Tow’hee, as a name, is a manifest corruption of tow heé, or to-hwi′, an imitative word, after the bird’s most familiar note. Chewink′ is an attempt along the same line, but Marié is what the bird seems to me to say. It is on this account alone that the bird is said to “mew” and is called “Catbird.” The true Catbird, however, always says Ma-á ry, and there is no cause for confusion. During excitement or alarm the Towhee’s note is always shortened and sharpened to Mrie, with a flirt and jet, and a flash of the eye. The song variously rendered as “Chee-terr, pilly, willy, willy,” “Chip, ah, tow-hee-ee” and “Yang, kit-er-er,” is delivered from the top of a bush or the low limb of a tree; and while monotonous and very simple, it retains the pleasing quality of that of the eastern bird. The singer will not stand for close inspection, for, as Jones says of its cousin[23]: “He is a nervous fellow, emphasizing his disturbance at your intrusion with a nervous fluff, fluff of the short wings, and a jerk and quick spreading of the long, rounded tail, as if he hoped that the flash of white at its end would startle the intruder away.”

For a nest the Spurred Towhee scratches a hollow at the base of a bush or clump in some dry situation, and lines this carefully, first with leaves, bark-strips and plant stems, then with fine grasses or rootlets. The eggs, commonly four in number, are deposited the last week in April or first in May, and the female clings to her treasures until the crushing footstep is very imminent. Once flushed, however, she keeps to the background, scolding intermittently, and she will not return until long after the excitement has died down.

Two broods are raised each season, and the first one, at least, must early learn to shift for itself. The young birds are obscure, dun-colored creatures, quite unlike their parents in appearance, and by July they infest the buck-brush of the more open mountain sides in such numbers and apparent variety as to start a dozen false hopes in the ornithologist’s breast each day.

No. 66.
OREGON TOWHEE.

A. O. U. No. 588 b. Pipilo maculatus oregonus (Bell).

Synonyms.—“Catbird.” Chewink.

Description.—Adult male: Similar to P. m. montanus but darker, the white spotting of wing and blotches on tail much reduced; two outer pairs of rectrices blotched and the third touched with white near tip; cinnamon-rufous of sides, etc., richer and deeper. Adult female: Like male but black veiled by deep reddish brown (clove brown) skirtings of feathers. Length about 8.50 (216); wing 3.33 (84.6); tail 3.69 (93.7); bill .57 (14.5); tarsus 1.10 (27.9); hind claw .43 (10.9). Female a little smaller.

Recognition Marks.—“Chewink” size; black (with white spotting on wings) above; white of breast; deep reddish brown of sides; mewing cry.

Nesting.—Like that of preceding species. Eggs a little larger: Av. size, 1.04 × .74 (26.4 × 18.8).

General Range.—Pacific coast district from British Columbia (including Vancouver Id.) south to central California; chiefly resident thruout its range.

Range in Washington.—Of general occurrence, save at higher levels, west of the Cascades; resident.

Authorities.—? Fringilla arctica, Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 49; pl. 394. P. oregonus, Bell, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, pp. 513, 514. (T). C&S. L². Rh. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. B. BN. E.

Perhaps no bird is better known by voice and less by plumage than this shy recluse of the under forest. Swampy thickets, brush-piles, log-heaps, and the edges of clearings are his special delight. Hence it is that the newcomer, taking up quarters at the edge of town, hears this mysterious, questioning voice, me-aý? meaý uh? rising from the depths of the brush-lot opposite. He reports the sound under the name of “Catbird,” and asks the bird-man’s opinion. Or, if the newcomer has been persistent enough, he has a glowing account to give of a handsome black bird with red on its sides, “like a Robin,” and some white below. The bird would only show himself for a moment at a time, and then he flitted and flirted restlessly before he dived into cover again, so that the fine points of white spotting on the wing and white tips on the outer tail feathers were lost out of account.

Of course it is the Oregon Towhee, and the half pleasant, half complaining notes will insure him notice forever after. The bird is strictly resident wherever found, and the unmistakable blackness of his plumage is due rather to the age-long endurance of rain than to any chance association with blackened logs and stumps, as might be supposed. Towhee is prince of the underworld, not, of course, in the Mephistophelian sense, but as the undoubted aristocrat among those humble folk who skulk under dark ferns, thread marvelous mazes of interlacing sticks and stalks, explore cavernous recesses of moss-covered roots, and understand the foundations of things generally.

The handsome bird is a little impatient of the company of his own kind, his faithful spouse always excepted; but he quite appreciates the mild deference of Rusty Song Sparrows, the bustling sociability of Western Winter Wrens, or even the intermittent homage of Seattle Wrens. In winter the Fox Sparrows attach themselves to this humble itinerant court, but they are a dozen times more bashful than their chief even.

