Synonym.—Snow Bunting.
Description.—_Adult male in summer_: Pure white save for bill, feet,
middle of back, scapulars, bastard wing, the end half of primaries and
inner secondaries, and the middle tail-feathers, which are black.
_Female in summer_: Similar, but upperparts streaked all over with
black, and the black wings largely replaced by fuscous. _Adults in
winter_: Entire upperparts overcast with browns—rusty or seal
brown—clear on crown, grayish and mottled with dusky centers of
feathers on back, scapulars, etc.; also rusty ear-patches, and a rusty
collar, with faint rusty wash on sides. The black of wing and
tail-feathers is less pure (fuscous in the female) and edged with
white or tawny. Length 6.50-7.00 (165.1-177.8); wing 4.12 (104.6);
tail 2.54 (64.5); bill .40 (10.2).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; conspicuously and uniquely white,
with blacks and browns above.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. “_Nest_: on the ground in the
sphagnum and tussocks of Arctic regions, of a great quantity of grass
and moss, lined profusely with feathers. _Eggs_: 4-6, very variable in
size and color, about .90 × .65 (22.9 × 16.5), white or whitish,
speckled, veined, blotched, and marbled with deep browns and neutral
tints” (Coues.).
General Range.—“Northern parts of the northern hemisphere, breeding in
the Arctic regions; in North America south in winter into the northern
United States, irregularly to Georgia, southern Illinois, Kansas and
Oregon.”
Range in Washington.—East-side, of regular occurrence in open country;
casual west of the Cascades.
Migrations.—Nov. 4, 1899 (Yakima County). March 17, 1896 (Okanogan
County).
Authorities.—[“Snow Bunting,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885),
22.] Dawson, Auk, XIV. 1897, 178. T. D¹. D². B. E.
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. E. P.
I well remember my first meeting with this prince of storm waifs, the
Snowflake. It was in Chelan County on a chilly day in December. A
distant-faring, feathered stranger had tempted me across a bleak
pasture, when all at once a fluttering snowdrift, contrary to Nature’s
wont, rose from earth toward heaven. I held my breath and listened to
the mild babel of _tut-ut-ut-tews_, with which the Snow Buntings greeted
me. The birds were loath to leave the place, and hovered indecisively
while the bird-man devoured them with his eyes. As they moved off
slowly, each bird seemed alternately to fall and struggle upward thru an
arc of five or six feet, independently of his fellows, so that the flock
as a whole produced quite the effect of a troubled snowstorm.
Snowflakes flock indifferently in winter and may occur in numbers up to
several hundred. At other times a single, thrilling, vibrant call-note,
_tew_ or _te-ew_, may be heard during the falling of the real flakes,
while the wandering mystery passes overhead, unseen. Stray birds not
infrequently mingle with flocking Horned Larks; while Snowflakes and
Lapland Longspurs are fast friends in the regions where the latter are
common.
Probably these birds are of regular tho sparing occurrence in the Big
Bend and Palouse countries, but they do not often reach the southern
border of the State; and their appearance on Puget Sound, as upon the
prairies of Pierce County, is quite unusual. While with us they move
aimlessly from field to field in open situations, or glean the
weed-seed, which forms their almost exclusive diet. In time of storm, or
when emboldened by the continuance of winter, they may make their
appearance in the barnyard, or about the outbuildings, where their
sprightly notes and innocent airs are sure to make them welcome.
It is difficult to conceive how these birds may withstand the frightful
temperatures to which they are subjected in a winter upon the
Saskatchewan plains, and yet they endure this by preference to the
effeminizing influences which are believed to prevail south of
“Forty-nine,” and especially west of the Rockies. Close-knit feathers,
the warmest covering known, fortified by layers of fat, render them
quite impervious to cold; and as for the raging blizzard, the birds have
only to sit quietly under the snow and wait till the blast has blown
itself out.
The sun alone prevails, as in the case of the man with the cloak, and at
the first hint of the sun’s return to power, these ice-children hasten
back to find their chilly cradles. A few nest upon the Aleutian Islands,
and along the shores of northern Alaska; but more of them resort to
those ice-wrapped islands of the far North, which are mere names to the
geographer and dismal memories to a few hardy whalers. Peary’s men found
them breeding in Melville Land; and if there is a North Pole, be assured
that some Snowflake is nestling contentedly at the base of it.
No. 37.
ALASKAN LONGSPUR.
A. O. U. 536a. Calcarius lapponicus alascensis Ridgw.
Description.—_Adult male in summer_: Head, throat, and fore-breast
black; a buffy line behind eye and sometimes over eye; a broad nuchal
patch, or collar, of chestnut-rufous; remaining upperparts light
grayish brown, streaked with black and with some whitish edging; below
white; heavily streaked with black on sides and flanks; tail fuscous
with oblique white patches on the outer rectrices; feet and legs
black; bill yellow with black tip. _Adult male in winter_: Lighter
above; the black of head and chestnut of cervical collar partially
overlaid with buffy or whitish edging; the black of throat and breast
more or less obscured by whitish edging. _Adult female in summer_:
Similar to male in summer, but no continuous black or chestnut
anywhere; the black of head mostly confined to centers of
feathers,—these edged with buffy; the chestnut of cervical collar only
faintly indicated as edging of feathers with sharply outlined dusky
centers; black of throat and chest pretty thoroly obscured by grayish
edging, but the general pattern retained; sides and flanks with a few
sharp dusky streaks. _Adult female in winter_: [Description of October
specimen taken in Seattle] Above buffy grayish brown streaked
(centrally upon feathers) with black, wing coverts and tertials with
rusty areas between the black and the buffy, and tipped with white;
underparts warm buffy brownish, lightening on lower breast, abdomen,
and under tail-coverts (where immaculate), lightly streaked with black
on throat, chest, and sides, sharply on sides and flanks. Length of
adult males about 6.50; wing 3.77 (95.8); tail 2.50 (63.3); bill .46
(11.7); tarsus .86 (21.8). Female smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; terrestrial habits; black head and
breast of male. The bird may be distinguished from the Horned Lark,
with which it sometimes associates, by the greater extent of its black
areas, and by the chirruping or rattling cry which it makes when
rising from the ground.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. _Nest_: in grass tussock on
ground, flimsy or bulky, of grasses and moss, frequently water-soaked,
and lined carefully with fine coiled grass, and occasionally feathers.
_Eggs_: 4-6, light clay-color with a pale greenish tinge, variously
marked,—speckled, spotted, scrawled, blotched, or entirely overlaid
with light brown or chocolate brown. Av. size .80 × .62 (20.3 × 15.7).
_Season_: first week in June; one brood.
General Range.—“The whole of Alaska, including (and breeding on) the
Pribilof and Aleutian Islands, Unalaska, and the Shumagins; east to
Fort Simpson, south in winter thru more western parts of North America
to Nevada (Carson City), eastern Oregon, Colorado, western Kansas,
etc.” (Ridgway).
Range in Washington.—Presumably of more or less regular occurrence in
winter on the East-side. Casual west of the Cascades.
Authorities.—[“Lapland Longspur,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885)
22.] Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 483.
By all the rules this bird should be abundant in winter in the stubble
fields of the Palouse country, if not upon the prairies of Pierce,
Thurston, and Chehalis Counties. Bendire reported them from Camp Harney
in eastern Oregon, and Brooks says they are common on Sumas Prairie, B.
C.; but we have only one authentic record for this State, that of a
straggler taken near Seattle in October, 1907. These Longspurs abound in
Alaska during the nesting season, but it would appear that the mountain
barriers habitually deflect their autumnal flight to the eastward, and
that the few which reach us straggle down the coast.
Those who have seen Iowa prairies give up these birds by scores and
hundreds every few rods, have been able to form some conception of their
vast numbers, but it remained for the storm of March 13-14, 1904, to
reveal the real order of magnitude of their abundance. An observer
detailed by the Minnesota State Natural History Survey estimates that a
million and a half of these “Lapland” Longspurs perished in and about
the village of Worthington alone; and he found that this destruction,
tho not elsewhere so intense, extended over an area of fifteen hundred
square miles.
In spite of such buffetings of fortune, those birds which do reach
Alaska bring a mighty cheer with them to the solitudes. As Nelson says:
“When they arrive early in May the ground is still largely covered with
snow with the exception of grassy spots along southern exposures and the
more favorably situated portions of the tundra, and here may be found
these birds in all the beauty of their elegant summer dress. The males,
as if conscious of their handsome plumage, choose the tops of the only
breaks in the monotonous level, which are small rounded knolls and
tussocks. The male utters its song as it flies upward from one of these
knolls and when it reaches the height of ten or fifteen yards, it
extends the points of its wings upwards, forming a large V-shaped
figure, and floats gently to the ground, uttering, as it slowly sinks,
its liquid tones, which fall in tinkling succession upon the ear, and
are perhaps the sweetest notes that one hears during the entire
spring-time in these regions. It is an exquisite jingling melody, having
much less power than that of the Bobolink, but with the same general
character, and, tho shorter, it has even more melody than the song of
that well known bird.”
No. 38.
WESTERN LARK SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 552 a. Chondestes grammacus strigatus (Swains.).
Synonyms.—Quail-head. Western Lark Finch.
Description.—_Adult_: Head variegated, black, white, and chestnut;
lateral head-stripes black in front, chestnut behind; auriculars
chestnut, bounded by rictal and post-orbital black stripes; narrow
loral, and broader submalar black stripes; malar, superciliary, and
median stripes white, the two latter becoming buffy behind; upper
parts buffish gray brown, clearest on sides of neck, streaked by
blackish brown centers of feathers on middle back and scapulars,
persisting as edging on the fuscous wings and tail; tail-feathers,
except middle pair, broadly tipped with white; below white, purest on
throat and belly, washed with grayish buff on sides and crissum, also
obscurely across fore-breast, in which is situated a central black
spot. Length 6.25 (158.8); wing 3.35 (85); tail 2.68 (68); bill .47
(12); tarsus .80 (20.3).
[Illustration: WESTERN LARK SPARROW.]
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; head variegated black, white, and
chestnut; fan-shaped tail broadly tipped with white and conspicuous in
flight (thus easily distinguished from the Western Vesper Sparrow with
square tail and lateral white feathers).
Nesting.—_Nest_: of grasses, lined with finer grass, rootlets and
occasionally horse-hair, on the ground or, rarely, in low bushes or
trees. _Eggs_: 5, white, pinkish or bluish white, spotted and scrawled
in zigzags and scrolls with dark browns or purplish blacks, chiefly at
the larger end; notably rounded in shape. Av. size .82 × .65 (20.8 ×
16.5). _Season_: May 15-June 5; one brood, rarely two.
General Range.—Western United States and plateau of Mexico; north to
middle British Columbia, Manitoba, etc.; east to eastern border of
Great Plains; west to Pacific Coast, including peninsula of lower
California; south in winter to Guatemala.
Range in Washington.—Summer resident east of Cascades only, in Upper
Sonoran and Arid Transition zones.
