wood inside of a hollow tree. Eggs: 4-6, pure white. Av. size, .77 × .50 (19.6 × 12.7). Season: June; one brood.
General Range.—Pacific Coast States and British Columbia, breeding thruout its range; south in winter to Central America.
Range in Washington.—Not common summer resident in timbered sections and in mountain valleys; locally distributed.
Migrations.—Spring: Blaine, May 8, 1905. Fall: Seattle, September 20, 1907.
Authorities.—Cypselus vauxi Townsend, “Narrative,” 1839, 348. T. C&S. Rh. D¹. Ra. D². B. E.
Specimens.—Prov. C. E.
“The way of any bird in the air commands interest, but the way of the Swift provokes both admiration and astonishment. With volitatorial powers which are unequaled by any other land bird, this avian missile goes hurtling across the sky without injury, or else minces along slowly with pretended difficulty. Now it waddles to and fro in strange zigzags, picking up a gnat at every angle, and again it “lights out” with sudden access of energy and alternate wing strokes, intent on hawking in heaven’s upper story. At favorite seasons the birds cross and recross each other’s paths in lawless mazes and fill the air with their strident creakings, while here and there couples and even trios sail about in great stiff curves with wings held aloft. It is the only opportunity afforded for personal attentions, and it is probable that the sexes have no further acquaintance except as they pass and repass in ministering to the young.
“In nesting the Chimney ’Sweeps’ seek out the smaller chimneys of dwelling houses, and usually only one pair occupies a single shaft. Short twigs are seized and snapped off by the bird’s beak in midflight, and these, after being rolled about in the copious saliva, are made fast to the bricks, a neat and homogeneous bracket being thus formed. This will be sufficient to support the half dozen crystal white eggs and the hissing squabs which follow, unless a premature fire or a long-continued rain dissolves the glue and tumbles the fabric into the grate.
“Sitting birds, when discovered, oftenest drop below the nest and hide, clinging easily with the tiny feet supported by the spiny tail. The male bird seldom pays any attention unless there are young, in which case he even brushes past the intruder and enters the nest in his eagerness to share the hour of danger. The young are rather slow in development and it requires, according to Mr. Otto Widmann, two months to rear a family of them. Usually only one brood is raised, but a second nesting is undertaken even as late as August if the first has proven unsuccessful” (Birds of Ohio).
Save in the matter of nesting, the Vaux Swift does not differ essentially in habit or appearance from the well-known Chimney Swift, referred to in the preceding paragraphs. It is, however, very much less common and is only of local distribution, chiefly in the lower mountain valleys. Local attachments are doubtless largely determined by the presence of large cottonwood timber, but the birds descend to the lowlands, especially after the close of the nesting season, in small roving parties, somewhat after the fashion of the Cloud Swifts, with which indeed they frequently associate. They have thus been regularly reported by West-side observers at Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellingham, and I have seen them at Blaine, and in the valleys of the Nooksack (at Glacier), Skagit, Nisqually (in Rainier National Park), and Quillayute Rivers. The only East-side records appear to be those from the north fork of the Ahtanum, in Yakima County, and the valley of the Stehekin, in Chelan County.
Vaux’s Swift with us nests only in the hollow recesses of tall dead cottonwood trees, where they glue a shallow bracket of broken twigs, cemented with hardened saliva, to the curving inner wall. In California, however, they are said to be adopting the ways of civilization, and are beginning to nest in chimneys, after the fashion of C. pelagica.
A. O. U. No. 425. Aeronautes melanoleucus (Baird).
Synonyms.—Rock Swift. Mountain Swift. Rocky Mountain Swift. White-throated Rock Swift.
Description.—Adults: Plumage black (variable, sooty brown to glossy black); forehead and line over eye paler; lore velvety black; chin, throat, breast, and belly, centrally, white—also outer edge of outer primary, tips of secondaries, lateral tail-feathers, and a conspicuous patch on flank, sometimes nearly meeting fellow across rump; bill black. Length 7.00 (177.8) or under; wing 6.50-7.00 (165.1-177.8); tail 2.65 (67.3).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size but larger to appearance; exceedingly rapid flight with flashing white underparts and flank patches distinctive.
Nesting.—“The nest is securely placed far in holes or crevices of rocks or indurated earths, usually at a great height; it is a saucer-like structure, about 5 × 2 inches, with a shallow cavity, made of various vegetable materials well glued together with saliva, and lined with feathers. Eggs several, in one instance 5, narrowly subelliptical, 0.87 × 0.52, white” (Coues). Season: May and June.
General Range.—Western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, north to Montana, Idaho, and southern British Columbia (Okanagan Valley); south in winter to Guatemala.
Range in Washington.—Known only from the valley of the Columbia near Chelan, the Grand Coulee (near Cold Spring Lake), and the Cascade Pass.
Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, XIV., 1897, p. 175.
Specimens.—C.
Photo by the Author. Taken in Douglas County.
COLD SPRING LAKE.
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS NEST ON THE PRECIPITOUS WALLS OF THE BUTTE.