Only at mating time does Towhee throw caution to the winds. Then he mounts a sapling and drones away by the hour. The damps of ten thousand winters have reduced his song to a pitiful wheeze, but he holds forth as bravely as any of his kin, whééééé whééééé, and again, whééééé. In winter the birds employ a peculiar hissing sound, pssst or bzzzt, not I believe, as a warning—rather as a keep-in-touch call. It was rather heartening tho to hear the full song of Towhee on the 29th of December at Blaine. Comparisons were unnecessary, and the homely trill stood out like a benediction against the dripping silence.

In feeding, Towhees resort chiefly to the ground. They are not careful to observe quiet, and one may follow their movements by the attendant rustling of leaves. Scratching for food is a favorite employment, and this they pursue not by the methodical clutch and scrape of the old hen, but by a succession of spirited backward kicks executed by both feet at once, and assisted by the wings. By this method, not only fallen seeds are laid bare but lurking insects of many sorts, which the bird swiftly devours.

No. 67.
LAZULI BUNTING.

A. O. U. No. 599. Passerina amœna (Say).

Synonyms.—Lazuli Finch.

Description.—Adult male: Head and neck all around cerulean blue; this color carried over upperparts but pure only on rump, elsewhere appearing as skirting of feathers; middle coverts broadly and greater coverts narrowly tipped with white; wings and tail otherwise black; some skirting of ochraceous on back, scapulars and tertials; lores black; chest ochraceous sharply defined from blue above but shading gradually into white of remaining underparts; sides and flanks with outcropping bluish dusky. Bill black above, pale bluish below; feet brownish dusky; iris brown. Adult female: Above grayish brown, the color of male recalled by dull greenish blue of rump and upper tail-coverts and by skirtings of wing- and tail-feathers; middle and greater coverts tipped with light buffy; underparts washed with buffy, most strongly on chest and sides, fading to whitish on belly and under tail-coverts. Young birds resemble the female but lack the bluish-gray of rump and skirtings, and are usually more or less streaked below on chest and sides. Length of adult male: 5.25-5.50 (133.3-139.7); wing 2.87 (73); tail 2.08 (53); bill .39 (9.9); tarsus .67 (17). Female smaller.

Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; color pattern of male distinctive,—female not so easy; in general distinguishable by a softness and uniformity of the grayish brown.

Nesting.—Nest: a loosely constructed, bulky structure made chiefly of dead grasses and strips of soft bark, with a heavy inner lining of hair; placed about three feet up in fork of weed, bush or sapling; measures, outside, 4¼ inches across by 3 in depth, inside, 2½ wide by 1½ deep. Eggs: 4, very pale blue unmarked or, rarely, dotted with reddish brown. Av. size .76 × .56 (19.3 × 14.2). Season: first week in June; one brood.

General Range.—Western United States from eastern border of Great Plains to the Pacific (less common on Pacific slope) north to southern British Columbia (chiefly east of the Cascades); south, in winter, to Cape St. Lucas and the Valley of Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Common summer resident east of Cascade Mountains; less common and of irregular distribution in the Puget Sound region; breeds in Cascades up to 3,000 feet.

Migrations.—Spring: Yakima County May 5, 1906; Chelan May 21, 1896.

Authorities.—? Fringilla amœna, Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 64, 230; plates 398, 424. Cyanospiza amœna Baird, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 505. T. C&S. D¹. Ra. D². Ss¹. Ss². J. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B. E.

One can scarcely believe his eyes as this jewel flashes from a thicket, crosses a space of common air, and disappears again all in a trice. Either there has been some optical illusion, or Nature has grown careless to fling her turquoises about in such fashion. We must investigate. Upon arrival, somewhere about the 10th of May, and before the return of his dun-colored mate, the male Lazuli is quite conscious of his prominence in the landscape. He avoids notice and goes bounding away if closely pressed; but love soon makes him bold, and he will pursue the object of his affections into the very thicket where you stand. Then, while the female lurks timidly within, he mounts a spray and yields an outburst of music, piercing and earnest, if not too sweet. We see that his blue is deep azure, or turquoise, rather than that of the lapis lazuli from which he is named. The red of his breast is nearly that of the Robin’s, while the pure white of the remaining underparts completes a patriotic study in red, white, and blue. The female shows something of the color pattern of her mate, with the important exception that dull brown supplants the royal blue of head and back. After all, then, they are fitted for separate spheres: she to skulk and hide and escape the hostile eye in the discharge of her maternal duties; he to lose himself against the blue of heaven, as he sings reassuringly from a tree-top, or sends down notes of warning upon the approach of danger.