Migrations.—Wallula, May 6, 1907; Yakima Co., May 1, 1906; ibid, May
3, 1900; Chelan, May 19, 1896.
Authorities.—[“Western lark finch,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T., 1884
(1885), 22.] Belding, Land Birds Pacific District (1890), p. 148
(Walla Walla, J. W. Williams, 1885). (T.) (C&S.) D¹. D². Ss¹. Ss². J.
Specimens.—(U. of W.) C. P.
[Illustration: _Taken in Douglas County._ _Photo by the Author._
A SAGE-BUSH NEST.]
As in the case of the Sandwich and Savanna Sparrows, the curiously
striped coloration of this bird’s head is evidently intended to
facilitate concealment. The bird peering out of a weed clump is almost
invisible. And yet, as I was once passing along a sage-clad hillside in
Chelan county with an observing young rancher, my companion halted with
a cry. He had caught the gleam of a Lark Sparrow’s eye as she sat
brooding under a perfect mop of dead broom-sage. The camera was brought
into requisition, and the lens pointed downward. The camera-cloth
bellied and flapped in the breeze, yellow tripod legs waved
belligerently, and altogether there was much noise of photographic
commerce, but the little mother clung to her eggs. The stupid glass eve
of the machine, spite of all coaxing, saw nothing but twigs, and we were
obliged to forego a picture of the sitting bird. To get the accompanying
picture of eggs, I was obliged to hack away the protecting brush, having
first slipped in a handkerchief to protect the nest and contents from
showering debris.
[Illustration: _Taken near Chelan._ _Photo by the Author._
GROUND NEST OF WESTERN LARK SPARROW.]
The desert harbors many choice spirits, but none (save the incomparable
Sage Thrasher) more joyous or more talented than the Lark Sparrow.
Whether it is running nimbly along the ground or leaping into the air to
catch a risen grasshopper, one feels instinctively that here is a dainty
breed. The bird loves to trip ahead coquettishly along a dusty road,
only to yield place at last to your insistent steed with an air of
gentle reproach. As it flits away you catch a glimpse of the rounded
tail, held half open, with its terminal rim of white, and you know you
have met the aristocrat of the sage.
Lark Sparrows are somewhat irregular in distribution, but their range
corresponds roughly with the northern extension of the Upper Sonoran
zone, with overflow into the adjacent Arid Transition. Altho prairie
birds, they are fond of scattered trees, fences, telegraph poles, or
anything which will afford sufficient elevation for the sweet sacrament
of song.
This bird, more frequently than others, is found singing in the middle
of the very hottest days in summer, and at such times his tremulous
notes come to the ear like the gurgling of sweet waters. But Ridgway’s
description has not been surpassed:[15] “This song is composed of a
series of chants, each syllable rich, loud, and clear, interspersed with
emotional trills. At the beginning the song reminds one somewhat of that
of the Indigo Bird (_Passerina cyanea_), but the notes are louder and
more metallic, and their delivery more vigorous. Tho seemingly hurried,
it is one continued gush of sprightly music; now gay, now melodious, and
then tender beyond description,—the very expression of emotion. At
intervals the singer falters, as if exhausted by exertion, and his voice
becomes scarcely audible; but suddenly reviving in his joy, it is
resumed in all its vigor, until he appears to be really overcome by the
effort.”
These gentle birds are evidently profiting somewhat by the human
occupation of the soil, and adapt themselves readily to changed
conditions. They are reported as breeding in the valley of the
Willamette in Oregon, but we have no records of their occurrence in
Washington west of the Cascades.
No. 39.
WESTERN VESPER SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 540a. Poœcetes gramineus confinis Baird.
Synonyms.—Western Grass Finch. Bay-winged Bunting.
Description.—_Adults_: General tone of upperparts slaty or grayish
brown on the edges of the feathers, modified by the dusky centers, and
warmed by delicate traces of rufous, bend of wing bay, concealing
dusky centers; wings and tail fuscous with pale tawny or whitish
edgings,—outer tail-feathers principally or entirely white, the next
two pairs white, or not, in varying amount; below sordid white,
sharply streaked on breast, flanks, and sides with dusky brown; the
chin and throat with small arrow marks of the same color and bounded
by chains of streaks; auriculars clear hair-brown, with buffy or
lighter center; usually a buffy suffusion on streaked area of breast
and sides. Length of adult male: 5.75-6.25 (146.1-158.8); wing 3.29
(83.6); tail 2.59 (65.8); bill .44 (11.2); tarsus .85 (21.6). Female a
little smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; general streaked appearance; white
lateral tail-feathers conspicuous in flight; frequents fields and the
open sage.
Nesting.—_Nest_: on ground, usually in depression, neatly lined with
grasses, rootlets, and horse-hair. _Eggs_: 4 or 5, pinkish-, grayish-,
or bluish-white, speckled, spotted and occasionally scrawled with
reddish-brown. Av. size, .82 × .60 (20.8 × 15.2). _Season_: first week
in May, second week in June; two broods.
General Range.—Western United States (except Pacific coast district)
and Canada north to Saskatchewan east to Manitoba, the Dakotas
(midway), western Nebraska, etc.; breeding from the highlands of
Arizona and New Mexico northward; in winter from southern California
east to Texas and south to southern Mexico.
Range in Washington.—East-side, sparingly distributed in all open
situations.
Migrations.—_Spring_: Yakima Co., March 15, 1900; Chelan Co., March
31, 1896.
Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, XIV. April 1897, p. 178. Sr. D². Ss¹. Ss².
J.
Specimens.—P. Prov. C.
A sober garb cannot conceal the quality of the wearer, even tho Quaker
gray be made to cover alike saint and sinner. Plainness of dress,
therefore, is a fault to be readily forgiven, even in a bird, if it be
accompanied by a voice of sweet sincerity and a manner of
self-forgetfulness. In a family where a modest appearance is no
reproach, but a warrant to health and long life, the Vesper Sparrow is
pre-eminent for modesty. You are not aware of his presence until he
disengages himself from the engulfing grays and browns of the
stalk-strewn ground or dusty roadside, and mounts a fence-post to rhyme
the coming or the parting day.
The arrival of Vesper Sparrow, late in March, may mark the supreme
effort of that particular warm wave, but you are quite content to await
the further travail of the season while you get acquainted with this
amiable newcomer. Under the compulsion of the sun the bleary fields have
been trying to muster a decent green to hide the ugliness of winter’s
devastation. But wherefore? The air is lonely and the sage untenanted.
The Meadowlarks, to be sure, have been romping about for several weeks
and getting bolder every day; but they are roisterous fellows, drunk
with air and mad with sunshine. The winter-sharpened ears wait hungrily
for the poet of common day. The morning he comes a low sweet murmur of
praise is heard on every side. You know it will ascend unceasingly
thenceforth, and spring is different.
Vesper Sparrow is the typical ground bird. He eats, runs, sleeps, and
rears his family upon the ground; but to sing—ah, that is
different!—nothing less than the tip of the highest sage-bush will do
for that; a telegraph pole or wire is better; and a lone tree in a
pasture is not to be despised for this one purpose. The males gather in
spring to engage in decorous concerts of rivalry. The song consists of a
variety of simple, pleasing notes, each uttered two or three times, and
all strung together to the number of four or five. The characteristic
introduction is a mellow whistled _he-ho_, a little softer in tone than
the succeeding notes. The song of the western bird has noticeably
greater variety than that of the eastern. Not only is it less
stereotyped in the matter of pitch and duration, but in quality and
cadence it sometimes shows surprising differences. One heard in Chelan
County would have passed for Brewer’s on a frolic, except for the
preliminary “_hee-ho’s_”: _Heéoo heéoo heéoo ^buzziwuzziwuzzi
wuzziwuzziwuzzi weechee weechee_. And indeed it would not be surprising
if he had learned from _Spizella breweri_, who is a constant neighbor
and a safe guide in matters of sage lore. The scolding note, a
thrasher-like kissing sound, _tsook_, will sometimes interrupt a song if
the strange listener gets too close. Early morning and late evening are
the regular song periods; but the conscientious and indefatigable singer
is more apt than most to interrupt the noontide stillness also.
Since this species is a bird of open country and uplands, it cares
little for the vicinity of water; but it loves the dust of country roads
as dearly as an old hen, and the daily dust-bath is a familiar sight to
every traveler. While seeking its food of weed-seeds and insects, it
runs busily about upon the ground, skulking and running oftener than
flitting for safety. Altho not especially timid it seems to take a sort
of professional pride in being able to slip about among the weed stems
unseen.
[Illustration: _Taken in Douglas County._ _Photo by the Author._
THE ENEMY.
THE RATTLESNAKE IS THE SCOURGE OF ALL GROUND-NESTING BIRDS.]
It is, of course, at nesting time that the sneak-ability of the bird is
most severely tested. The nest, a simple affair of coiled grasses, is
usually sunk, or chambered in the ground, so that its brim comes flush
with the surface. For the rest, the brooding bird seldom seeks any other
protection than that of “luck,” and her own ability to elude observation
when obliged to quit the nest. Her behavior at this time depends largely
upon the amount of disturbance to which she is subjected. At first
approach of danger she is inclined to stick to her post till the last
possible moment, and then she falls lame as she flutters off. But if
often frightened, she shrewdly learns to rise at a considerable
distance.
Two and sometimes three broods are raised in a season, the first in late
April, the second in late June or early July. Pastures and fallow
grounds are favorite spots for home building, but I have frequently come
upon the nests in the open sage, and here oftenest upon hillsides or
tops of low ridges.
Altho not averse to the wilderness, there is reason to believe that this
bird profits by the advent of civilization, and that its numbers are
slowly increasing.
No. 40.
OREGON VESPER SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 540 b. Poœcetes gramineus affinis Miller.
Synonyms.—Pacific Vesper Sparrow. Miller’s Grass Finch.
Description.—Similar to _P. g. confinis_ but smaller and coloration
darker, browner above, more distinctly buffy below. Length of adult
male about 5.75 (146); wing 3.04 (77.2); tail 2.28 (57.9); bill .43
(10.9); tarsus .81 (20.6). Female a little smaller.
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding, less liable to confusion because
of absence of Brewer Sparrow, Western Lark Sparrow, etc., from range.
Nesting.—_Nest_: on ploughed ground or under shelter of fern-stalk,
fallen branch, or the like; of grasses lined with hair; measures
externally 3 inches across by 2 in depth, inside 2¼ across by 1¼ in
depth. _Eggs_: 3 or 4, size and color as in preceding. _Season_: May;
one brood, rarely two.
General Range.—Pacific coast district from northern California north
to British Columbia (including Vancouver Island); south in winter thru
southern California to Cape St. Lucas.
Range in Washington.—Of local occurrence on prairies and in cultivated
valleys west of the Cascades—not common.
Migrations.—_Spring_: Tacoma April 9, 1906; April 13, 1907.
Authorities.—_Poocætes gramineus_ Ba[i]rd, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R.