Swift, swifter, swiftest, will best express the relations of our Washington Cypseli, where the positive degree is represented by the Vaux Swift, the comparative by the Black Cloud Swift, and the superlative by the White-throat. No one who is troubled with acrophobia, the fear of high places, should attempt to spy upon the nesting haunts of these Swifts from above; for when to the ordinary terrors of a sheer cliff, say a thousand feet in height, is added the hurtling passage of resentful Swifts flashing about like hurled scimetars, the situation will try the strongest nerve. Viewed from below, in the open air, the evolutions of these birds may be regarded with some degree of equanimity; but when a Swift dips toward the ground, or measures its speed across the face of some frowning precipice, one sees what a really frightful velocity is attained. There is no exact way of measuring this, but an estimate of five miles per minute would be well within the mark, and six not unreasonable. The bird, that is, would require only an hour to flit from Spokane to Aberdeen; or, it might breakfast at Osooyoos on the Forty-ninth Parallel, lunch in Chihuahua, and dine, a trifle late, in Panama.
This Rock Swift nests only in crevices and caves of the most inaccessible cliffs. Most of its hunting, however, is done in the upper air, where its lighter colors soon render it indistinguishable. It appears also to be less sociable than the other species upon the hunt, so that almost the only opportunities for careful study of it are afforded near the cliffs. Here there is much amorous pursuit, and the frequent sound of thrilling notes. The characteristic notes constitute a sort of war-cry, rather than song, and consist of a liquid descending scale of musical chuckling, or rubbing tones. The noise produced is much as if two pebbles were being fiercely rubbed together in a rapidly-filling jar of water.
The birds exhibit a preternatural cunning in the selection of nesting sites. Not only do they choose sheer walls, but those which, because of the fissures so afforded, are crumbling and dangerous to a degree. The butte shown in the illustration consists of a hard lava capping over a disintegrating bed of tufa, impossible of ascent and impracticable of descent. Here in some remotest crevice the birds affix a narrow shelf, of straws, bits of weed-stalks, and miscellaneous trash, agglutinated with saliva; and in this four or five narrowly elliptical white eggs are deposited late in June or early in July.
These interesting birds are newcomers within our borders, and their comings and goings are as yet little known. Bendire in 1895 remarked[69] their utter absence from Oregon and Washington. In 1896 I saw a single bird in the gorge of the Columbia near Chelan, and upon revisiting this scene in May, 1906, found that quite a colony of them were haunting a granite wall some 800 feet in height. Late in the same season, and in each succeeding year I have found them in the vicinity of Cold Spring Butte in Douglas County; and have every reason to suppose that other such colonies exist in the Grand Couleé. In the summer of 1906 Mr. Bowles and myself observed them crossing the Cascade Pass in company with Black Swifts; while still more recently, Mr. Charles De Blois Green announces[70] that they have extended their range up the valley of the Okanogan into British Columbia.
A. O. U. No. 393 e. Dryobates villosus monticola Anthony.
Description.—Adult male: Above, in general, black,—glossy, at least on crown and cervix, dull on tail, fuscous on wings; a narrow scarlet band across the nape; broad white superciliary and rictal stripes separated by a black band thru eye (including lore), continuous with nape; a black malar stripe broadening behind; white nasal tufts; a lengthened white patch down middle of back; wing-coverts black, or sometimes lightly spotted with white; primaries and outer secondaries spotted with white on both webs (often very lightly on inner webs), the spots on the outer webs confluent in bars on the closed wing; tail black centrally, the two outer pairs of feathers white on exposed portions, the third pair white-tipped; entire underparts clear white; bill and feet light plumbeous. Adult female: Similar but without scarlet band on hindneck. Young birds have the crown chiefly red or bronzy or, rarely, yellowish. Length of adult: 10.00-11.00 (254-279.4); wing 5.20 (132); tail 4.20 (106.7); bill 1.50 (38).
Recognition Marks.—Robin size; black-and-white pattern of head (11 alternating areas of black and white, viewed anteriorly), with size, distinctive; lores black and underparts clear white, as compared with D. v. hyloscopus.
Nesting.—Nest: A hole excavated in tree, usually in dead portion, unlined. Eggs: 4-6, white. Av. size, 1.08 × .77 (27.4 × 19.6). Season: May 15-June 1; one brood.
General Range.—Rocky Mountain district of the United States from New Mexico north to Montana, west to Utah and eastern Washington.
Range in Washington.—Mountain districts of eastern Washington, intergrading with D. v. harrisii along eastern slopes of Cascades, especially northerly.
Authorities.—Not previously published. Based here on specimen taken May 23rd, 1906, at Usk, Wash. (Ident. by Biol. Surv., Washington, D. C.) J. (Open to question thru confessed lack of specimens).
Specimens.—B.
This form finally displaces Harris (D. v. harrisii, with which it intergrades on the eastern slopes of the Cascades) only in the northeastern corner of the State and in the Blue Mountains. It differs in no essential respect from the western variety in habit; but because of the more open character of the timber, is rather more in evidence thruout its range.
