Taken at Longmire’s Springs. From a Photograph Copyright, 1908, by W. L. Dawson. SIX LITTLE SISKINS. “THE MOUNTAIN” AS A BACKGROUND.Taken at Longmire’s Springs.From a Photograph Copyright, 1908, by W. L. Dawson.SIX LITTLE SISKINS.“THE MOUNTAIN” AS A BACKGROUND.
Taken at Longmire’s Springs.From a Photograph Copyright, 1908, by W. L. Dawson.SIX LITTLE SISKINS.“THE MOUNTAIN” AS A BACKGROUND.
Whatever be the time of year, Siskins roam about in happy, rollicking bands, comprising from a score to several hundred individuals. They move with energy in the communal flight, while their incessant change of relative positions in flock suggests those intramolecular vibrations of matter, whichthe “new physicists” are telling us about. When a bird is sighted alone, one sees that it is the graceful, undulatory, or “looping,” flight of cousin Goldfinch which the social Siskin indulges so recklessly.
Many of the notes, too, remind us of the Goldfinch. There are first those little chattering notes indulged a-wing and a-perch, when the birds are not too busy feeding. Thekoodayiof inquiry or greeting is the same. But there is another note quite distinctive. It is a labored, but singularly penetrating production with a peculiar vowel sound (like a German umlauted u),zümorzzeem. So much effort does the utterance of this note cost the bird, that it always occasions a display of the hidden sulphur markings of wings and tail.
Photo by W. Leon Dawson. THE DRAPERIES OF PARADISE. RAINIER AS SEEN BY THE SISKIN.Photo by W. Leon Dawson.THE DRAPERIES OF PARADISE.RAINIER AS SEEN BY THE SISKIN.
Photo by W. Leon Dawson.THE DRAPERIES OF PARADISE.RAINIER AS SEEN BY THE SISKIN.
When fired by passion the Siskin is capable, also, of extended song. This daytime serenade is vivacious, but not loud except in occasional passages,—a sort of chattering, ecstatic warble of diverse elements. The bird has, besides its own peculiar notes, many finch-like phrases and interpolations, reminding one now of the Goldfinch, and now of the California Purple Finch. The most striking phrase produced in this connection is a triple shriek of the Evening Grosbeak, subdued of course, but very effective.
Tho perhaps not numerically equal to the Western Golden-crowned Kinglet, nor to the Western Winter Wren, there is not another bird in Washington which enjoys a more nearly uniform distribution than the PineSiskin. Its breeding range coincides with the distribution of evergreen timber; its feeding forays include all alder trees; and roving bands are likely to turn up anywhere in eastern Washington, if there is shrubbery larger or greener than sage-brush at hand.
Much of Siskin’s food is obtained upon the ground. City lawns are favorite places of resort; these birds, together with California Purple Finches, appearing to derive more benefit from grass plots, whether as granaries or insectaria, than does any other species. They share also with Crossbills a strong interest in the products of fir trees, whether in cone or leaf. Their peculiar province, however, is the alder catkin, and the tiny white seeds obtained from this source are the staple supply of winter. Mr. Brown, of Glacier, has examined specimens in which the crops were distended by these seeds exclusively. While the observer is ogling, it may be an over-modest Townsend Sparrow, a flock of Pine Siskins will charge incontinently into the alders above his very head. With manyzewsandzeemsthey fall to work upon the stubborn catkins, poking, twisting, prying, standing on their heads if need be, to dig out the dainty dole. Now and then, without any apparent reason, one detachment will suddenly desert its claim and settle upon another, precisely similar, a few feet away; while its place will be taken, as likely as not, by a new band, charging the tree like a volley of spent shot.
Nesting time with the Siskin extends from March to September, and the parental instinct appears in the light of an individual seizure, or decimating epidemic, rather than as an orderly taking up of life’s duties. Smitten couples drop out from time to time from the communal groups, and set up temporary establishments of their own; but there is never any let-up in the social whirl on the part of those who are left; and a roistering company of care-free maids and bachelorsen fetemay storm the very tree in which the first lullabies are being crooned by a hapless sister. Once in a while congenial groups agree to retire together, and a single tree or a clump of neighbors may boast a half-a-dozen nests; tho which is which and what is whose one cannot always tell, for the same intimacy which suggested simultaneous marriage, allows an almost unseemly interest in the private affairs of a neighbor.
Once embarked upon the sea of matrimony, the female is a very determined sitter, and the male is not inattentive. In examining the nest of a sitting bird one may expect the mother to cover her eggs at a foot’s remove, without so much as by-your-leave.