Surv. IX. 1858, p. 447 (part). (T). C&S. Ra. B.
Specimens.—(U. of W.) P. Prov. B. E.
The appearance of a Vesper Sparrow where trees are the rule is something
of an anomaly. Nevertheless, this plains-loving bird seems to do very
well in the prairie region south of Tacoma; and it has been here at
least long enough to begin to assume the darker garb which characterizes
old residents of the Sound region.
The bird is becoming fairly common wherever conditions in the large are
suitable for it. I found it in numbers at Dungeness in the spring of
1906; and the agricultural lands of the Skagit are being accepted by
this gentle songster as tho duly made and provided.
Mr. Bowles finds that eggs may not be looked for in the vicinity of
Tacoma before the first week in May, and they are not certainly found
before the middle of that month. Open prairie is most frequently
selected for a site, and its close-cropped mossy surface often requires
considerable ingenuity of concealment on the bird’s part. Ploughed
ground, where undisturbed, is eagerly utilized. At other times a shallow
cup is scraped at the base of a small fern, or the protection of a
fallen limb is sought.
The eggs, from three to five in number, are perhaps the most handsomely,
certainly the most quaintly marked of any in the sparrow family. The
ground color is grayish white; and this, in addition to sundry
frecklings and cloudings of lavender, is spotted, blotched, and
scrawled, with old chestnut.
The female sits closely and sometimes will not leave the nest until
removed. She seldom flies at that, but steps off and trips along the
ground for some distance. Then she walks about uneasily or pretends to
feed, venturing little expression of concern. Curiously, her liege lord
never appears, either, in defense of his home, but after the young are
hatched he does his fair share in feeding them.
No. 41.
SANDWICH SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 542. Passerculus sandwichensis (Gmelin).
Synonym.—Larger Savanna Sparrow.
Description.—_Adults_: General tone of upper plumage grayish brown—the
feathers blackish centrally with much edging of grayish-brown
(sometimes bay), flaxen and whitish; a mesial crown-stripe dull buffy,
or tinged anteriorly with yellowish; lateral stripes with grayish
brown edging reduced; a broad superciliary stripe yellow, clearest
over lore, paling posteriorly; cheeks buffy with some mingling and
outcropping of dusky; underparts whitish, clearest on throat, washed
with buffy on sides, heavily and sharply streaked on sides of throat,
breast, sides, flanks and thighs with dusky; streaks nearly confluent
on sides of throat, thus defining submalar area of whitish; streaks
darkest and wedge-shaped on breast, more diffused and edged with buffy
posteriorly; under tail-coverts usually _but not always_ with
concealed wedge-shaped streaks of dusky; bill dusky or dull horn-color
above, lighter below; feet palest; iris dark brown. _Fall specimens_
are brighter; the yellow, no longer prominent in superciliary stripe,
is diffused over plumage of entire head and, occasionally, down sides;
the bend of the wing is pale yellow (or not); the sides are more
strongly suffused with buffy which usually extends across breast.
Length about 5.75 (146); wing 2.99 (76); tail 2.00 (51); bill .47
(12); tarsus .88 (22.5).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size (but much more robust in appearance
than a Warbler); general streaky appearance; the striation of the
head, viewed from before, radiates in twelve alternating areas of
black and white (or yellow); larger and lighter than the (rare)
Savanna Sparrow (_P. s. savanna_); larger. darker and browner than the
common Western Savanna Sparrow (_P. s. alaudinus_).
Nesting.—Not yet reported breeding in Washington. _Nest_ and _eggs_ as
in _P. s. alaudinus_.
General Range.—“Unalaska Island (also Shumagin islands and lower
portion of Alaska peninsula?) in summer; in winter, eastward and
southward along the coast to British Columbia, more rarely to Northern
California” (Ridgway). Also breeds extensively in western British
Columbia and on Vancouver Island (_Auct._ Fannin, Kermode, Dawson).
Range in Washington.—Spring and fall migrant on both sides of the
Cascades (sparingly on East-side); (presumably) resident in winter
west of the range; possibly summer resident in northwestern portion of
State.
Migrations.—_Spring_: April (West-side); South Park April 24, 25, 29,
1894; May (East-side); Yakima Co. May 8, 10, 1894; _Fall_: September.
Authorities.—_Passerculus sandwichensis_ Baird, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R.
Surv. IX. 1858, p. 445. C&S. Rh. Kb.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. C.
The interrelations and distributions of the _Passerculus sandwichensis_
group are not at all clear as yet, but the migrant birds of spring and
middle fall are usually of this form, and hail from or are bound for the
coast of British Columbia and Alaska. At Blaine I have found them
skulking about the fish-trap timbers of Semiahmoo spit, during the last
week in September; or hiding in the rank grass which lines the little
waterways draining into Campbell Creek. At such times they keep cover
until one is almost upon them, and then break out with a frightened and
protesting _tss_, only to seek shelter again a dozen feet away.
No. 42.
SAVANNA SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 542 a. Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wilson).
Synonyms.—Savannah Sparrow. Meadow Sparrow. Ground Sparrow.
Description.—_Adult_: Similar to _P. sandwichensis_ but decidedly
smaller and darker (usually browner as well), with bill both
relatively and absolutely smaller, and with less or less conspicuous
yellow in superciliary stripe. Length about 5.60 (142.2) wing 2.68
(68); tail 1.90 (48.2); bill .41 (10.4); tarsus .82 (20.8).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; 12-radiant pattern of head; general
streakiness of upperparts; sharply streaked on breast and sides;
darker.
Nesting.—Has not been discovered breeding in Washington but probably
does so. _Nest_ and _Eggs_ as next.
General Range.—Eastern North America breeding from the northern United
States to Labrador and the Hudson Bay country; casual(?) in the
Western United States.
Range in Washington.—Imperfectly made out; many birds resident on
West-side believed to be of this form.
Authorities.—Bowles and Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 483.
Specimens.—Bowles, Tacoma, April 28, 1907 (4).
Some specimens we get on Puget Sound are no larger than typical
_Western_ Savanna, but are more strongly and brightly colored—handsome
enough to be _sandwichensis_ proper. Are these _re_saturated forms the
bleached _alaudinus_, so long resident in the wet country as to be now
reassuming the discarded tints of old? Are they, rather, intergrades
between _P. s. sandwichensis_ and _P. s. alaudinus_, theoretically
resident on the lower Sound and in B. C.? Or are they casual overflows
of true _savanna_, ignorant of our western metes and bounds? I do not
know. Tweedledum or tweedledee? Here is a fine problem for the man with
a gun, to whom a new subspecies is more than the lives of a thousand
innocents. But I disclaim all responsibility in the matter.
No. 43.
WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 542b. Passerculus sandwichensis alaudinus (Bonap.).
Synonym.—Gray Savannah Sparrow.
Description.—Similar to _P. s. savanna_ but decidedly paler and
grayer; less bay or none in edging of feathers of upperparts; yellow
of superciliary stripe usually paler, sometimes nearly white; bill
longer and relatively weaker. Other dimensions about as in _P. s.
savanna_.
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding—_paler_.
Nesting.—_Nest_: in grassy meadow, of dried grasses settled deeply
into dead grass or, rarely, into ground. _Eggs_: 4 or 5, grayish white
to light bluish green, profusely dotted or spotted and blotched with
varying shades of brown and slate, sometimes so heavily as to conceal
the ground color. Av. size, .75 × .55 (19 × 13.97). _Season_: third
week in May; one brood.
General Range.—Western North America from the eastern border of the
Great Plains breeding from the plateau of Mexico to northwestern
Alaska; in winter south to Lower California and Guatemala.
Range in Washington.—Both sides of the Cascades in low-lying meadows.
Perhaps sparingly resident in winter on West-side.
Migrations.—_Spring_: About April 1st; Bremerton March 23, 1906.
Authorities.—_Passerculus alaudinus_ Bonap. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R.
Surv. IX. 1858, 447. (T). C&S. L¹. Rh. Ra. Kk. J. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B.
Not every bird can be a beauty any more than every soldier can be a
colonel; and when we consider that ten times as many shot-guns are in
commission in time of peace as rifles in time of war, we cannot blame a
bird for rejoicing in the virtue of humility, envying neither the
epaulets of General Blackbird nor even the pale chevrons of Sergeant
Siskin. A Savanna Sparrow, especially the washed-out western variety, is
a mere detached bit of brown earth done up in dried grasses; a feathered
commonplace which the landscape will swallow up the instant you take
eyes off it. To be sure, if you can get it quite alone and _very_ near,
you see enough to admire in the twelve-radiating pattern of the head,
and you may even perceive a wan tint of yellow in the superciliary
region; but let the birdling drop upon the ground and sit motionless
amidst the grass, or in a criss-cross litter of weed-stalks, and sooner
far will you catch the gleam of the needle in the haystack.
[Illustration: WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW.]
Savannas are birds of the meadows, whether fresh or salt, and wherever
well-watered grasses and weeds abound, there they may be looked for.
During migration, indeed, they may appear in most unexpected places. I
saw one last year, at Bremerton, which haunted the vicinity of a tiny
cemented pond in the center of a well-kept lawn. This bird hopped about
coyly, peering behind blades of grass, and affecting a dainty fright at
the sight of water, very much as a Chipping Sparrow might have done. In
their nesting habits these little fellows approach more closely to
colonizing than any other members of the Sparrow family. Large tracts of
land, apparently suitable, are left untenanted; while, in a near-by
field of a few acres, half a dozen pairs may be found nesting. More
recently the birds have accepted the shelter of irrigated tracts upon
the East-side, and their numbers would seem almost certainly to be upon
the increase.
To ascertain the presence of these birds, the ear-test is best, when
once the song is mastered. The latter consists of a series of lisping
and buzzing notes, fine only in the sense of being small, and quite
unmusical, _tsut, tsut, tsu wzzzzztsubut_. The sound instantly recalls
the eastern Grasshopper Sparrow (_Coturniculus savannarum passerinus_),
who is an own cousin; but the preliminary and closing flourishes are a
good deal longer than those of the related species, and the buzzing
strain shorter.
Love-making goes by example as well as by season, so that when the
choral fever is on they are all at it. The males will sing from the
ground rather than keep silence, altho they prefer a weed-top, a fence
post, or even a convenient tree. The female listens patiently near by,
or if she tries to slip away for a bit of food, the jealous lover
recalls her to duty by an ardent chase.
The nest is settled snugly in the dead grasses of last year’s ungathered
crop, and is thus both concealed from above and upborne from below, and
is itself carefully done in fine dead grasses.
The sitting bird does not often permit a close approach, but rises from
the nest at not less than thirty feet. The precise spot is, therefore,
very difficult to locate. If discovered the bird will potter about with
fine affection of listlessness, and seems to consider that she has done
her full duty in not showing the eggs.
No. 44.
DESERT SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 573 a. Amphispiza bilineata deserticola Ridgw.