On the 22nd of May, 1906, a male of this species was sighted at Usk, on the banks of the Pend d’Oreille River, as he clung to the top of a forty-foot pine stub and delivered, rather gently, his rolling tattoo, or call-note. After repeating this several times he dropped down and entered a hole a few feet lower. We returned the following morning and found the male bird (distinguishable by his red nuchal patch) again on the nest. When I rapped gently on the stub he emerged; and proceeding to his drumming ground above, he rolled repeatedly. By and by the female answered in the distance with the plimp or plick note. Soon she arrived upon the nesting stub, whereupon Mr. Hairy took himself off promptly, and Mrs. Hairy entered the nest and settled to her eggs. Or so you would have supposed, wouldn’t you? By the aid of sixteen spikes, “60’s,” and a rope, I climbed to the nest, thirty-five feet up. With a small hand-axe I enlarged the entrance (sacrificing incidentally a thumbnail, and giving sad evidence of the sway of “mortal mind”) to find only one fresh egg, fourteen inches down.
Taken in Stevens County. Photo by J. H. Bowles.
NESTING SITE OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAIRY WOODPECKER.
Of course it was disappointing, but the egg was a pearl, so transparent that one could see the very outlines of the imprisoned yolk.
A. O. U. No. 393 d. Dryobates villosus hyloscopus (Cab.).
Synonym.—Rocky Mountain Hairy Woodpecker (name now restricted to preceding form).
Description.—Similar to D. v. monticola but averaging smaller; lores chiefly or entirely white; underparts more or less soiled whitish; some few white spots appearing on wing-coverts and upon inner secondaries (thus shading into eastern forms of the D. villosus group).
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding.
Nesting.—As in D. v. monticola.
General Range.—Imperfectly made out as regards that of D. v. monticola—“Western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, excepting the special range of D. v. harrisii, and southward into Mexico” (Coues).
Range in Washington.—Undetermined; perhaps resident in eastern Washington between ranges of monticola and harrisii, perhaps only casual west of Cascades.
Authorities.—Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, p. 53. Puyallup, Wash., Dec. 25, 1895, by Geo. G. Cantwell (Ident. by Biol. Surv. Washington, D. C.).
Specimens.—C.
Woodpeckers of the Dryobates group are not migrants, but they are inclined to experiment, and so not infrequently turn up in their neighbors’ preserves. A specimen taken at Puyallup, December 25, 1895, must be regarded as a wanderer from the North, altho Brooks characterizes this form as regular at Sumas, B. C.
A. O. U. No. 393c. Dryobates villosus harrisii (Aud.).
Description.—Similar to D. v. hyloscopus, but underparts light smoky brown or smoke-gray; sometimes narrowly streaked with black on sides; spotting on wing-quills still further reduced, that of wing-coverts usually wanting. Length of adult: 9.00-10.50 (228.6-266.7); wing 5.00 (127); tail 3.35 (85.1); bill 1.25 (31.8).
Recognition Marks.—Robin size; black-and-white pattern of head (with touch of scarlet on hind-neck of male); smoky below as compared with D. v. monticola or D. v. hyloscopus.
Nesting.—Nest: a hole about 25 feet up in a dead fir tree, lined with chips. Eggs: usually 4, crystalline white. Av. size, 1.05 × .74 (26.7 × 18.8).
General Range.—Pacific coast district from northern California north to southern Alaska.
Range in Washington.—West-side, resident, chiefly at lower levels; east slopes of Cascades, where intergrading either with D. v. homorus southerly (?) or D. v. monticola northerly.
Authorities.—Picus harrisii, Audubon, Orn. Biog. 1839, 191; pl. 417. Townsend, Narrative, (1839), p. 347. T. C&S. L¹. Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. B. BN.
Dr. Cooper judged the Harris to be the most abundant Woodpecker in Western Washington; and this, with the possible exception of the Flicker (Colaptes cafer saturatior), is still true. The bird ventures well out upon the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and is found sparingly in the higher mountain valleys; but his favorite resorts are burns and the edges of clearings, rather than the depths of the woods. Altho he is resident the year around we are quite likely to overlook his presence until cold weather appears to quicken his pulses, and to send him careering noisily over the tree-tops. He has spent the night, it may be, in the heart of a fir stub at the end of his winter tunnel, and now he covers a half-wooded pasture with great bounds of flight, shouting, plick, plick, from time to time; and he gives a loud rolling call—a dozen of these notes in swift succession—as he pulls up in the top of a dead tree to begin the day’s work.
Taken in Oregon. Photo by Bohlman and Finley.
HARRIS WOODPECKER.
He is an active fellow, hitching up or dropping down the tree trunk with brusque ease, and publishing his progress now and then in cheerful tones. But he knows how to be patient too. In the search for hidden worms and burrowing larvæ it seems not improbable that the Woodpecker depends largely upon the sense of hearing—that he practices auscultation, in fact. A meditative tap, tap, is followed by a pause, during which the bird apparently marks the effect of his strokes, noting the rustle of apprehension or attempted escape on the part of the hidden morsel. It is not unusual for the bird to spend a half hour tunneling for a single taste, and even then the wary game may withdraw along some tunnel of its own, even beyond the reach of the bird’s extensible tongue. But besides that which must be secured from the bowels of the wood, there is much to be gleaned from the surface and in the crannies of the bark. The winter fare is also supplemented by cornel berries and the fruit of certain hardy shrubs.