The nest, in our experience, is invariably built in an evergreen tree, usually a Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga mucronata), and is commonly saddled upon a horizontal or slightly ascending limb at some distance from the tree trunk. Viewed from below, it appears merely as an accumulation of material at the base of divergent twigs, where moss and waste is wont to gather.As to distance from the ground, it may vary from four to a hundred feet. The latter is the limit of investigation, but there is no particular reason to suppose they do not go higher. Most of the nests are placed at from eight to twenty feet up.
The materials used in construction are dead fir-twigs, weed-stalks, strips of cedar-bark, mosses of several sorts, grass, fir, hair, plant downs, etc. The interior may be carefully lined with fine rootlets, fur, horse-hair, feathers, altho there is great variation both in material and workmanship. Some nests appear little better than those of Chipping Sparrows; while the best cannot certainly be distinguished (without the eggs) from the elegant creations of the Audubon Warbler. One nest found near Tacoma in April, 1906, was allowed to pass for two weeks as that of a Western Golden-crowned Kinglet; it was built in characteristic Kinglet fashion, chiefly of moss, and was lashed midway of drooping twigs four inches to one side and below the main stem of the sustaining branch, near its end.
Taken in Tacoma. Photo by the Author. NEST AND EGGS OF PINE SISKIN.Taken in Tacoma.Photo by the Author.NEST AND EGGS OF PINE SISKIN.
Taken in Tacoma.Photo by the Author.NEST AND EGGS OF PINE SISKIN.
The eggs are three or four in number, tho sets of one and two are not rare in some seasons. They are a very pale bluish green in color, with dots, blotches, streaks, and occasional marbling, of rufous and brown, chiefly about the larger end. They vary considerably in size and shape, running from subspherical to a slender ovate. Measurements of average eggs are .68 × .48 inches.
Incubation lasts about twelve days, and the young-are ready to fly in as many more. The brood does not remain long in a family group but joins the roving clan as soon as possible. We suspect, therefore, that the Siskin raises but one brood in a season; and she undoubtedly heaves a sigh of relief when she may again don her evening gown, and rejoin “society.”
A. O. U. No. 529a.Astragalinus tristis pallidus(Mearns).Synonyms.—Pale Goldfinch. “Wild Canary.” “Summer Yellow-bird.” Thistle-bird.Description.—Adult male in summer: General plumage clear lemon or canary yellow; crown patch, including forehead and lores, black; wings black, varied by white of middle and lesser coverts, tips of greater coverts and edges of secondaries; tail black, each feather with white spot on inner web; tail coverts broadly tipped with white; bill-orange, tipped with black; feet and legs light brown; irides brown.Adult female in summer: Above grayish brown or olivaceous; wings and tail dusky rather than black, with white markings rather broader than in male; below whitish with buffy or yellow suffusion brightest on throat and sides.Adult male in winter: Like adult female but brighter by virtue of contrasting black of wing and tail; white markings more extended than in summer.Female in winter: not so yellow as in summer, grayer and browner with more extensive white.Young: Like winter adults but browner, no clear white anywhere, cinnamomeus instead. Length of adult male: (skins) 4.71 (120); wing 2.95 (75); tail 1.97 (50); bill .41 (10.4); tarsus .55 (14.1).Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; black and yellow contrasting, with conical bill, distinctive; undulating flight; canary-like notes. Feeds on thistle seed as does alsoSpinus pinus, a closely related but much less handsome species.Nesting.—Nest: A beautiful compact structure of vegetable fibers, “hemp,” grasses, etc., lined with vegetable cotton or thistle-down, and placed at varying heights in trees or bushes, usually in upright crotches.Eggs: 3-6, pale bluish white, unspotted. Av. size, .65 × .52 (16.5 × 13.2).Season: July and August; one brood.General Range.—Western United States, except the Pacific coast district, north to British Columbia and Manitoba, south to northern and eastern Mexico.Range in Washington.—East-side, not common resident in half-open situations and along streams; resident but roving in winter.Authorities.—Chrysomitris tristis,Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. Oct. 1882, p. 227. (T). D¹. D². Ss¹. Ss². J.Specimens.—P. Prov. C.
A. O. U. No. 529a.Astragalinus tristis pallidus(Mearns).
Synonyms.—Pale Goldfinch. “Wild Canary.” “Summer Yellow-bird.” Thistle-bird.