The song of the Lazuli Bunting is a rambling warble, not unlike that of the Indigo Bunting (C. cyanea), but somewhat less energetic. Its brief course rises and falls in short cadences and ends with a hasty jumble of unfinished notes, as tho the singer were out of breath. Moreover, the bird does not take his task very seriously, and he does not burden the mid-day air with incessant song, as does his tireless cousin.

Somewhere in the shrubbery and tangle, whether of saplings, berry-bushes, roses, ferns, or weeds, a rather bulky nest is built about an upright fork, at a height of two or three feet from the ground. A nest observed in Yakima County was begun on the 19th of June and practically completed by the afternoon of the following day,—this altho the first egg was not laid until the 26th. “Hemp,” milkweed fibers, and dried grasses were used in construction, and there was an elaborate lining of horse-hair (poor dears; what will they do when the automobile has fully supplanted the horse?).

Amœna means pleasant, but the female amenity is anything else, when her fancied rights of maternity are assailed. Her vocabulary is limited, to be sure, to a single note, but her repeated chip is expressive of all words in dis from distrust to distress and violent disapprobation.

No. 68.
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK.

A. O. U. No. 596. Zamelodia melanocephala (Swains).

Description.—Adult male: General coloration black and tawny varied with white and yellow; head glossy black, narrowly on chin, and with irregular invasion of tawny behind; back, scapulars, wings, and tail chiefly black; middle of back with much admixture of tawny; scapulars narrowly tipped with yellowish buffy or white, two conspicuous white wing patches formed by tips of middle coverts and basal portion of primaries; touches of white on tips of greater coverts and secondaries, and on outer edge of primaries; touches of yellow (in highest plumage) bordering white of wing-coverts, etc.; terminal third of two outer pairs of rectrices white on inner webs; lining of wings and breast centrally rich lemon yellow; remaining plumage tawny, brightest on throat and chest, with admixture of black on sides of neck; nearly as bright on rump, but veiled by lighter tips of feathers; lightening posteriorly on remaining underparts; nearly white on under tail-coverts; bill bluish gray, darker above; feet plumbeous. Adult female: Like male, but tawny of underparts paler; upperparts dark olivaceous brown with admixture of white and pale tawny; head blackish with white or brownish median and superciliary stripes; wings and tail fuscous, white markings restricted, those on tail reduced or wanting; sides and flanks streaked with dusky. Length 7.75-8.50 (196.85-215.90); wing 3.9 (99); tail 3.15 (80); bill .71 (18); depth of bill at base .59 (15); tarsus .95 (24).

Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; black head and variegated plumage of male; large beak, with haunts, distinctive.

Nesting.—Nest: a careless but often bulky collection of twigs or weed-stalks, lined, or not, with fine dead grasses; set loosely in branches of bush or sapling, 6 to 20 feet up. Eggs: 4, greenish blue, boldly spotted or blotched with reddish brown, dusky brown and lavender, most heavily about larger end. Av. size 1.00 × .68 (25.4 × 17.27). Season: East-side, May 20; West-side, May 25; one brood.

Authorities.—? “Fringilla melanocephala, Audubon, Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 519; pl. 373 (Col. Riv.)”: Baird, 499. Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. XII. pt. II. 1860, 206. T(?). C&S. Rh. D¹. Ra. D². Ss². J. B. E.

Specimens.—P. B. E.

Those who complain of our lack of song-birds should make the acquaintance of this really skilled musician. He will not often be found in the city parks, nor yet in the fir forests; but wherever there are deciduous trees, not too dense, or tall thickets of willow and alder beside some lake or sluggish stream, there will this minstrel hold forth. The Grosbeak’s song is not unlike the longer lay of the Robin, but it is richer and rounder as well as more subdued. There is about it all a lingering languor of the Southland; and if the gentleman addressed you, you would expect him to say “Sah,” with a soft cadence.

The bird’s carol has the rolling quality which serves to connect it with that of the eastern Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but it is sweeter, more varied, and shows, if anything, a still more strongly marked undertone of liquid harmonics.

The male Grosbeak is, moreover, an indefatigable singer, choosing for his purpose the topmost sprays of alder or cottonwood, and taking pains to give all intruders a wide berth during the concert hours. His attachment to a given locality becomes apparent only after he has been pursued from tree to tree in a wide circuit which brings up at the original station. And yet his shyness is not inspired by caution, for he will sing upon the nest when he spells his wife at the hopeful task of incubation.

The more matter-of-fact female has no word of greeting for the stranger beyond a sharp kimp, a beak-clearing note, not unlike that of a chicken with a crumb in its throat. This the male repeats also, with all shades of emphasis when the home is beset, or, as a last resort, he breaks into song at close quarters,—an ample price, surely, for the fullest immunity.