It is a fair question whether the Harris Woodpecker did not get his dingy breast thru long association with his grimy grub cupboards. The dead trees which he frequents, where not actually blackened by fire, are often stained by decaying fungic growths and clinging spores, so that the snowy shirt-front of the eastern Hairy Woodpecker would be small satisfaction to him here. Or if this grimy condition of tree-trunk be not the terminus a quo the smoky front of the Woodpecker started, it is certainly the terminus ad quem its color is accurately tending. And, of course, it is easy to see how these conditions are due exactly to the humidity which prevails on the Pacific Coast, and to a lesser degree thruout the Cascades. The dry dirt of the Rocky Mountain pines is by comparison clean dirt, and so Dryobates villosus is able to take some decent pride in his linen as he proceeds eastward.
The Harris Woodpecker visits the winter troupes only in a patronizing way. He is far too restless and independent to be counted a constant member of any little gossip club, and, except briefly during the mating season and in the family circle, he is rarely to be seen in the company of his own kind.
The nest of this bird is usually placed well up in a small dead fir tree in some burn or slashing on dry ground. It is about ten inches deep and has no lining save fine chips, among which the crystal white eggs, four or five in number, lie partially imbedded. Incubation is begun from the last week in April to the last week in May, according to altitude, and but one brood is raised in a season. These Woodpeckers are exceptionally valiant in defense of their young, the male in particular becoming almost beside himself with rage at the appearance of an enemy near the home nest.
A. O. U. No. 394 c. Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swains.).
Description.—Similar to D. v. monticola, but much smaller; wing-coverts heavily spotted with white,—a round blotch on tip of each feather; wing-quills and primary-coverts heavily spotted with white on both webs, the blotches on outer webs forming bars on the closed wing; tertials barred and tipped with white; the outer tail-feathers barred with black; underparts white or slightly soiled. Length of adult 6.25-7.00 (158.8-177.8); wing 3.75 (95.3); tail 2.60 (66.1); bill .66 (16.8).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white color pattern with small size distinctive; red nape of male; heavily white-spotted on wings as compared with D. p. homorus; white below as compared with D. p. gairdnerii.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: A hole in stub or decayed limb of tree, usually at moderate height, unlined. Eggs: 4-6, white. Av. size, .75 × .59 (19.1 × 15).
General Range.—Middle and northern portions of United States and northward; of casual occurrence in the Pacific Northwest.
Range in Washington.—One example, Seattle, Feb. 20, 1892, by S. F. Rathbun.
Authorities.—Dryobates pubescens (Linn.), Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, pp. 55, 56. Ra.
Specimens.—P¹(?). C. E.
On the 20th of February, 1892, Mr. S. F. Rathbun took what is considered to be a typical specimen, a female, of this species, near Seattle; and on the 23rd of March, 1896, I took one at Chelan which belongs either to this or to the more recently elaborated D. p. nelsoni. Apart from D. gairdnerii, whose center of distribution, at least, is pretty well known, great confusion exists in our knowledge of Dryobates pubescens and its varieties in the Northwest. Downy Woodpeckers are not migratory, but they rove considerably in winter, and the most we can say of these Washington specimens is that they point to the presence of D. pubescens or D. p. nelsoni, or both, as resident birds in British Columbia.
A. O. U. No. 394b. Dryobates pubescens homorus (Cab.).
Synonym.—Rocky Mountain Downy Woodpecker.
Description.—Similar to D. p. medianus, but larger, clearer white below, and with less white spotting on wing, that of middle and greater coverts reduced or wanting. Length: 6.75-7.50 (171.5-190.5); wing 4.00 (101.6); tail 2.65 (67.3); bill .73 (18.5).
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding; white spotting of wing reduced as compared with D. p. medianus; underparts clear white as compared with D. p. gairdnerii.
Nesting.—Nest and Eggs as in preceding. Season: May; one brood.
General Range.—Rocky Mountain region of western United States and British Columbia, west to eastern slopes of Cascade-Sierra Range.
Range in Washington.—East-side, not uncommon resident, especially in valleys of more heavily timbered section; intergrades with next form on eastern slopes of Cascades.
Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, Vol. XIV. 1897, p. 174. J. E(H).
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov.
In the nature of the case the line of demarcation cannot be clearly drawn between this species and the more abundant Gairdner’s. Specimens taken by Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. A., at Fort Sherman, Idaho, near our eastern boundary, were doubtfully referred to this subspecies, and really represent intergrades between homorus and gairdnerii. I have seen specimens in Spokane County which favored this form, in the whiteness of the underparts, much more strongly than gairdnerii.
Moreover, Batchelder’s Woodpecker, if it be he, is not nearly so common in the pine and larch districts of the extreme Northeast, as is the Rocky Mountain Hairy. In the course of a two-weeks’ trip along the Pend d’Oreille in May and June we encountered it only once. Bendire met with Downy Woodpeckers of some sort near Walla Walla, but found them of rare occurrence and confined to the willows of stream banks.
A. O. U. No. 394a. Dryobates pubescens gairdnerii (Aud.).
Description.—Similar to D. p. homorus, but white spotting of wing still further reduced, usually wanting on coverts; underparts smoky gray; under tail-coverts spotted or barred with black. Length of adult about as in D. p. medianus.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white pattern of head; white back contrasting with black scapulars, etc.; much the commonest woodpecker; wing scarcely spotted as compared with D. p. medianus; underparts smoky as compared with D. p. homorus.