Description.—_Adults_: Above brownish gray, browner on middle of back
and on wings; a conspicuous white superciliary stripe bounded narrowly
by black above and separated from white malar stripe (not reaching
base of bill) by gray on sides of head; lores, anterior portion of
malar region, chin, throat and chest centrally black, the last named
with convex posterior outline; remaining underparts white tinged with
grayish on sides and flanks; tail blackish, the outer web of outermost
rectrix chiefly white, the inner web with white spot on tip, second
rectrix (sometimes third or even fourth) tipped with white on inner
web. Bill dusky; feet and legs brownish black. _Young_ birds like
adults but without black pattern of head markings; chin and throat
white or flecked with grayish; breast streaked with same and back
faintly streaked with dusky; some buffy edging on wing. Length of
adults about 5.35 (135.9); wing 2.55 (65); tail 2.48 (63); bill .40
(10); tarsus .75 (19).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; grayish coloration; strong white
superciliary; _black_ throat distinctive.
Nesting.—Not yet reported from Washington. “_Nest_ in bushes, slight
and frail, close to the ground; _eggs_ 2-5, 0.72 × 0.58 (18.3 × 14.7),
white with a pale greenish or bluish tinge, unmarked; laid in May,
June and later” (Coues).
General Range.—Arid districts of southwestern United States and
northwestern Mexico west from western Texas to California north
probably to southern Idaho and Washington; south, in winter to
Chihuahua, Sonora and Lower California.
Range in Washington.—Probably summer resident in Upper Sonoran and
Arid Transition life-zones; believed to be recently invading State
from south.
Authority.—Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 483.
If one happens to be fairly well acquainted with the licensed musicians
of the sage, the presence of a strange voice in the morning chorus is as
noticeable as a scarlet golf jacket at church. The morning light was
gilding the cool gray of a sage-covered hillside in Douglas County, on
the 31st day of May, 1908, and the bird-man was mechanically checking
off the members of the desert choir, Brewer Sparrow, Lark Sparrow,
Vesper Sparrow and the rest, as they reported for duty, one by one, when
suddenly a fresh voice of inquiry, _Blew chee tee tee_, burst from the
sage at a stone’s cast. The binoculars were instantly levelled and their
use alternated rapidly with that of note-book and pencil as the leading
features of the stranger’s dress were seized upon in order of saliency:
Black chin and throat with rounded extension on chest outlined against
whitish of underparts and separated from grayish dusky of cheeks by
white malar stripe; lores, apparently including eye, black; brilliant
white superciliary stripe; crown and back warm light brown.
The newcomer was a male Desert Sparrow and the interest aroused by his
appearance was considerably heightened when it was recalled that he was
venturing some five hundred miles north of his furthest previously
recorded range. This bird, probably the same individual, was seen and
heard on several occasions subsequent thruout a stretch of half a mile
bordering on Brook Lake. Once a female was glimpsed in company with her
liege lord, flitting coquettishly from bush to bush; but the most
diligent search failed to discover a nest, if such there was. Nesting
was most certainly on the gallant’s mind for he sang at faithful
intervals. The notes of his brief but musical offering had something of
the gushing and tinkling quality of a Lark Sparrow’s. A variant form,
_whew, whew, whiterer_, began nicely but degenerated in the last member
into the metallic clicking of Towhee.
We have here, in all probability, another and a very conspicuous example
of that northward trend of species which we shall have frequent occasion
to remark. The passion of the North Pole quest is not merely a human
weakness; it is a deep-rooted instinct which we only share with the
birds. There was once a near-Eden yonder, a Pliocene paradise, from
which the cruel ice evicted us—birds and men—long, long ago. We go now
to reclaim our own.
No. 45.
SAGE SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 574.1. Amphispiza nevadensis (Ridgw.).
Synonyms.—Artemisia Sparrow. Nevada Sage Sparrow.
Description.—_Adults_: Upperparts (including auriculars and sides of
neck) ashy gray to ashy brown, clearer and grayer anteriorly, browner
posteriorly; pileum, back and scapulars sharply and narrowly streaked
with black; wings and tail dull black with light brownish or pale
grayish edging; the rectrices marked with white much as in preceding
species; a supraloral spot, an orbital ring and (usually) a short
median line on forehead white; sides of head slaty gray; lores dusky;
underparts white, clearest on throat where bounded and set off from
white of malar area by interrupted chain of dusky streaks,
occasionally with dusky spot on center of breast, marked on sides and
flanks with buffy and streaked with dusky; edge of wing pale yellow or
yellowish white. Bill blackish above, lighter below; legs dark brown,
toes darker; iris brown. _Young_: “Pileum, hindneck, chest and sides,
as well as back, streaked with dusky; otherwise essentially as in
adults” (Ridgway). Underparts save on throat sometimes tinged with
yellowish or buffy. Length of adult male about 6.00 (152.4); wing 3.11
(79); tail 2.95 (75); bill .39 (10); tarsus .84 (21.5). Female a
little smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size (barely); ashy gray plumage; _white_
throat defined by dusky streaks.
Nesting.—_Nest_: of twigs, sage bark, and “hemp” warmly lined with
wool, rabbit-fur, cow-hair or feathers, placed low in crotch of sage
bush. _Eggs_: 3-5, usually 4, brownish- or greenish-gray as to ground,
dotted, spotted or clouded, rarely scrawled, with chestnut or sepia
and with some purplish shell markings. Av. size .80 × .60 (20.3 ×
15.2). _Season_: April, June; two broods.
General Range.—Great Basin region of the Western United States, west
to eastern base of Sierra Nevada, east to eastern base of Rockies,
north (at least) to northern Washington; south, in winter, into
southern Arizona, etc.
Range in Washington.—Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition life zones in
eastern Washington north at least to the Grand Couleé; summer
resident.
Authorities.—[“Sagebrush Sparrow” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884
(1885), 22.] _Amphispiza belli nevadensis_, Dawson, Wilson Bulletin,
No. 39, June, 1902, p. 65. Ss¹. Ss².
Specimens.—U. of W. P.
Thank God for the sage-brush! It is not merely that it clothes the
desert and makes its wastes less arid. No one needs to apologize for the
unclad open, or to shun it as tho it were an unclean thing. Only little
souls do this,—those who, being used to small spaces, miss the support
of crowding elbows, and are frightened into peevish complaint when asked
to stand alone. To the manly spirit there is exultation in mere space.
The ground were enough, the mere Expanse, with the ever-matching blue of
the hopeful sky. But when to this is added the homely verdure of the
untilled ground, the cup of joy is filled. One snatches at the sage as
tho it were the symbol of all the wild openness, and buries his nostrils
in its pungent branches to compass at a whiff this realm of unpent
gladness. Prosy? Monotonous? Faugh! Back to the city with you! You are
not fit for the wilderness unless you love its very wormwood.
[Illustration: _Taken in Douglas County._ _Photo by W. Leon Dawson._
SAGE SPARROW ON NEST.
THIS BIRD WAS NOT THE VICTIM OF THE MISFORTUNE MENTIONED IN THE TEXT.]
The sage has interest or not, to be sure, according to the level from
which it is viewed. Regarded from the supercilious level of the
man-on-horseback, it is a mere hindrance to the pursuit of the erring
steer. The man a-foot has some dim perception of its beauties, but if
his errand is a long one he, too, wearies of his devious course. Those
who are best of all fitted to appreciate its infinite variety of gnarled
branch and velvet leaf, and to revel in its small mysteries, are simple
folk,—rabbits, lizards, and a few birds who have chosen it for their
life portion. Of these, some look up to it as to the trees of an ancient
forest and are lost in its mazes; but of those who know it from the
ground up, none is more loyal than the Sage Sparrow. Whether he gathers
a breakfast, strewn upon the ground, among the red, white, and blue, of
storkbill, chickweed, and fairy-mint, or whether he explores the
crevices of the twisted sage itself for its store of shrinking beetles,
his soul is filled with a vast content.
Here in the springtime he soon gets full enough for utterance, and
mounts the topmost sprig of a sage bush to voice his thanks. In general
character the song is a sort of subdued musical croaking, mellow and
rich at close quarters, but with little carrying power. The bird throws
his head well back in singing, and the tail is carried more nearly
horizontal than is the case with most Sparrows. A song from the Yakima
country ran: _Heo, chip’peway, chip′peway, chip′peway_, but a common
type heard on the banks of the Columbia in Walla Walla County, and
repeated upon the northern limit of the bird’s range in Douglas County,
is _Tup, tup, to weely, chup, tup_. A more pretentious ditty, occupying
two seconds in delivery, runs _Hooriedoppety, weeter wee, doodlety
pootat′er_,—an ecstacy song, wherein the little singer seems to be
intoxicated with the aroma of his favorite sage.
One may search a long time in the neighborhood of the singer—who, by the
way, closes the concert abruptly when he realizes that he is likely to
give his secret away—before finding the humble domicile a foot or two up
in a sage bush. A nest which contained five eggs was composed externally
of sage twigs set into a concealed crotch of the bush, but the bulk of
it consisted of weed-bark and “hemp” of a quite uniform quality; while
the lining contained tufts of wool, rabbit-fur, cow-hair, feathers, and
a few coiled horse-hairs. The feathers were procured at some distant
ranch, and their soft tips were gracefully upturned to further the
concealment of the eggs, already well protected by their grayish green
tints.
Another nest, sighted some forty paces away, contained one egg, and we
had high hopes of being able to secure photographs upon our return with
the camera. But a few rods further we came upon a crew of sneaking
Magpies, scouring the sage with a dozen beady eyes, and passing sneering
or vulgarly jocose remarks upon what they found. When we returned,
therefore, a day or two later, we were not surprised to learn that the
feathered marauders had preferred egg-in-the-bill to souvenir
photographs.
No. 46.
SLATE-COLORED JUNCO.
A. O. U. No. 567. Junco hyemalis (Linn.).
Synonyms.—Snow-bird. Eastern Snow-bird.
Description.—_Adult male in summer_: Upperparts, throat and breast
slate-color deepening to slaty-black on pileum, the bluish tinge
lacking on wings and tail; below, abruptly white from the breast, the
flanks ashy slate; the two outer pairs of tail-feathers entirely, and
the third pair principally white; bill flesh-color, usually tipped
with black. _Adult female_: Similar to male; throat and breast paler;
a brownish wash over the upperparts, deepest on nape and upper back;
wings brownish fuscous rather than black, and sides tawny-washed.
_Adult male in winter_, becoming like female, but still
distinguishable. Length 6.00-6.50 (152.4-165.1); wing 3.07 (78); tail
2.80 (71.1); bill .49 (12.5). Female averages slightly smaller than
male.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; white lateral tail-feathers; hood
_slaty_ as compared with _J. oreganus_ and _J. o. shufeldti_.
Nesting.—Not known to breed in Washington. _Nest_ and _eggs_ as next.