It is the nest which confirms the southern origin of these gentle birds. It is a flimsy affair of twigs, grass-stems, or weed-stalks carelessly interlaced, and caught in the crotch of a sapling at a height of from five to fifteen feet. The construction is so open, that the blue eggs with their dark brown and lavender spottings may be counted from below. The birds, you see, have been accustomed to a warmer climate, to a tropical range, in fact, where warmth of bedding is no object.

If found upon the nest, the brooding bird cannot think ill of you; or, if there is ground for misgiving, seeks to disarm hostility by a display of gentle confidence. Instances are of record where the sitting bird has been stroked with the hand, and a little discretion will usually insure a lasting friendship.

This species enjoys a wide range in Washington, being found from tide-water to the upper reaches of the deeper mountain valleys; but it is nowhere common enough, let alone abundant.

Tanagridæ—The Tanagers

No. 69.
CRIMSON-HEADED TANAGER.

A. O. U. No. 607. Piranga ludoviciana (Wils.).

Synonyms.—Louisiana Tanager. Western Tanager.

Description.—Adult male: Back, wings, and tail black; middle coverts and tips of greater coverts yellow; remaining plumage rich gamboge yellow; clearest (lemon-yellow) on rump and upper tail-coverts, darkest (live-yellow to wax-yellow) on breast, changing on head and throat to bright carmine or poppy-red. The red increases both in extent and intensity with age and is always brightest anteriorly. Bill horn color; feet and legs bluish dusky; iris brown. Adult female: General plumage dingy olive-yellow; darker, nearly olive, above; lighter and clearer on under tail-coverts; wings and tail dusky with olivaceous wing markings as in male but yellow paler. Young males resemble the adult female and only gradually acquire the clearer brighter plumage of maturity. Length about 7.00 (177.8); wing 3.75 (95); tail 2.80 (71); bill .59 (15); tarsus .80 (20.5).

Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; sedate ways; pittic note. Black and yellow with crimson head of male distinctive; dull olive of female not likely to be confused when size is discriminated.

Nesting.—Nest: of rather rough, “tropical” construction, composed of twigs, rootlets and moss, lined with horse- or cow-hair; measures externally 7 inches across by 3 in depth, internally 2¾ wide by 1½ deep. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, pale greenish blue to deep blue, dotted and spotted sparingly with lavender and dark greenish slate, sometimes in wreath about larger end; surface heavily glossed; long ovate in shape. Av. size .92 × .64 (23.3 × 16.2). Season: June; one brood.

General Range.—Western United States from eastern base of Rocky Mountains to Pacific Coast, northward to British Columbia and Athabasca; south in winter to Mexico and Guatemala; straggling eastward during migrations—has been several times taken in New England.

Range in Washington.—Common summer resident in timbered sections, migrant in open country of East-side.

Migrations.—Spring: East-side: Yakima, May 4, 1906, May 9, 1900; Chelan, May 19, 1896, May 20, 1905; West-side: Tacoma, April 27, 1906.

Authorities.—Piranga ludoviciana Bonap., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 304. T. C&S. Rh. D¹. Ra. D². Ss¹. Ss². Kk. J. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B. E.

This handsome Tanager is one of the most characteristic birds of the more open forest areas of Washington, whether east or west. It is one of the three species discovered by the intrepid explorers, Lewis and Clark; and since the Lewis Woodpecker bears the name of one, and the Clark Nutcracker of the other, there was nothing for it but to call the Tanager after the region “Louisiana,” whose further reaches they were then exploring. But we are no longer a part of Louisiana, and we prefer a color-name for one of our few brilliant birds of plumage.

In the hand, the bright yellow of the male Tanager, shading into the bright crimson upon the head, would seem to assure a very conspicuous bird, but afield it is not so. Seen against the changing green of maples, pines, or fir trees, these brilliant colors are lost to any but the most attentive eye. A resplendent male does not hesitate to stand quietly upon the end of a branch and survey you until his curiosity is fully satisfied. This quiet attitude of genteel curiosity seems to be characteristic of all Tanagers. Apart from its psychological bearings, sedateness would seem to play an effective part in modifying the attractions of bright plumage.

The male birds precede the dull-colored females by several days, and at such times only may be found in companies. One windy afternoon in May, the 20th it was, while the Columbia River steamer doddered with its freight, I took a turn ashore and explored a tiny oasis of willows which lined a neighboring brook. I soon caught the pitic or pititic of newly-arrived Tanagers. Judge of my delight upon beholding, not one, but eight of these beauties, all old males, as they filed out of a willow clump, where they had evidently taken refuge for the day. A week or so later I saw Tanagers at home in the meager willow fringes of Crab Creek, in Lincoln County; and while we were in camp at Brook Lake in Douglas County, one came out thru the sage, hopping and flitting from bush to bush, to bring me friendly greetings. It was like meeting a king in a millet field.