Nesting.—Nest: A hole, usually in deciduous tree, some 20 feet up. Eggs: 4-6, glossy crystalline white; rounded ovate in shape. Av. size, .74 × .56 (18.8 × 14.2). Season: c. May 1st; one brood.
General Range.—Pacific coast district from southern California north to British Columbia; extends somewhat beyond eastern slopes of mountain ranges southerly, shades into D. p. homorus along ridge of Cascades northerly.
Range in Washington.—West-side, common resident, especially in lowland groves and about clearings; occupies eastern slopes of Cascades southerly.
Authorities.—Picus gairdneri, Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 317. T. C&S. Rh. Kb. Ra. D². Ss². Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. E.
GAIRDNER WOODPECKER.
The local representative of the widespread Downy type is a perfect miniature of the more abundant Harris Woodpecker, even in flight and voice; and to the same causes must be attributed the soiling of a bosom once immaculate. Unlike his greater double, however, Gairdner’s Woodpecker is for the most part confined to deciduous timber, and shows a great preference for wooded bottoms and the borders of streams. Here his industrious tap, tap and cheery pink notes may be heard not alone from the trunks of trees, but from the smaller branches. These he traces to the very end in a search for lurking grub or nit.
The presence of this bird is a benediction in an orchard, for he inspects every niche and crevice of a fruit tree, and if he finds deep-seated troubles, the holes he drives are as necessary as the physician’s lancet. But folks still call them “sapsuckers,” and shoot their little benefactors. Such people should be fined, for a first offense; and the fine remitted only in case they agree to “read up.” For a second offense—Well, I believe in capital punishment myself.
The little Downies, strictly resident, as they are, wherever found, are not so hardly put to it to subsist in winter here as they are north and east. If grubs are scarce there are always edible berries and seeds to fall back on. Yet Gairdners relish nuts or a bit of suet hung out in winter time; and if the would-be patron be not too eager in first advances a very pretty friendship may be established in the course of a season.
Also, because of the season’s mildness, winter bird troupes are not such an important institution as in the frigid East. But wherever Kinglets, Juncoes, Creepers, Wrens, and Chickadees do associate together for benevolent offense and defense, there is Downy in the midst,—and one can hardly help adding (the Master would be the last to forbid it) “and that to bless.”
It is at times difficult to distinguish, in the case of the pink notes and the longer rattling call, between the voices of this bird and the Harris, but the notes of the smaller bird are usually much less in volume and strength, and have a rather more nasal quality. All Woodpeckers have also a sort of signal system, or Morse code, consisting of sundry tattoos on resonant wood. These calls are used principally, or exclusively, during the mating season, and consist, in the case of the Gairdner, of six or seven taps in regular and moderate succession. The birds have favorite places for the production of these sounds; and it is probable that birds are able to distinguish their calling mates by the timbre of the smitten wood, as well as by some subtle variation of tempo which escapes unfamiliar ears.
Gairdners place their nests at inconsiderable heights in deciduous trees, and those, if possible, among thick growths on moist ground. Both sexes assist in excavation, as in incubation. Partially decayed wood is selected and an opening made about an inch and a quarter in diameter. After driving straight in an inch or two, the passage turns down and widens two or three diameters. At a depth of a foot or so the crystal white eggs are deposited on a neat bed of fine chips. Incubation lasts twelve days and the young are hatched about the 1st of June.
Mr. Bowles asserts that when a tree containing eggs is rapped the sitting bird will try, sometimes successfully, to deceive the inquirer by coming to the entrance and dropping out a mouthful of chippings, thus conveying the impression that she is still building. It’s a shame to give it away.
A. O. U. No. 399. Xenopicus albolarvatus (Cass.).
Description.—Adult male: Body plumage and tail glossy black; wings dull black with large blotch of white on median portion of inner primaries and secondaries, and some disconnected white spotting distally; throat and entire head (not deeply) white; a scarlet patch on nape. Bill and feet slaty black; iris red. Female: Exactly as male without scarlet nuchal band. Length: 9.00-9.50 (228.6-241.3); wing 5.15 (130.8); tail 3.50 (88.9).
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; white head unique.
Nesting.—Nest: A hole in live pine tree at moderate height. Eggs: 3-7, usually 4, pure white. Av. size, .95 × .71 (24.1 × 18). Season: June-July, according to altitude; one brood.
General Range.—Mountains of the Pacific Coast States north into British Columbia, east to Idaho and Utah.
Range in Washington.—Resident in the mountains, chiefly east of the Cascade summit.
Authorities.—Picus albolarvatus, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 97. C&S. D¹. D². J.
Specimens.—Prov. C.
There is a Gray’s Harbor record for this bird, but the occurrence is unique west of the Cascades. So far as our experience goes, the White-head is to be looked for only in the pine timber which clothes the eastern slopes of the Cascades and their outliers. The range of the species extends casually northward into British Columbia, but the southern boundary of Oregon is nearer its center of distribution, and the birds decrease rapidly in numbers north of the Peshastin Range in Washington.