General Range.—North America, chiefly east of the Rocky Mountains,
breeding in the hilly portions of the Northern States (east of the
Rockies) north to the Arctic Coast and west to the valleys of the
Yukon and Kowak Rivers, Alaska; south in winter as far as the Gulf
States and sparingly over the Western States to California, Arizona,
etc.
Range in Washington.—Casual during migrations; may winter rarely in
company with _J. oreganus_.
Authorities.—_Not previously published_: W. T. Shaw _in epist._ Dec.
1, 1908. J. H. Bowles _in epist._ Jan. 19, 1909.
Specimens.—P¹.
This the familiar Snow-bird of the East is occasionally seen west of the
Rocky Mountains in winter and during migrations, specimens having been
taken at Sumas, B. C., by Mr. Allan Brooks, and at Corvallis, Oregon, by
Mr. A. R. Woodcock, in addition to the one reported from Pullman. It is
not impossible that the bird is more common than we have been supposing,
because, when found, it appears to be mingling freely with flocks of
allied species, quite unaware of the fact that such actions are of
interest to inquisitive bird-men.
No. 47.
OREGON JUNCO.
A. O. U. No. 567a. Junco oreganus (Towns.).
Synonyms.—“Oregon Snow-finch.” Western Snow-bird. Oregon Snow-bird.
Townsend’s Junco.
Description.—_Adult male_: Head and neck all around and chest
(abruptly defined along convex posterior edge) sooty black; back and
scapulars and edging of tertials warm reddish brown (nearly walnut
brown); rump, upper tail-coverts and middle and greater wing-coverts
slaty gray or ashy gray, sometimes glossed with olivaceous; wings and
tail dusky, edged with ashy; the outermost rectrix wholly and the
second chiefly touched with white, the third pair touched with white
near tip; sides of breast, sides and flanks strongly washed with
pinkish brown (vinaceous cinnamon); remaining underparts (below chest)
white. Bill pinkish white with dusky tip; iris claret red. _Adult
female_: Head and neck all around and chest scarcely contrasting in
color with upperparts but changing from warm brown (bister) above to
dull slaty overlaid with brownish on throat and chest; brown of back
(bister or dull sepia) without reddish tinge; white on second rectrix
not so extensive as in male; wash of sides duller, not so vinaceous.
_Young_: Top of head and hind-neck grayish brown streaked with dusky,
back and scapulars warmer brown streaked with black; throat, chest,
sides and flanks pale buffy brown streaked with blackish; otherwise as
in adult. Length of adult males about 6.35 (161.3); wing 2.95 (75);
tail 2.56 (65); bill .43 (11); tarsus 83 (21). Females smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black of head and throat contrasting
with white of breast; white lateral tail-feathers; head _black_ as
compared with _J. hyemalis_; back _reddish_ brown as compared with _J.
o. shufeldti_.
Nesting.—_Nest_: on ground at base of small bush or under fallen
branch, sometimes in open wood or set into brushy hillside, of dead
grasses and weed stems, scantily lined, or not, with hair; dimensions
2½ inches wide by 1½ inches deep inside. _Eggs_: 2-5, usually 4,
varying in ground color from pure white to pinkish white or pale blue,
spotted or freckled and blotched with light reddish brown or brownish
black, with occasional light cloudings of lavender; long oval to short
ovate; variable in size, .80 × .60 (20.3 × 15.2) to .73 × .56 (18.5 ×
14.2). _Season_: fourth week in April to first week in July or August
according to altitude; two or three broods.
General Range.—Pacific Coast district; in summer from southern British
Columbia north to Yakutat Bay, Alaska; in winter south irregularly to
California (Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties), straggling across the
Cascade-Sierras into interior.
Range in Washington.—Formerly summer resident, now chiefly migrant and
winter resident west of the Cascades; winter resident and migrant east
of Cascades.
Authorities.—?Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII., 1837, 188
(part). _Junco oreganus_ Sclater, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX.,
1858, 467. T. C&S. L¹. Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. D². Kk. B.
Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B.
In speaking of Juncoes it is necessary to distinguish between the
rufous-backed bird of winter, the Oregon Junco proper, and the
brownish-gray-backed bird of summer, the Shufeldt Junco. A dozen years
ago _oreganus_ was supposed to be the common breeding bird of Puget
Sound and the neighboring foothills, altho Shufeldt’s was well known in
the more open situations. Latterly, however, there has not been any
authentic account of the nesting of the red-backed bird within the
State. 1903 witnessed its last appearance as a summer bird, and that
only in the highlands. Recent specimens taken during the breeding season
at places so remote from each other as the prairies of Pierce County,
the banks of the Pend d’Oreille in Stevens County, and the High Cascades
in Whatcom County, have all proven to be _J. o. shufeldti_.
The fact appears to be that we have detected a Washingtonian instance of
that northward trend of species clearly recognizable in the East, but
obscured to our vision heretofore in the West by reason of varied
conditions and insufficient data. The theory is that the birds are still
following the retreat of the glacial ice. We know that the glacial
ice-sheet, now confined to Greenland and the high North, once covered
half the continent. In our own mountains we see the vestigial traces of
glaciers which were once of noble proportions. We know that the
southward advance of the continental ice-sheet must have driven all
animal life before it; and, likewise, that the territory since
relinquished by the ice has been regained by the animals. What more
natural than that we should witness thru close observation the northward
advance of those varieties of birds which are best suited to withstand
cold, and the corresponding occupation of abandoned territory on the
part of those next south?
Juncoes, moreover, are erratic in their migrations, and in the West, at
least, tend to become non-migratory. While Oregon Juncoes are the common
winter birds of Puget Sound, Shufeldt’s are not entirely absent at this
season, and we may even look to see them hold their own thruout the
year. The problem is further complicated by what we call vertical
migration, by which is meant that mountain birds descend to the valleys
in winter instead of flying southward. Our winter Shufeldts, therefore,
may or may not be strictly resident on, say, Steilacoom Prairie. The
summer birds may retire to California; the winter birds may have
descended from the Olympics or Mount Rainier.
No. 48.
SHUFELDT’S JUNCO.
A. O. U. No. 567b. Junco oreganus shufeldti (Coale).
Synonyms.—Washington Junco. Hybrid Snow-bird (Coues). Rocky Mountain
Junco (Coues).
Description.—_Adults_: Similar to _J. oreganus_ but back (in males)
grayish, or grayish-brown to sepia; in females sepia to drab; black of
head and throat more slaty; also averaging larger. _Length_: 6.00-6.50
(152.4-165); wing 3.15 (80); tail 2.72 (69); bill .43 (11); tarsus .83
(21).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black of head and throat contrasting
with brownish-gray of back and with white of breast; _grayer_ on back
than preceding.
Nesting.—_Nest_: much as in preceding, occasionally placed at moderate
heights in trees. _Eggs_: 4 or 5, pale bluish white, spotted and
blotched with light reddish brown and lavender, usually in light ring,
occasionally in confluent mass about larger end; size larger than
preceding. Av. .80 × .60 (20.3 × 15.2). _Season_: fourth week in April
to August according to altitude; two broods.
General Range.—Breeding from northern Oregon north into British
Columbia east to mountains of Alberta and Idaho; south in winter over
Rocky Mountain plateau region to Mexico,—northern California.
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident thruout the State, in or
near coniferous timber, from sea level to limit of trees; sparingly
resident in winter chiefly west of Cascades.
Authorities.—As in preceding. (T). C&S. Sr. Ra. D². J. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. B. Bn.
However it may fare with the Oregon Junco (q. v.), the southern
invaders, the birds with the rusty gray backs, now appear to possess the
land. They have stolen back sometime in March, so unobtrusively we
scarcely noticed when the substitution of gray-backs for red-backs was
effected; but soon we do notice that the yards and clearings are
frequented by happy rollicking troops of Shufeldt Juncoes, and we notice
too that some pronounced flirtations are being carried on.
There is a jovial restlessness about these birds in flock which is
contagious. Their every movement is accompanied by a happy titter, and
the pursuit of necessities is never so stern that a saucy dare from one
of their number will not send the whole company off pell-mell like a
route of school-boys. Whenever a Junco starts to wing, it flashes a
white signal in the lateral tail-feathers; and this convenient
“recognition mark” enables the birds to keep track of each other thruout
the maddest gambols in brush-lot or tree-top.
[Illustration: _Taken near Portland._ _Photo by W. L. Finley._
SIR! YOU INTRUDE!
FEMALE SHUFELDT JUNCO ON NEST.]
On a sunny day in March the Juncoes gather for a grand concert. The
males mount the bush-tops and hold forth in rival strains, while the
females lurk under cover and take counsel of their hearts. Junco’s song
is a sweet little tinkling trill, not very pretentious, but tender and
winsome. Interspersed with this is a variety of sipping and suckling
notes, whose uses are hard to discern. Now and then, also, a forcible
kissing sound may be heard, evidently a note of repulsion instead of
attraction, for it is employed in the breeding season to frighten
enemies. During the progress of the concert some dashing young fellow,
unable fully to express his emotion in song, runs amuck, and goes
charging about thru the woodsy mazes in a fine frenzy—without, however,
quite spilling his brains. Others catch the excitement and the company
breaks up in a mad whirl of amorous pursuit.
[Illustration: _Taken in Tacoma._ _Photo by the Author._
UNDER A TIN ROOF.
THE NEST IN THE CAN CONTAINS FIVE EGGS.]
At the end of the brief song period, Juncoes deploy thruout the
half-open woods or prairie borders of the entire State, from sea-level
to timber-line. The variety and interest of their nesting habits are
scarcely exceeded by those of any other bird. In general they appear to
be guided by some thought of seclusion or protection in their choice of
nesting sites. Steep hillsides or little banks are, therefore, favorite
places, for here the bird may excavate a cool grotto in the earth, and
allow the drapery of the hillside, mosses and running vines, to festoon
and guard the approaches. At Newport we found them nesting in the
road-cuts. At Snoqualmie the side of a haystack sheltered a confiding
pair. At Tacoma the birds nest at the base of tiny clumps of oak, or
under the shelter of brush-piles. Several nests have been found in old
tin cans flung down upon the prairie and only half obscured by growing
grasses. Again the birds trust to the density of vegetation, and shelter
in the grass of unmowed orchards, weed-lots, and meadows. One site was
found in which the bird occupied a carefully chosen fern arbor in the
midst of a collection of whitened bones, evidently the mortal remains of
a defunct draft horse. The situation was delightfully gruesome, and,
touched no doubt with vanity, the owner sat for her portrait at four
feet, á la Bernhardt.
[Illustration: _Taken in Whatcom County._ _Photo by the Author._
NEST AND EGGS OF SHUFELDT JUNCO.]
Juncoes keep very quiet during the nesting season until disturbed, and
they are very close sitters. When nearly stepped on the bird bursts off,
and, if there are young, crawls and tumbles along the ground within a
few feet of the intruder, displaying wings and tail in a most appealing
manner. The _tssiks_ of both birds are incessantly repeated, and the
whole woodside is set agog with apprehension.