The song of the Louisiana Tanager—pardon the lapse; habit is stronger than reason—the song of the Crimson-headed Tanager is an étude in R. “It is remotely comparable to that of the Robin, but it is more stereotyped in form, briefer, and tittered at intervals rather than continuously sustained. The notes are sharp-edged and rich in r’s, while the movement of the whole, tho deliberate, is varied, and the tone cheerful”[24]. I can detect no constant difference between the song of the Crimson-headed Tanager and that of the Scarlet Tanager (P. erythromelas), save that that of the former is oftener prefaced with the call note, thus: Piteric whew, we soor a-ary e-erie witooer. This song, however, is less frequently heard than that of the Scarlet Tanager, East. Its perfect rendition, moreover, argues the near presence of a demure little lady in olive, a person who looks like nobody in particular to our undiscriminating gaze, but who exerts a strange fascination over our brilliant squire. Young males of the second summer sing hopefully, but they are less often successful in love than their ruddier rivals.

It behooves the Tanager maiden to be exacting in her choice, for all the help she will get out of him at best will be sympathy and song. When it comes to real work, like nest building, she must do it. He will graciously advise as to the situation, some horizontal branch of fir or pine, from six to fifty feet high, and from three to twenty feet out. He will even accompany her on her laborious trips after nesting material, cooing amiable nothings, and oozing approval at every joint,—but help her—nevaire!

The nest is quite a substantial affair tho rather roughly put together, of fir twigs, rootlets, and moss, with a more or less heavy lining of horse- or cow-hair, and other soft substances. The four eggs of greenish blue, dotted and spotted with lavender and dark greenish slate, appear especially handsome from above, when viewed against the dark brown nest. But, as everybody knows, the red fir (Pseudotsuga mucronata) is a tree of moods and tenses. You may dangle with impunity from the very tips of the branches of some fir trees, while a step from the trunk is fatal in others of the same general appearance. The Tanagers are quite as apt to patronize the brittle kind.

Mniotiltidæ—The Wood Warblers

No. 70.
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

A. O. U. No. 646. Helminthophila celata (Say).

Description.—Adult male: Above ashy olive-green, clearing and brighter on rump; crown largely ochraceous but color partly veiled by olive tips of feathers; wings and tail fuscous with some olive edging; below greenish-yellow, dingy, or vaguely streaked with blue on breast and sides. Adult female: Similar to male but duller, with ochraceous crown-patch restricted or wanting. Immature: Without ochraceous crown; more ashy above; duller below save that abdomen is white; eyelids often whitish. Length about 5.00 (127); wing 2.40 (61); tail 1.95 (49.5); bill .42 (10.7); tarsus .70 (17.8).

Recognition Marks.—Small warbler size; ochraceous (“orange”) crown-patch distinctive from all except H. c. lutescens, which is the common bird; duller. See next (sub)species.

Nesting.—Not known to nest in Washington but may do so. As next.

General Range.—Summer resident in western British America and Alaska (save in Pacific coast district), south thru Rocky Mountain district to New Mexico; migrating across Central States and casually(?) New England, Middle Atlantic States, Pacific States, etc., to Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Probably common migrant but passing undistinguished among more abundant lutescens.

Authorities.—Bowles and Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV., Oct. 1908, p. 483.

Specimens.—Bowles. Prov. P.

Most Alaskan species, even of those which retire in winter to South Carolina, Florida, and the Antilles, may be expected to drift thru our borders sooner or later. Typical H. celata was first caught in the act by Mr. Bowles in May, 1907, but we have no means of knowing that the northern form is not a frequent trespasser. Kermode gives it as a common summer resident east and west of the Cascades in British Columbia, and it is not impossible that our northern Cascade records should be referred to this type.

No. 71.
LUTESCENT WARBLER.

A. O. U. No. 646a. Helminthophila celata lutescens Ridgway.

Description.—Adults:—Similar to H. celata but brighter. Above bright olive-green; below definitely yellow—olive-yellow, gamboge, or even canary (on under tail-coverts). Immature: Above plain olive-green (not ashy, as in H. celata); below buffy yellow tinged with olive on breast and sides. Measurements as in preceding.

Recognition Marks.—Small warbler size; perhaps the most abundant of the eight or nine “yellow” warblers of the State; ochraceous crown-patch, of course, distinctive; not so bright as the Pileolated Warblers (W. p. pileolata and W. p. chryseola).