At first glance we would say that this bird eschews protective coloration altogether, but Mrs. Bailey argues that even black and white are not very conspicuous colors under our interior sun, and claims that the bird gains inattention from its very unbirdlikeness. Dr. Merrill, who made a most satisfactory study of this species near Fort Klamath in Oregon, regards the bird in winter as the very simulacrum of a broken branch strongly shadowed, and crowned with snow.
Concerning its food habits, Dr. Merrill says[71]; “I have rarely heard the Woodpecker hammer, and even tapping is rather uncommon. So far as I have observed, and during the winter I watched it carefully, its principal supply of food is obtained in the bark, most of the pines having a very rough bark, scaly and deeply fissured. The bird uses its bill as a crowbar, rather than as a hammer or chisel, prying off the successive scales and layers of bark in a very characteristic way. This explains the fact of its being such a quiet worker, and, as would be expected, it is most often seen near the base of the tree, where the bark is thickest and roughest. It must destroy immense numbers of Scolytidæ, whose larvæ tunnel the bark so extensively, and of other insects that crawl beneath the scales of bark for shelter during winter. I have several times imitated the work of this bird by prying off the successive layers of bark, and have been astonished at the great number of insects, and especially of spiders, so exposed. As a result of this, and of its habit of so searching for food, the White-headed Woodpeckers killed here were loaded with fat to a degree I have never seen equalled in any land bird, and scarcely surpassed by some Sandpipers in autumn.”
The White-headed Woodpecker is a quiet bird in manner and voice. I have never heard it utter a sound even in the presence of a nest robber but it is said to have “a sharp, clear ‘witt-witt’” which it uses after the fashion of the Harris Woodpecker, when it flies from tree to tree. The bird is quite wary; but when it cherishes suspicions, it flies away composedly, with no such air of ostentatious offense as Harris indulges on occasion.
The first nest reported from this State was found on July 22nd, 1896, in the valley of the Methow, where this Woodpecker is not at all common. The entrance showed like a clean-cut augur hole, one and five-eighths inches in diameter, driven in a live pine; and was reached conveniently from horseback. Four fresh eggs lay on a bed of chips, some eight inches down, and they were remarkable only for a somewhat uniform distribution of sparse, black spots,—probably dots of adherent pitch, derived from the chips, and soiled to blackness by contact with the sitting bird.
A. O. U. No. 400. Picoides arcticus Swains.
Synonym.—Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker.
Description.—Adult male: Upperparts glossy blue-black, duller on flight feathers; primaries and outer secondaries with paired spots of white on edges of outer and inner webs; a squarish crown-patch of yellow (cadmium orange); a small post-ocular spot of white, a transverse white cheek-stripe meeting fellow on forehead and cut off by black malar stripe from white of throat and remaining underparts; sides heavily barred or mingled with blue-black. Bill and feet plumbeous black; iris brown. Adult female: Like male, without yellow crown-patch. Length 9.00-10.25 (228.6-260.4); wing 5.25 (133.3); tail 3.50-4.00 (88.9-101.6); bill 1.25 (31.7).
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; yellow crown-patch of male; back without white as compared with P. americanus fasciatus; and black of head continuous with that of back as compared with the Dryobates villosus group.
Nesting.—Not known to breed in Washington, but probably does so. Nest: hole in pine or fir stub, 10-18 inches deep. Eggs: 4-6, white, moderately glossed. Av. size, .96 × .72 (24.4 × 18.3). Season: last week in May, June; one brood.
General Range.—Northern North America from the Arctic regions south to northern tier of states, and in the Sierra Nevada to Lake Tahoe, south in New England and in Alleghany Mountains in winter, but breeding thruout western range.
Range in Washington.—Rare resident in coniferous forests of the central Cascades.
Authorities.—[“Black-backed three-toed woodpecker,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 22.] Bendire. Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, p. 74. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. C. E.
The Black-backed Woodpecker should occur in all our mountains, and especially upon the pine-timbered slopes of the eastern Cascades and in the Blue Mountains. It must, however, be considered rather rare, for we have never met with it afield, and have records of only two specimens, one taken at Glacier and the other near Lake Kichelas. The species is practically non-migratory and should breed wherever it occurs. It is ordinarily a very quiet bird, devoting itself assiduously to its search for tree-boring insects and their larvæ, chiefly Buprestidæ and Cerambycidæ; and at other than breeding seasons appears stolidly to ignore the presence of strangers. Its note is described as a sharp, shrill “chirk, chirk”; and it is besides a most persistent drummer, rattling away at a single station for minutes at a time, so that the ornithologist who is suspicious may follow the lead from a half mile’s distance.
Nesting is chiefly at moderate heights—from two and a half to eight feet from the ground, Bendire says; so that there ought not to be any difficulty in studying this species once it is found.
A. O. U. No. 401 a. Picoides americanus fasciatus Baird.
Synonym.—Ladder-backed Three-toed Woodpecker.