If one posts himself in a suspected locality not too near the nest, it
is only a question of time till the solicitude of the nursing mother
will triumph over fear. One such I traced to a charming mossy bank,
overlooking a woodland pool; but on the first occasion it took the
parent bird exactly half an hour to go thru all the feints and
preliminaries before she ventured on the final plunge. There were
half-grown babies in this nest, and since we were in summer camp (at
Glacier, near the foot of Mt. Baker), I resolved to make friends of this
promising family with a view to portraiture.
As I sat next day watching my Juncoes, and waiting for the sun to get
around and light up the vicinity of the nest, the call to dinner
sounded. The mother bird, not without much misgiving and remonstrance,
had just visited her babies, so I rose to go; but as I did so, caught
sight of a stout garter snake, who lay watching the scene from a
distance of fully twenty feet, a wicked gleam of intelligence in his
eye. With quick suspicion of his purpose, I seized stones and hurled at
his retreating form; but the ground was rough and he managed to escape
into a large brush-pile. At table I ate hurriedly, listening the while
for the faintest note of trouble. When it came, a quick outcry from both
parents, instead of premonitory notes of discovery, I sprang to my feet,
clutched a stick, and rushed down to the spring. Alas for us! Satan had
found our Eden! The nest was emptied and the snake lay coiled over it in
the act of swallowing one of the little birds. Not daring to strike, I
seized him by the throat and released the baby Junco, whose rump only
had disappeared into the devouring jaws. Then with the stick I made
snake’s-head jelly on a rock and flung the loathsome reptile away. But
it was all too late. One young bird lay drowned upon the bottom of the
pool, and the other (I think there were only two) soon died of fright
and the laceration of the hinder parts attendant upon ophidian
deglutition. It was all so horrible! the malignant plan, the stealthy
approach, the sudden alarm, the wanton destruction of the fledglings,
the grief of the agonized parents, the remorse of the helper who came
too late! Is it any wonder that our forbears have pictured the
arch-enemy as a serpent?
No. 49.
WESTERN TREE SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 559 a. Spizella monticola ochracea Brewster.
Description.—_Adults_: Pileum, a streak behind eye and a small patch
on side of chest cinnamon-rufous or light chestnut; a superciliary
stripe and remaining portions of head and neck clear ashy gray; throat
and chest of same shade superficially but duller by virtue of
concealed dusky; an ill defined spot of dusky in center of lower
chest; remaining underparts dull white washed on sides with brownish;
general color of upperparts light buffy grayish brown, much
outcropping black on back, scapulars and tertials; some rusty edging
on back feathers, scapulars and greater wing-coverts; middle and
greater wing-coverts tipped with white, forming two conspicuous bands;
flight feathers and rectrices grayish dusky margined with whitish and
buffy. Bill blackish above, yellow, tipped with dusky, below; legs
brown, feet darker; iris brown. _In winter_ the cinnamon-rufous of
crown is slightly veiled, especially along median area, by ashy
skirtings of feathers, and the buffy of upperparts inclines to
strengthen. Length about 6.00 (152.4); wing 3.00 (76); tail 2.68 (68);
bill .39 (10); tarsus .82 (20.8).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; resembles Western Chipping Sparrow
but much larger; white wing-bars with chestnut of crown distinctive.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. “_Nest_, in low bushes or on
the ground, loosely constructed of bark strips, weeds and grasses,
warmly lined with feathers. _Eggs_, 4-6, or even 7, pale green,
minutely and regularly sprinkled with reddish brown spots” (Coues).
Av. size, .75 × .60 (19.1 × 15.2).
General Range.—Breeding from the valley of Anderson River, near the
Arctic coast westward thru Alaska to coast of Bering Sea, and for an
undetermined distance southward; in winter south thru western North
America to Arizona, Texas, etc., eastward across Rocky Mts. to Great
Plains (Ridgway).
Range in Washington.—Not common winter resident and migrant. Has not
recently been reported west of the Cascades.
Authorities.—Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VII. 1882, pp. 227, 228.
(T). (C&S). Sr. D².
Specimens.—(U. of W.). P¹. Prov.
“The sight of the first Tree Sparrow in the fall serves perfectly to
call up a vision of impending winter. Here are the hurrying blasts, the
leaden skies, the piling snow-drifts, all ready to make the beholder
shiver. But here, too, in some unburied weed patch, or thicket of
rose-briars, is a company of Tree Sparrows, stout-hearted and
cold-defying, setting up a merry tinkling chorus, as eloquent of good
cheer as a crackling Yule-log. How many times has the bird-man hastened
out after some cruel cold snap, thinking, ’Surely this will settle for
my birds,’ only to have his fears rebuked by a troop of these hardy
Norsemen revelling in some back pasture as if they had found their
Valhalla on this side the icy gates. Ho! brothers! here is food in these
capsules of mustard and cockle; here is wine distilled from the
rose-hips; here is shelter in the weedy mazes, or under the soft blanket
of the snow. What ho! Lift the light song! Pass round the cup again! Let
mighty cheer prevail!” (Birds of Ohio).
Truth to tell, the Western Tree Sparrows are somewhat rare winter
visitors, in eastern Washington only. In habits they do not appear to
differ materially from the typical form, which is very abundant in
winter thruout the northern tier of eastern states. In the nature of the
case, while with us, their food, consisting as it does of grass- and
weed-seeds and dried berries, is found near the ground; and so, for the
season, the name Tree Sparrow seems inconsistent. When persistently
annoyed, however, the flock will rise to the tree-tops in straggling
fashion, and there either await the withdrawal of the intruder, or else
make off at a good height.
The song of the Tree Sparrow is sweet and tuneful, affording a pleasing
contrast to the monotonous ditty of the Western Chipping Sparrow.
Snatches of song may be heard, indeed, on almost any mild day in winter;
but the spring awakening assures a more pretentious effort. A common
form runs, _Swee-ho, sweet, sweet, sweet_, with notes of a most
flattering tenderness. But we may only guess at the bird’s full powers,
for the home-making is in Alaska.
No. 50.
WESTERN CHIPPING SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 560 a. Spizella passerina arizonæ (Coues).
Synonyms.—Chippy. Hair-bird.
Description.—_Adult_: Crown bright chestnut; extreme forehead black
with ashy median line; a light ashy superciliary stripe; lore and
postocular streak black; underparts and sides of head and neck ashy
gray, dullest on breast and sides, clearest on throat where nearly
white; hind-neck and wings bluish ash, the former more or less
streaked with blackish; back and scapulars light brown (isabella
color) heavily streaked with black; wings and tail fuscous. Bill dark;
feet light; iris brown. _Young birds_ are streaked with dusky above
and below and lack the chestnut of crown. Length of adult males:
5.00-5.50 (127-139.7); wing 2.83 (72); tail 2.36 (60); bill .39 (10);
tarsus .67 (17). Females smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; chestnut crown and whitish
superciliary distinctive.
Nesting.—_Nest_: A compact or careless structure of fine twigs,
grasses, and (most commonly and often exclusively) rootlets, heavily
lined with horse hair; placed in sage-bush, wild rose thicket or
shrubbery, or else on horizontal branch of apple tree or evergreen.
_Eggs_: 3-5, usually 4, greenish blue speckled freely or in narrow
ring about larger end with reddish brown and black. Av. size, .71 ×
.51 (18 × 13). _Season_: April-July, usually May and June; two broods.
General Range.—Western North America from the Rockies to the Coast
breeding from the southern border of the United States north to the
Yukon Valley in Alaska, east over the western provinces of Canada;
south in winter to Mexico and Lower California.
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident thruout the State chiefly
in settled portions and more open situations.
Migrations.—_Spring_: Yakima, April 12, 1900; Chelan, April 24, 1896;
Tacoma, April 12, 1905, April 11, 1906.
Authorities.—_Spizella socialis_ Bonap. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv.
IX. 1858, 473 part. (T). C&S. D¹. Ra. D². Ss². Kk. J. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P¹. Prov. B. E.
Not all birds are fitly named, even in the “immutable Latin,” but this
one has a very accurate title in _Spizella socialis arizonæ_[16], which
we may freely translate as _the friendly little sparrow of the desert_.
An obscure little fellow he is to eye, a skit done in faded browns, with
a chestnut crown which still does not differentiate the owner from a
withered corymb in his native sage. Of the desert he is, for there is no
sage-brush wilderness too dreary to boast the presence of at least a few
Chipping Sparrows. And friendly he is, beyond question, for there are
few dooryards in the eastern part of the State where this bird is not a
trustful visitor; and his presence in western Washington is nearly
coextensive with that of man. For altho the Chipping Sparrow now abounds
in the prairie region of Pierce and adjacent counties, it is instructive
to note that its plumage gives no evidence of resaturation, or of
departure from the bleached type, as would be the case if it belonged to
one of the really “old families” of Puget Sound.
Whatever the weather, Chippy returns to us about the 12th day of April,
posts himself on the tip of a fir branch, like a brave little Christmas
candle, and proceeds to sputter, in the same part. Of all homely sounds
the monotonous trill of the Western Chipping Sparrow is the most
homely,—and the most easily forgivable. As music it scarcely ranks above
the rattle of castanets; but the little singer pours out his soul full
earnestly, and his ardor often leads him to sustained effort thruout the
sultry hours when more brilliant vocalists are sulking in the shade; and
for this we come to prize his homely ditty like the sound of plashing
waters.
[Illustration: _Taken in Pierce County._ _Photo by the Author._
JUST ARRIVED.
WESTERN CHIPPING SPARROW, ADULT MALE.]
Two Chipping Sparrow songs heard near Tacoma deserve special mention.
One likened itself in our ears to a tool being ground on a small emery
wheel. The wheel has a rough place on its periphery which strikes
against the tool with additional force and serves to mark a single
revolution, but the continuous burr which underlies the accented points,
or trill-crests, is satisfied by this comparison alone. The other
effort, a peculiar buzz of varying intensity, carries forward the same
idea of continuous sound, but the comparison changes. In this the song
appears to pour from the tiny throat without effort, and its movement is
as tho an unseen hand controlled an electric buzz, whose activity varies
with the amount of “juice” turned on: zzzzzzzzzzt, zzz_zzzz_zzzt,
_zzzz_zzzzzzt, ZZZ_ZZZZ_ZZZT, ZZZZZZZ_ZZZT_.
Chippy’s nest is a frail affair at best, altho often elaborately
constructed of fine twigs, rootlets and grasses with a plentiful lining
of horse-hair. In some instances the last-named material is exclusively
employed. A sage-bush is the favorite situation on the plains of the
Columbia, a horizontal fir branch in the wet country. Rose thickets are
always popular, and where the bird frankly forsakes the wilds,
ornamental shrubbery and vines are chosen. The nests are often so
loosely related to their immediate surroundings as to give the
impression of having been constructed elsewhere, and then moved bodily
to their present site. Some are set as lightly as feathers upon the tips
of evergreen branches, and a heavy storm in season is sure to bring down
a shower of Chippies’ nests.