Nesting.—Nest: on the ground sunk in bed of moss, under protection of bush or weed, or in shelving bank, of coiled dry grasses, lined with finer; 1¾ inches wide by 1 inch deep inside. Eggs: 4, rarely 5, dull white marked with dots and a few small blotches of yellowish brown and lavender; in shape long to short ovate, rarely oval. Av. size .67 × .51 (17 × 12.9). Season: May 1 and June 1; two broods.

General Range.—Summer resident in Pacific Coast district from Cook Inlet to southern California, east to western ranges of Rocky Mountain System, where intergrading with H. celata; south in winter to western Mexico and Guatemala.

Range in Washington.—Of general occurrence thruout the lower levels; abundant in Puget Sound region.

Migrations.—Spring: April 3, 6, 7 (Seattle). April 24 (Chelan). March 28, 1908 (Seattle).

Authorities.—(?) Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., VIII., 1839, 153 part (Columbia River). Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., XII., pt. II., 1860, 178. (T.) C&S. L¹, Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. D². Kk. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. BN. E.

Yellow appears to be the prevailing color among our Washington Wood Warblers; and even of those which are not frankly all over yellow, as this one is, there are only two which do not boast a conspicuous area of this fashionable shade. And of all yellows, yellow-green, as represented by the back of this bird, is the commonest,—so common, indeed, as to merit the facetious epithet “museum color.” It is all very well in the case of the male, for he comes back (to Seattle) during the first week in April, before the leaves are fully out; and he is so full of confidence at this season that he poses quite demurely among the swelling buds of alder, maple, and willow. He is proud of his full crown-patch of pale orange, contrasting as it does with the dull yellowish green of the upperparts and the bright greenish yellow of the underparts,—and he lets you get a good view of it at twenty yards with the glasses. Besides that, he must stop now and then to vent his feelings in song. But the case of the female is almost hopeless—for the novice.

The song of the Lutescent Warbler appears to have been very largely overlooked, but it was not the bird’s fault. While waiting for his tardy mate, he has rehearsed diligently from the taller bushes of the thicket, or else from some higher vantage point of maple, dogwood, or fir tree. The burden is intended for fairy ears, but he that hath ears to hear let him hear a curious vowel scale, an inspirated rattle or trill, which descends and ends in a simple warble of several notes. The trill, brief as it is, has three qualities of change which make it quite unique. At the opening the notes are full and slow, but in the instant necessary to the entire recital the pace accelerates, the pitch rises slightly, and the component notes decrease in volume, or size. At the climax the tension breaks unexpectedly in the gentle, musical cadence of the concluding phrases, whose notes much resemble certain of the Yellow Warbler’s. The opening trill carries to a considerable distance, but the sweetness of the closing warble is lost to any but near listeners. The whole may be rendered graphically somewhat as follows; O-o-ā-ā-i-i-é-é-é-é-é-é wichy, wichy, wichy.

In the brush and under alarm these birds utter a brusque, metallic scolding note, which is perfectly distinctive locally, altho it much resembles that of the Oporornis group East. By this mark alone may the mere greenish female be certainly discerned.

Lutescent Warblers abound thruout western Washington, and easterly, when the Cascades are well passed, as upon the Pend d’Oreille. Jungle of any kind suits them, whether it be a thicket of young firs at Tacoma, an overgrown burn at Snoqualmie, a willow swamp in Yakima County, or a salmon-berry tangle on Destruction Island. Nests are of dead grasses well knitted and sunk flush with the ground, or below it, in some moss bed, at the base of a bush, or on some sloping hillside. Rarely the structure may be taken up into a bush. The female is a close sitter, but once flushed shows implacable resentment. She summons her mate to assist in the gentle art of exorcism, or else turns the tables and deserts outright. The latter, you understand, is quite the subtlest and most baffling form of revenge which a bird may compass in the case of an oölogist anxious to identify his find.

No. 72.
CALAVERAS WARBLER.

A. O. U. No. 645a. Helminthophila rubricapilla gutturalis (Ridgw.).

Description.—Adult male: Head above and on sides bluish ash with a partially concealed crown-patch of bright chestnut; a whitish eye-ring; remaining upperparts bright olive-green becoming yellowish green on rump and upper tail-coverts; underparts including crissum, bright yellow, but whitening on belly; bill small, short, acute, blackish above, brownish below; feet brown. Adult female: Like male but somewhat duller below; ashy of head less pure, glossed with olivaceous and not so abruptly contrasting with yellow of throat; chestnut crown-patch less conspicuous or wanting. Immature: Olive-green of upperparts duller; head and neck grayish brown instead of ashy; below dull olive-yellow, clearing on belly and crissum. Length of male (skins) 4.05-4.75 (103-121); wing 2.35 (60); tail 1.75 (45); bill .38 (9.6); tarsus .63 (16). Female smaller.