Description.—Adult male: Upperparts chiefly black, the back strongly barred with white, these bars more or less confluent centrally; flight-feathers marked with paired white spots, and wing-coverts sometimes more or less spotted with white; two central pairs of tail-feathers black, the next succeeding pair black mingled with white, and the remaining pairs pure white; a squarish yellow patch on crown; a distinct white post-ocular stripe extending to nape; a broad white stripe from lore to side of neck; underparts white, the sides and flanks heavily but narrowly barred with black. Bill and feet plumbeous black; iris brown. Adult female: Similar but without yellow crown patch; sometimes largely white on crown. Length of adult: 8.00-9.50 (203.2-241.3); wing 4.60 (116.8); tail 3.60 (91.4); bill 1.20 (30.5).
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; lustrous black above with central white in broad bars; sides black-and-white barred.
Nesting.—Nest: In hole at various heights. Eggs: usually 4, white. Av. size, .92 × .70 (23.4 × 17.8). Season: June; one brood.
General Range.—Timbered mountains of northern Washington, British Columbia and Alaska.
Range in Washington.—Sparingly resident in northern Cascades.
Authorities.—Brewster, Auk, X. July, 1893, pp. 236, 237.
Specimens.—Prov. C.
This is a permanent resident of the Hudsonian zone on the Mt. Baker range both north and south of the international boundary; also at lower elevations on Vancouver Island and on Salt Springs Island, Gulf of Georgia. Further in the interior it is of irregular distribution, being in some districts replaced by Picoides arcticus, and in others occupying the same localities as that species. I have no records for arcticus west of the Cascade range. At one time I was convinced that the Alaskan Three-toed Woodpecker occupied a higher breeding zone than the Black-backed species (arcticus), but had to modify this opinion on finding a pair of fasciatus breeding in the low hills back of Clinton, where one would hardly expect to find any three-toed woodpecker. Usually the species is found in the gloomy forests of balsam, spruce, and hemlock, and up to timber line. Here it is a silent bird, its tapping being usually the only sign of its presence.
The cry is a sharp cluck without the insistent ring of its allies of the Dyrobates group. In spring the usual chattering cry, common to so many woodpeckers, is heard, but this is more subdued and guttural than that of the Hairy Woodpecker. The males will also hang for hours on some dead spire beating the regular rattling tattoo of all true woodpeckers.
When shot, even if instantly killed, three-toed woodpeckers of both species have a marvelous faculty of remaining clinging to the tree in death. Where the trunks are draped with Usnea moss, it is impossible to bring one down, except when winged—then they attempt to fly, and fall to earth; but when killed outright they remain securely fastened by their strong curved claws. Repeated shots fail to dislodge them, and it is no joke to drop a big tree with a camp axe, as I have done, only to find at the finish that you cannot discover the object of your quest in the tangle of broken branches and dense rhododendron scrub. The only chance is to leave the bird and to visit the foot of the tree when the relaxing muscles have at length permitted the body to drop—usually within two days. Once I was fortunate enough to observe the exact position that enabled the bird to maintain its grip. I had shot and killed an Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker on a low stump. On going up I found the bird’s feet to be three inches apart by measurement; the tail was firmly braced, and the further the body was tilted back the more firmly the claws held in the bark.
Allan Brooks.
A. O. U. No. 402 a. Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis Baird.
Description.—Adult male: Pileum, throat, and nuchal band carmine (or poppy-red to crimson); crown and throat patches defined by black, narrowly on sides, broadly behind, the black border of throat below forming a conspicuous crescentic chest-band; a white streak over and behind eye, more or less continuous with black-and-white mottling of upper-back; a transverse stripe from nostril around throat and chest, and continuous with white of underparts; remaining upperparts black, variously spotted, banded, and blotched with white; middle coverts and upper tail-coverts nearly pure white, the first-named forming with the exposed edges of the greater coverts a broad white wing-band; underparts centrally pure white or flushed with sulphur-yellow; sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts heavily barred, or marked chiefly in hastate pattern, with black. Bill and feet slaty black; iris brown. Adult female: Like male but carmine nuchal patch reduced or wanting; throat-patch reduced by white of chin. In young birds the areas of red are much reduced (wanting except on crown?) the throat being clouded with dusky instead. Length about 8.50 (215.9); wing 5.00 (127); tail 3.20 (81.3); bill 1.00 (25.4).
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; highly variegated black, white, and red (and sometimes tinged with yellow below); red throat-patch defined by black (or white above in female) distinctive.
Nesting.—Nest: A gourd-shaped excavation in decaying wood of live aspen tree, 5 to 30 feet up; entrance 1½ inches wide; hole 8-10 inches deep; no lining. Eggs: 3-6, white, moderately glossed, ovate to elliptical ovate. Av. size, .90 × .67 (22.9 × 17). Season: June 1-15; one brood.
General Range.—Rocky Mountain and adjacent ranges from Arizona and New Mexico north to about Lat. 54° in Alberta and British Columbia; west to eastern slopes of Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon and to the Sierra Nevada; in winter south to Lower California and Mexico; casual in Kansas.
Range in Washington.—In general, in the hilly country of the northeastern part of the State and in the Blue Mountains; commonly along river bottoms in Stevens County; rare or casual on eastern slopes of the Cascades.
Authorities.—Bendire, Auk, Vol. V. July, 1888, 226. Sr¹. J.
Specimens.—Prov. C.