[Illustration: _Taken near Chelan._ _Photo by the Author._
“FOUR OF THE CUTEST——.”]
Eggs are laid during the first or second week of May in the vicinity of
American Lake and from one to three weeks earlier in the sage country.
They are among the most familiar objects in Nature, and particular
description of them ought to be unnecessary. But every person who knows
that we are interested in birds has to stop us on the street to tell
about the “cunningest little nest, you know, with four of the cutest——”
“Hold on,” we say; “were the eggs blue?” “Yes,” “With dots on them?”
“Why, yes; how did you know?”
Incubation lasts only ten days and two broods are raised in each season.
Chipping Sparrows are very devoted parents and the sitting female will
sometimes allow herself to be taken in the hand. The male bird is not
less sedulous in the care of the young, and he sometimes exercises a
fatherly oversight of the first batch of babies, while his mate is
preparing for the June crop.
No. 51.
BREWER’S SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 562. Spizella breweri Cassin.
Description.—_Adults_: Upperparts grayish brown, brightest brown on
back, everywhere (save on remiges and rectrices) streaked with black
or dusky, narrowly on crown, more broadly on back and scapulars, less
distinctly on rump; wing-coverts and tertials varied by edgings of
brownish buff; flight-feathers and rectrices dark grayish brown or
dusky with some edging of light grayish brown; a broad pale buffy
superciliary stripe scarcely contrasting with surroundings; underparts
dull whitish tinged on sides and across breast by pale buffy gray.
Bill pale brown darkening on tip and along culmen; feet pale brown,
iris brown. _Young_ birds are less conspicuously streaked above;
middle and greater coverts broadly tipped with buffy forming two
distinct bands; breast streaked with dusky. Length 5.30 (1.35); wing
2.44 (62); tail 2.38 (60.5); bill .38 (8.8); tarsus .68 (17.4).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; general streaked appearance;
_absence_ of distinguishing marks practically distinctive;
sage-haunting habits.
Nesting.—_Nest_: of small twigs and dried grasses, lined with
horse-hair, set loosely in sage-bush. _Eggs_: 4 or 5, greenish blue,
dotted and spotted, sometimes in ring about larger end, with reddish
brown. Av. size .67 × .49 (17 × 12.4). _Season_: April, June; two
broods.
General Range.—Sage-brush plains of the West, breeding from Arizona to
British Columbia and east to western Nebraska and western Texas; south
in winter to Mexico and Lower California.
Range in Washington.—Open country of the East-side, abundant summer
resident; occasionally invades Cascade Mountains (only in late
summer?).
Migrations.—_Spring_: Yakima March 29, 1900.
Authorities.—[“Brewer’s sparrow,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884
(1885), 22]. Dawson, Auk, XIV, 1897, 178. D². Ss¹. Ss².
Specimens.—U. of W. P. C.
It is never quite fair to say that Nature produces a creature which
harmonizes perfectly with its surroundings, for the moment we yield
tribute of admiration to one creature, we discover amid the same
circumstances another as nearly perfect but entirely different. When we
consider the Sage Sparrow we think that Nature cannot improve much upon
his soft grays by way of fitness for his desert environment; but when we
come upon the Brewer Sparrow, we are ready to wager that here the dame
has done her utmost to produce a bird of non-committal appearance. Mere
brown might have been conspicuous by default, but brownish, broken up by
hazy streakings of other brownish or dusky—call it what you will—has
given us a bird which, so far as plumage is concerned, may be said to
have no mark of distinction whatever—just bird.
[Illustration: _Taken in Douglas County._ _Photo by the Author._
NEST AND EGGS OF BREWER SPARROW.]
The Sage Sparrow fits into the gray-green massy scheme of color harmony
in the artemisia, while Brewer’s fits into the somber, brown-and-streaky
scheme of its twigs and branches. To carry out the comparison, do not
look for _breweri_ early in the season, when the breath of the rain
rises from the ground and the air is astir: he is there, of course, but
disregard him. Wait, rather, until the season is advanced, when the
incomparable sun of Yakima has filled the sage-brush full to
overflowing, and it begins to ooze out heat in drowsy, indolent waves.
Then listen: _Weeeezzz, tubitubitubitubitub_, the first part an inspired
trill, and the remainder an exquisitely modulated expirated trill in
descending cadence. Instantly one conceives a great respect for this
plain dot in feathers, whose very existence may have passed unnoticed
before. The descending strain of the common song has, in some
individuals, all the fine shading heard in certain imported canaries.
Pitch is conceded by infinitesimal gradations, whereby the singer, from
some heaven of fancy, brings us down gently to a topmost twig of earthly
attainment. Nor does the song in other forms lack variety. In fact, a
midday chorus of Brewer Sparrows is a treat which makes a tramp in the
sage memorable.
Brewer’s Sparrow is of the sage sagey, and its range in Washington is
almost exactly co-extensive with the distribution of that doughty shrub;
but it is of record that _Spizella breweri_ indulges in some romantic
vacations, a specimen being once taken by me (July 25, 1900) at 8000
feet, upon the glacier levels of Wright’s Peak.
No. 52.
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 557. Zonotrichia coronata (Pall.).
Description.—_Adults_: A broad crown stripe gamboge-yellow, changing
abruptly to ashy gray on occiput; this bounded on each side by broad
stripe of silky black meeting fellow on forehead; remaining upperparts
grayish brown, broadly streaked with black on back, more or less edged
with dull chestnut on back, wing-coverts and tertials, glossed with
olive on rump and tail; middle and greater coverts tipped with white
forming conspicuous bars; chin, throat and sides of head ashy gray
with obscure vermiculations of dusky; remaining underparts washed with
buffy brown, darkest on sides and flanks, lightest, to dull white, on
belly, obsoletely and finely barred on breast. Bill blackish above,
paler below; feet pale; iris brown. _Immature_: Without definite
head-stripe; crown broadly dull olive-yellow, clearest on forehead,
elsewhere sharply flecked with blackish in wedge-shaped marks, giving
way to grayish brown or dull chestnut behind and to blackish on sides
(variably according to age?). Length 7.20 (182.8); wing 3.28 (83.3);
tail 3.06 (77.7); bill .48 (12.2); tarsus .96 (24.3).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; yellow of crown distinctive in any
plumage.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. _Nest_ and _eggs_ said to be
very similar to those of _Z. l. nuttalli_.
General Range.—Pacific Coast and Bering Sea districts of Alaska; south
in winter thru the Pacific States to Lower California; occasionally
straggles eastward.
Range in Washington.—Spring and fall migrant both sides of the
Cascades, more common westerly.
Migrations.—_Spring_: c. April 21 (West-side); c. May 20 (Chelan).
Authorities.—?_Emberiza atricapilla_ Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 47; pl.
394. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. Vol. IX. 1858, 462. C&S. L². D¹. Kb.
Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. E.
Regal tho he be, this sparrow is discreet in the matter of appearances,
and does not cultivate the public eye. Washington is only a way-station
in his travels, and the splendors and liberties of court life are
reserved for Alaska. Appearing at Tacoma during the last week in April,
demure companies of Golden-crowns may not infrequently be seen
associated with migrating Nuttalls. They are in no hurry, or perhaps the
haste of midnight flight is over when we see them yawning sleepily in
the bushes of a morning. They are languid too as they deploy upon the
park lawns, always within reach of cover, in search of fallen seeds or
lurking beetles. Their leisurely movements contrast strongly with the
bustling activities of the local Nuttalls; for the latter are burdened
with the care of children, before the Alaskan migrants have forsworn
bachelorhood. East of the Cascade Mountains the northward movement of
this species is even more tardy, and May 18-22 are the dates at which I
have recorded it at Chelan.
Migrating Zonotrichias are all coquettishly retiring, and the first hint
of danger sends them scuttling into the bushes. If one presses up to the
edge of the brush, he may hear an uncanny rustling among the leaves and
branches as the birds retreat, but not a single note is uttered. Left to
themselves, the birds become sociable with many _zinks_ common to the
genus; and, if unusually merry, the Golden-crowns indulge a sweet,
preparatory _hoo ^hee_ which reminds one of both the White-crowned (_Z.
leucophrys_) and White-throated (_Z. albicollis_) Sparrows of the East;
but the song has never been completed here to our knowledge.
Suckley said that Golden-crowned Sparrows were abundant in summer both
at Fort Dalles and Fort Steilacoom, but this was undoubtedly a mistake,
as the records of alleged nesting in California proved to be. On the
other hand they may winter with us to some extent, since Mr. Bowles took
a specimen on December 16, 1907, in the Puyallup Valley.
No. 53.
GAMBEL’S SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 554 a. Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii (Nuttall).
Synonyms.—Intermediate-crowned Sparrow. Intermediate Sparrow.
Description.—_Adults_: Crown pure white, becoming gray behind; lateral
crown-stripes meeting in front, and post-ocular stripes, jet black,
separated by white stripe continuous with lore; remainder of head,
neck all around, and entire underparts slaty gray, darkest on nape,
whitening on chin and belly, with a tawny wash on flanks and crissum;
back and scapulars brown (burnt umber) edged with gray; rump and upper
tail-coverts tawny olivaceous; wings and tail fuscous, the tertials
dark-centered with edgings of bay and white; middle and greater
coverts tipped with white, forming two inconspicuous wing-bars;
rectrices with brown shafts and tawny edgings, bill reddish brown
above, saffron yellow below, with tip of maxilla black. _Young_ of the
year have the black of head replaced by light chestnut, and the white
by ochraceo-fuscous or gray; in general darker and browner above than
adult. Length 6.50-7.00 (165-180); wing 3.07 (78); tail 2.76 (70);
bill .42 (10.7); tarsus .89 (22.5).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; broad white crown and jet black
lateral stripes strongly contrasting; slightly larger and general
coloration lighter than in _Z. l. nuttalli_; white crown-stripe
broader.
Nesting.—As next; not known to breed in Washington but probably does
so.
General Range.—Western North America, breeding from Montana, eastern
Oregon, etc., northward between coast mountains of British Columbia
and Alaska and the interior plains to the lower Mackenzie and Anderson
River Valleys, thence westward thruout Alaska to the coast of Bering
Sea; in winter southward across western United States into Mexico and
Lower California, straggling eastward across the Great Plains.
Range in Washington.—Abundant spring and fall migrant on the
East-side, possibly summer resident; doubtless migrant west of
Cascades, but no specimens taken.
Migrations.—_Spring_: April 20-May 20. Wallula, April 24, 1905;
Chelan, April 24, 1896; Brook Lake, June 7, 1908.
Authorities.—_Fringilla gambelii_ Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. & Canada,
2d Ed., 1, 1840, 556. _Z. gambeli intermedia_ Brewster, B. N. O. C.
VII. 1882, p. 227. D¹. Sr. D². Kk. J.
Specimens.—U. of W. C. P.