Recognition Marks.—Smaller; bright yellow of throat (and underparts), contrasting with ashy of head, distinctive.

Nesting.—Nest: usually sunk well into ground or moss at base of bush-clump or rank herbage, well made of fine bark-strips and grasses, lined with finer grasses, horse-hair and, occasionally, feathers; outside, 3 in. wide by 2 in. deep; inside 1¾ wide by 1¼ deep. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, dull white as to ground-color, but showing two distinct types of markings: one heavily sprinkled with fine dots of reddish brown, nearly uniform in distribution, or gathered more thickly about larger end; the other sparingly dotted, and with large blotches or “flowers” of the same pigment. Av. size .64 × .49 (16.3 × 12.5). Season: May 20-July 20, according to altitude; two broods. Chelan Co. July 22, 1900, 3 fresh eggs.

General Range.—The Pacific States and British Columbia south to Calaveras County, California, and east (at least) to northern Idaho; found chiefly in the higher mountains; in migrations to Lower California and western Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Summer resident on brushy slopes and in timbered valleys of the higher ranges thruout the State, and irregularly at lower levels, at least on Puget Sound (Tacoma).

Migrations.—Spring: Wallula, April 23, 1905; Benton County, May 4, 1907; Chelan, May 21, 1896; Tacoma, April 24, 1897. Fall: Last week in August (Blaine).

Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, XVIII. Oct. 1901, 463. (D¹). J. B.

Specimens.—B.

There is something distinct and well-bred about this demure exquisite, and the day which discovers one searching the willow tops with genteel aloofness is sure to be underscored in the note-book. The marks of the spring male are as unmistakable as they are regal: a bright yellow breast and throat contrasting with the ashy of cheeks and head, the latter shade relieved by a white eye-ring, and surmounted by a chestnut crown-patch. If you stumble upon a company of them at play among the thorn bushes, you are seized, as like as not, with a sense of low birth, and feel like retiring in confusion lest you offend royalty.

These gentle despots are bound for the mountains; and since their realms are not prepared for them till June, they have ample leisure to discuss the fare of wayside stations. They enter the State from the South during the last week in April—Wallula, April 23d, is my earliest record; but May 21st records an unanxious company at the foot of Lake Chelan. As the season advances they take up quarters on brushy mountain sides, or in the deciduous skirts of fierce mountain torrents. Here while the female skurries about thru the buck-brush or vine-maple thickets in search of a suitable nesting site, the male mounts a fir tree and occupies himself with song.

If you are spying on this sacred function, the bird first peers down at you uneasily, then throws his head back and sings with great animation: Choopy, choopy, choopy churr (tr). The trill is composed of a dozen or so of large notes which the ear can easily distinguish, but which because of the vivacious utterance one cannot quite count. The pitch of the finale is sustained, but there is a slight decrease in volume. If forced to descend, the singer will join his mate in sharp chips of protest, somewhat similar to those of the Audubon Warbler, altho not quite so clear-cut or inflexible.

While the Calaveras Warbler is a bird of the mountains and lives at any height where suitable cover is afforded, it is a curious fact that it sometimes prefers the timbered lowlands of Puget Sound, and may be found in some seasons in considerable numbers about the southern prairies. Mr. Bowles has found them commonly in scrub-oak patches which border the fir groves and timbered lakes; and yet during some years they have been unaccountably absent from the entire region.

Near Tacoma this Warbler places its nest at the base of a young oak or fir tree, where the spreading branches have protected the grass and gathered weeds. The nest is sunk well into the ground or moss, and is so well concealed as to defy discovery unless the bird is flushed. When frightened from the nest the female instantly disappears, and returns only after some considerable interval. Then she approaches with the greatest caution, ready to dart away again upon the first sign of movement on the part of the intruder. The male, if he happens to be about at all, neither joins the defense nor consoles his mate in misfortune, but sets upon her furiously and drives her from bush to bush, as tho she had wilfully deserted their treasures.

At sea-level two sets of eggs are laid in a season, one fresh about May 18th, the other about June 25th. In the mountains, however, the second nesting, if indulged in at all, is thrown very late. I took a set of three fresh eggs from a carelessly constructed nest placed in the top of an elk-weed (Echinopanax horridum) at a height of three feet, on the 22d day of July, 1900.

No. 73.
YELLOW WARBLER.