The western variety of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker differs only slightly from the eastern bird in appearance, and not at all in disposition. Of varius I have already said[72]:
Before the maple sap has ceased running, our woods are invaded from the south by a small army of hungry Sapsuckers. The birds are rather unsuspicious, quiet, and sluggish in their movements. Their common note is a drawling and petulant kee-a, like that of a distant Hawk; but they use it rather to vent their feelings than to call their fellows, for altho there may be twenty in a given grove, they are only chance associates and have no dealings one with another. Starting near the bottom of a tree, one goes hitching his way up the trunk, turns a lazy back-somersault to reinspect some neglected crevice, or leaps out into the air to capture a passing insect. The bulk of this bird’s food, however, at least during the migration, is secured at the expense of the tree itself. The rough exterior bark layer, or cortex of, say, a maple, is stripped off, and then the bird drills a transverse series of oval or roughly rectangular holes through which the sap is soon flowing. The inner bark is eaten as removed and the sap is eagerly drunk. It is said also that in some cases the bird relies upon this sugar-bush to attract insects which it likes, and thus makes its little wells do triple service. According to Professor Butler, an observer in Indiana, Mrs. J. L. Hine, once watched a Sapsucker in early spring for seven hours at a stretch, and during this time the bird did not move above a yard from a certain maple tap from which it drank at intervals.
Orchard trees suffer occasionally from this bird’s depredations, but the sap of pine or fir trees is its favorite diet and available the year around.
In nesting the Red-naped Sapsucker shows a marked preference for aspen trees and its summer range is practically confined to their vicinity. A nest found on the banks of the Pend d’Oreille, opposite Ione, was placed twenty-five feet up in an aspen tree some sixteen inches in diameter. The tree was dead at the heart but there was an outer shell of live wood two inches in thickness. The bird had penetrated this outer shell with a tunnel as round as an augur-hole, and an inch and a half in diameter, and had excavated in the soft heart-wood a chamber ten inches deep vertically, five and a half horizontally, and three from front to back. Here five eggs, “as fresh as paint,” reposed on the rotten chips. Like all, or most, Woodpecker eggs, these were beautifully transparent, with the position of the contained yolk clearly indicated. One egg was broken with a small round hole, as tho a careless claw had been stuck into it.
The parent birds, especially the male, who was caught on the eggs as tho inspecting the latest achievement, were very attentive, flying back and forth in neighboring trees, and giving utterance to the keé ah and other notes. After my descent from the ruined home, the male alighted beside the hole and tapped at the edges, as tho seeking in the sound of the wood explanation of the disaster.
A. O. U. No. 403. Sphyrapicus ruber (Gmel.).
Synonym.—Red-breasted Woodpecker.
Description.—Adult male: Somewhat as in preceding but distinctive markings of head and neck and chest nearly obliterated by all-prevailing carmine which reaches well down on breast; marks alluded to most persistent in anterior portion of transverse (white) cheek-stripe and in black of lores; breast (posterior to carmine) and remaining underparts strongly suffused with yellow; white spotting of upperparts greatly reduced in area and oftenest tinged with yellow; white wing-bar fully persistent but often yellow-tinged—thus an evolved form of S. v. nuchalis, with which males are said to exhibit every degree of gradation. Adult female: like male but duller. Young birds are said to be “gray with dull reddish suffusion as if the head had been dipped in claret wine.” Length, etc., as in preceding.
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; bright crimson of head, “shoulders” and fore-breast distinctive; yellow underparts. Brighter than succeeding.
Nesting.—Nest and Eggs as in S. r. notkensis.
General Range.—Northern Lower California, the Pacific Coast States and British Columbia, save in northwestern portion where displaced by succeeding form; retires from northern portion of range in winter.
Range in Washington.—Summer resident and migrant chiefly along the eastern slopes of the Cascades, shading into succeeding form west of the divide.
Authorities.—[Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814) Ed. Biddle: Coues, Vol. II. p. 185.] Bendire, Auk, Vol. V. July, 1888, p. 230. T. D¹.
Specimens.—U. of W.
It is all very well for the economic ornithologist to tell us that Sapsuckers are somewhat injurious to orchard trees, but the sight of one of these splendid creatures, dropping with a low cry to the base of a tree and hitching coquettishly up its length, is enough to disarm all resentment. From what spilled chalice of old Burgundy has the bird been sipping? Or from what baptism of blood has he lately escaped that he should be dyed red for half his length? Recrudescent mythology, ill at ease in these commercial times, nevertheless casts furtive glances at him, and longs to account in its inimitable way for the telltale color.
For myself, if young fruit trees will lure such beauty from the woods, I will turn orchardist. Nor will I begrudge the early sap from my choicest pippins. I am fond of cider myself, but there are worthier. Drink, pretty creature, drink!
Well, of course, there are biographical details; but what of it? Have you not yourself been so smitten with beauty that you forgot to inquire pedigree? Tut, now; you do not even remember a single sentence she said that day. But you remember her. Enough!
Once when the bird-man was camping on the Snoqualmie trail, this crimson vision appeared at the edge of a clearing, and proceeded to inspect our plant approvingly; and while the bird-man’s heart was in his mouth, it lit on the tent-post and gave it two or three inquiring raps. What need of details!