It is probably safe to say that during the height of their spring
migrations, viz., April 15th to May 15th, these birds exceed in numbers
all the other sparrows of eastern Washington combined. Indeed, on
certain occasions, it would seem that they are more numerous than all
other birds combined. And this altho they do not move in great flocks in
the open, like Redpolls, but flit and skulk wherever there is show of
cover. Wayside thickets, spring draws, and the timbered banks of streams
are favorite places. The more isolated the cover the more certain it is
to be held as a Zonotrichian stronghold, and they are sometimes so hard
put to it for shelter that they resort in numbers to the sage-brush,
where they affect great secretiveness.
These handsome and courtly gentlemen with their no less interesting, if
somewhat plainer, wives are far more reserved than their talents would
warrant. Our approach has sent a score of them scurrying into cover, a
neglected rose-briar patch which screens a fence, and now we cannot see
one of them. An occasional sharp _dzink_ of warning or protest comes out
of the screen, or a suppressed titter of excitement, as two birds jostle
in their effort to keep out of sight. We are being scrutinized, however,
by twenty pairs of sharp eyes, and when our probation is ended, now one
bird and now another hops up to an exposed branch to see and be seen.
What distinguished foreigners they are, indeed, with their white crowns,
slightly raised and sharply offset by the black stripes which flank
them,—Russians, perhaps, with shakos of sable and ermine. The bird has
an aristocratic air which is unmistakable; and, once he has deigned to
show himself, appears to expect deference as his due. What a pity they
will not make their homes with us, but must needs go further north!
As diligently as I have searched for this species, I have never found a
specimen in the summer months[17], nor is there any record of the bird’s
nesting in Washington. This is the more remarkable in that the type form
(_Z. leucophrys_) breeds extensively “thruout the high mountain
districts of the western United States” (Ridgway), exclusive of
Washington and Oregon, southward to the San Francisco Mountains of
Arizona, “northward to northern California (Mount Shasta, etc.).” In
view of this, one may feel free to suggest that the Camp Harney
record[18], referred to _gambelii_, is really referable to the typical
form, and that as such it represents a northern extension of
_leucophrys_, rather than a southern extension of _gambelii_.
No. 54.
NUTTALL’S SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 554 b. Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli Ridgw.
Synonyms.—Formerly called Gambel’s Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow
(name properly confined to _Z. leucophrys_). Crown Sparrow.
Description.—_Adults_: Like preceding but general tone of coloration
much darker; streaks of back and scapulars deepest brown or blackish;
general ground-color of upperparts light olive-gray; median
crown-stripe narrower, dull white; underparts more strongly washed
with brownish gray; axillaries and bend of wing more strongly yellow;
bill yellowish with dark tip. _Immature_: Similar to that of preceding
form, but underparts yellowish; upperparts light olive buff;
crown-stripe cinnamomeous, or pale chestnut. _Very young_ birds are
more extensively black-streaked above, and finely streaked below on
chin, throat, chest, and sides; bill brighter yellow; feet paler.
Length of adult males, 5.90-6.70 (150-170); wing 2.95 (75); tail 2.83
(72); bill .43 (11); tarsus .93 (23.5). Females smaller.
[Illustration: “A MILITARY GENTLEMAN IN A GRAY CLOAK.”]
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white striping of crown
distinctive in range; much darker than preceding.
Nesting.—_Nest_: on ground or low in bushes; rarely in trees up to 25
feet; a rather pretentious structure of bark-strips, dead grass, and
rootlets, with a lining of fine dead grass and horse-hair; measures
externally 6 in. wide by 4 deep; internally 2½, wide by 1 deep.
_Eggs_: 4 or 5, pale bluish white, profusely dotted and spotted, or
blotched, with varying shades of reddish brown. Av. size .86 × .64
(21.8 × 16.3). _Season_: Last week in April, and May 25-June 10; two
broods.
General Range.—Pacific Coast district, breeding from Monterey,
California, to Fort Simpson, British Columbia; south in winter to San
Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower California.
Range in Washington.—Of general distribution west of the Cascade
Mountains at lower altitudes; casually winter resident.
Migrations.—_Spring_: March 25-April 1.
Authorities.—_Z. gambelii_ Gambel, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX.
1858, 461. (T.) C&S. L¹.(?) L². Rh. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P. B. BN. E.
When you enter a bit of shrubbery at the edge of town in May or June,
your intrusion is almost sure to be questioned by a military gentleman
in a gray cloak with black-and-white trimmings. Your business may be
personal, not public, but somehow you feel as if the authority of the
law had been invoked, and that you would better be careful how you
conduct yourself in the presence of this military person. Usually
retiring, the Nuttall Sparrow courts exposure where the welfare of his
family is in question, and a metallic scolding note, _zink_, or _dzink_,
is made to do incessant service on such occasions. A thoroly aroused
pair, worms in beak, and crests uplifted, may voice their suspicions for
half an hour from fir-tip and brush-pile, without once disclosing the
whereabouts of their young.
Nuttall’s Sparrow is the familiar spirit of brush-lots, fence tangles,
berry patches, and half-open situations in general. He is among the last
to quit the confines of the city before the advancing ranks of apartment
houses and sky-scrapers, and he maintains stoutly any vantage ground of
vacant lot, disordered hedge-row, or neglected swamplet left to him.
After the Rusty Song Sparrow, he is perhaps the commonest Sparrow in
western Washington—unquestionably so within the borders of settlement.
As a songster this Sparrow is not a conspicuous success, altho he works
at his trade with commendable diligence. He chooses a prominent station,
such as the topmost sprig of a fir sapling, and holds forth at regular
intervals in a prosy, iterative ditty, from which the slight musical
quality vanishes with distance. _Hee ho, chee weé, chee weé chee wééé_
and _Hee, wudge, i-wudge i-wudge i-wéééé_ are vocalized examples. The
preliminary _hee ho_ is sometimes clear and sweet enough to prepare
one’s ear for the Vesper Sparrow’s strain, but the succeeding syllables
are tasteless, and the trill with which the effort concludes has a
wooden quality which we may overlook in a friend but should certainly
ridicule in a stranger. We are humbled in view of the vocal limitations
of this bird when we recall that the voice of the White-crowned Sparrow
(_Z. leucophrys_), of which ours is a local race, is noted for its
sweet, pure quality. Surely our bird has caught a bad cold.
In selecting a nesting site, the Nuttall displays a marked difference of
taste from the Rusty Song Sparrow, in that it selects a dry situation.
The first nest, prepared during the third week in April, is almost
invariably built upon the ground. A slight hollow is scratched at the
base of a bush or sapling, and a rather pretentious structure of bark
strips, dried grasses and rootlets is reared, with a lining of fine
grass and horse-hair. A nest found on Flat-top was set in high grass at
the foot of a tiny oak sapling, and was composed externally of dried
yarrow leaves with a few coarse grasses; internally of fine coiled grass
of a very light color, supplemented by four or five white gull feathers.
The eggs, four or five in number, are of a handsome light green or
bluish green shade, and are heavily dotted, spotted, or blotched with
reddish brown.
[Illustration: _Taken in Seattle._ _Photo by the Author._
FEMALE NUTTALL SPARROW.]
A second set is prepared a month or so later than the first, and
occasionally a third. Second nests are built, as likely as not, in
bushes or trees; and Mr. Bowles has taken them as high as twenty-five
feet from the ground.
Young birds lack the parti-colored head-stripes of the adult, altho the
pattern is sketched in browns; and they are best identified by the
unfailing solicitude of the parents, which attends their every movement.
They are rather bumptious little creatures for all; a company of them
romping about a pasture fence brings a wholesome recollection of
school-boy days, and there are girls among them, too, for my! how they
giggle!
No. 55.
MOUNTAIN SONG SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 581 b. Melospiza melodia montana (Henshaw).
Description[19].—_Adults_: Crown dull bay streaked with black and
divided by ashy-gray median stripe; rufous brown post-ocular and
rictal stripes, enclosing grayish-brown auriculars; remaining
upperparts ashy-gray varied by reddish brown, the gray due to broad
edgings of feathers and occupying from one-half to two-thirds the
total area according to season, feathers of back and scapulars sharply
streaked with blackish centrally; wings and tail brown varied by minor
markings and edgings of dusky, brownish gray and ashy-gray; below
white, or sordid, heavily streaked on sides of throat, breast and
sides by blackish and rufous, markings wedge-shaped, tear-shaped or
elongated, confluent on sides of throat as maxillary stripes and often
on center of breast as indistinct blotch. Bill horn-color above,
lighter below; feet pale brown, toes darker; iris brown. _Young_: Like
adults but duller, all markings less sharply defined, streaks of
underparts narrower. Length of adult male (skins): 6.00 (150); wings
2.73 (69.3); tail 2.74 (69.6); bill .48 (12.2); tarsus .88 (22.4).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; heavy streaking of breast and back,
with _varied head markings_, distinctive; lighter, grayer and more
sharply streaked as compared with _M. m. merrilli_.
Nesting.—As next.
General Range.—“Rocky Mountain district of the United States west to
and including the Sierra Nevada, in California; north to eastern
Oregon, southern Idaho and southern Montana; south in winter to
western Texas and northern Mexico” (Ridgway). Probably also north into
British Columbia and southwestern Alberta.
Range in Washington.—Migrant and winter resident along eastern
borders.
Authorities.—? Snodgrass, Auk, XX. 1903, 207. W. T. Shaw _in epist._,
Dec. 31, 1908. Sr?
Specimens.—P¹ (32 spec.).
Whether or not the Song Sparrows of northern Montana and eastern British
Columbia are typical _montana_, the doctors must settle; but certain it
is that sparrows of a type decidedly lighter, that is, ashier, in
coloration, than our _merrilli_, pass thru our eastern borders during
migrations. Of such a bird, examined narrowly at Spokane on November 4,
1905, my note-book says (comparing at every point with _merrilli_):
“Ashy gray and brown of head strongly contrasting; ashy of back and
scapulars very extensive, brown areas of feathers not exceeding
one-third their total width; underparts clearer white; streaking lighter
rusty and more sharply defined, more narrow on sides.”
No. 56.
MERRILL’S SONG SPARROW.
A. O. U. No. 581 k. Melospiza melodia merrilli (Brewster).
Synonyms.—Dusky Song Sparrow. Silver-tongue.
Description.—Characters intermediate between those of _M. m. montana_
and _M. m. morphna_. In general, darker than preceding with plumage
more blended, proportion of gray in back about one-third; lighter than
next, not so brown, streakings more distinct.
Nesting.—_Nest_: a substantial structure of twigs, grasses, coiled
bark-strips, dead leaves, etc.; lined carefully with fine dead grass,
rootlets or horse-hair, placed indifferently in bushes or on the
ground. _Eggs_: 4-6, usually 5, greenish-, grayish-, or bluish-white,
heavily spotted and blotched with reddish browns which sometimes
conceal the background. Av. size .83 × .61 (21 × 15.5). _Season_:
April-July; two or three broods.
General Range.—The eastern slopes of the Cascades from northern
California to southern British Columbia, east (at least) to northern
Idaho.