A. O. U. No. 652. Dendroica æstiva (Gmel.).

Synonyms.—Summer Yellow-bird. Summer Warbler. Wild Canary.

Description.—Adult male: Forehead and fore-crown bright yellow with an orange tinge; back bright olive-green; rump greenish yellow; wings and tail blackish with greenish yellow edgings, the wing quills edged on both webs, the tail-feathers—except middle pair—almost entirely yellow on inner webs; sides of head and entire underparts golden yellow, the breast and sides heavily streaked with chestnut; bill black; feet pale. Adult female: Like male but duller; olive-green on back, not brighter on forehead; paler yellow below, obscurely or not at all streaked with chestnut. Young males resemble the adult female. Young female still duller; dusky yellow below. Length 4.75-5.25 (120.6-133.3); wing 2.51 (63.8); tail 1.68 (42.7); bill .40 (10.2); tarsus .73 (18.61).

Recognition Marks.—Medium size; golden yellow coloration; chestnut streaks on breast of male; after the Lutescent the commonest of the resident Warblers; chiefly confined to the banks of streams and ponds.

Nesting.—Nest: a compact cup of woven “hemp” and fine grasses, lined heavily with plant-down, grasses, and, occasionally, horse-hair, fastened to upright branch in rose-thickets and the like. Eggs: 4 or 5, white, bluish-, creamy-, or grayish-white, speckled and marked with largish spots of reddish brown, burnt umber, etc., often wreathed about the larger end. Av. size, .70 × .50 (17.8 × 12.7). Season: May 20-June 20; one brood.

General Range.—North America at large, except southwestern part, giving place to D. æ. rubiginosa in extreme northwest. South in winter to Central America and northern South America. Breeds nearly thruout its North American range.

Range in Washington.—Summer resident in deciduous timber, and shrubbery lining streams, thruout the State from sea-level to 4,000 feet.

Migrations.—Spring: Tacoma, April 24-30; Yakima, April 30, 1900; Chelan, May 21, 1896. Fall: First week in September.

Authorities.—Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., XII., pt. II., 1860, p. 181. T. C&S. L¹. Rh. D¹. Ra. D². Ss¹. Ss². Kk. J. B. E.

Specimens.—B. BN. E. P¹.

The Summer Warbler’s gold is about as common as that of the dandelion, but its trim little form has not achieved any such distinctness in the public mind. Most people, if they take notice at all of anything so tiny, dub the birds “Wild Canaries,” and are done. The name as applied to the Goldfinch may be barely tolerated, but in the case of the Warbler it is quite inappropriate, since the bird has nothing in common with the Canary except littleness and yellowness. Its bill is longer and slimmer, for it feeds exclusively on insects instead of seeds; and its pure yellow and olive-green plumage knows no admixture, save for the tasty but inconspicuous chestnut stripes on the breast of the adult male. These stripes are lacking in males of the second year, whence Audubon was once led to elaborate a supposed new species, which he called the “Children’s Warbler.” The name is not ill-fitting, even tho we know that it applies only to the Warbler’s children.

The Yellow Warbler is peculiarly a bird of sunshine, and is to be found chiefly in open situations. It swarms thru the orchards and gardens, frequents the wayside thickets, and in town takes possession of the shrubbery in lawn or park. It is abundant in swampy places, and is invariably present in season along the banks of streams which are lined with willows, alders, and wild rose bushes.

The song is sunny, too, and while not elaborate, makes substantial contribution to the good cheer of spring. Heard in the boskage it sounds absurdly as if some wag were shaking an attic salt-cellar on a great green salad. The notes are almost piercing, and sound better perhaps from across the river than they do in the same tree. Individual variation in song is considerable, but the high pitch and vigor of delivery are distinctive. Certain common types may be syllabized as follows: Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweetie; tsee, tsee, tsit-a-wee, tsee; wee-chee, chee, chee wee-i-u; tsu, tsu, tsu, tsu, tseéew. From its arrival sometime during the last week in April, until near the close of its second nesting, late in July, the bird may be found singing thruout the sunlit hours.

The date of this bird’s annual advent in Washington is far less nearly fixed than in the East. April 19th is my earliest date, recorded in Yakima County, but Dr. Cooper once saw large numbers (possibly D. a. rubiginosa) “at the Straits of De Fuca,” on April 8. On the west side of the mountains this Warbler may not often nest more than once in a season, but on the East-side it usually raises two broods.

The nest of the Yellow Warbler is quite common, especially easterly, where its cover is more restricted; and no special pains is taken at concealment. Nests may be placed at any height in orchard trees, alders, willows, or even fir saplings; but, without doubt, the most acceptable site is that afforded by dense thickets of the wild rose (Rosa pisocarpa) wherever found.