Description.—Adult male in summer: General plumage clear lemon or canary yellow; crown patch, including forehead and lores, black; wings black, varied by white of middle and lesser coverts, tips of greater coverts and edges of secondaries; tail black, each feather with white spot on inner web; tail coverts broadly tipped with white; bill-orange, tipped with black; feet and legs light brown; irides brown.Adult female in summer: Above grayish brown or olivaceous; wings and tail dusky rather than black, with white markings rather broader than in male; below whitish with buffy or yellow suffusion brightest on throat and sides.Adult male in winter: Like adult female but brighter by virtue of contrasting black of wing and tail; white markings more extended than in summer.Female in winter: not so yellow as in summer, grayer and browner with more extensive white.Young: Like winter adults but browner, no clear white anywhere, cinnamomeus instead. Length of adult male: (skins) 4.71 (120); wing 2.95 (75); tail 1.97 (50); bill .41 (10.4); tarsus .55 (14.1).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; black and yellow contrasting, with conical bill, distinctive; undulating flight; canary-like notes. Feeds on thistle seed as does alsoSpinus pinus, a closely related but much less handsome species.
Nesting.—Nest: A beautiful compact structure of vegetable fibers, “hemp,” grasses, etc., lined with vegetable cotton or thistle-down, and placed at varying heights in trees or bushes, usually in upright crotches.Eggs: 3-6, pale bluish white, unspotted. Av. size, .65 × .52 (16.5 × 13.2).Season: July and August; one brood.
General Range.—Western United States, except the Pacific coast district, north to British Columbia and Manitoba, south to northern and eastern Mexico.
Range in Washington.—East-side, not common resident in half-open situations and along streams; resident but roving in winter.
Authorities.—Chrysomitris tristis,Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. Oct. 1882, p. 227. (T). D¹. D². Ss¹. Ss². J.
Specimens.—P. Prov. C.
“Handsome is that handsome does,” we are told, but the Goldfinch fulfils both conditions in the proper sense, and does not require the doubtful apology of the proverb, which was evidently devised for plain folk. One is at a loss to decide whether Nature awarded the Goldfinch his suit of fine clothes in recognition of his dauntless cheer or whether he is only happy because of his panoply of jet and gold. At any rate he is the bird of sunshine the year around, happy, careless, free. Rollicking companies of them rove the country-side, now searching the heads of the last year’s mulleinstalks and enlivening their quest with much pleasant chatter, now scattering in obedience to some whimsical command and sowing the air with their laughter.Perchic’-opeeorperchic’-ichic’-opee, says every bird as it glides down each successive billow of its undulating flight. So enamored are the Goldfinches of their gypsy life that it is only when the summer begins to wane that they are willing to make particular choice of mates and nesting spots. As late as the middle of July one may see roving bands of forty or fifty individuals, but by the first of August they are usually settled to the task of rearing young. The nesting also appears to be dependent in some measure upon the thistle crop. When the weeds are common and the season forward, nesting may commence in June; but so long as thistle down is scarce or wanting, the birds seem loath to begin.
Nests are placed in the upright forks of various kinds of saplings, or even of growing plants, in which latter case the thistle, again, proves first choice. The materials used are the choicest obtainable. Normally the inner bark of hemp is employed for warp, and thistle-down for woof and lining, so that the whole structure bleaches to a characteristic silver-gray. In the absence or scarcity of these, grasses, weeds, bits of leaves, etc., are bound together with cobwebs, and the whole felted with other soft plant-downs, or even horse-hair. The whole is made fast thruout its depth to the supporting branches, and forms one of the most durable of summer’s trophies.
From four to six, but commonly five, eggs are laid, and these of a delicate greenish blue. Fourteen days are required for hatching; and from the time of leaving the nest the youngsters dronebabee! babee!with weary iteration, all thru the stifling summer day.
During the nesting season the birds subsist largely upon insects of various kinds, especially plant-lice, flies, and the smaller grasshoppers; but at other times they feed almost exclusively upon seeds. They are very fond of sunflower seeds, returning to a favorite head day after day until the crop is harvested. Seeds of the lettuce, turnips, and other garden plants are levied upon freely where occasion offers; but thistle seed is a staple article, and that is varied by a hundred seeds besides, which none could grudge them.
Thruout the winter the Western Goldfinches are much less in evidence, the majority of them having retired to the southland at that season. Those which remain are somewhat altered to appearance: the wings and tail show much pure white, and the yellow proper is now confined to the throat and the sides of the head and neck. He is thus a lighter and a brighter bird than his eastern brother. But the western bird has the same merry notes and sprightly ways which have made the name of Goldfinch synonymous with sunshine.
A. O. U. No. 529b.Astragalinus tristis salicamans(Grinnell).Synonyms.—California Goldfinch. “Yellow-bird,”etc.Description.—Similar toA. t. pallidus, but wings and tail shorter and coloration very much darker; adult male in summer plumage has tinge of pale olive-green on back, while winter adults and young are decidedly darker and browner than corresponding plumage ofA. t. pallidus. Wing (of adult male) 2.75 (70); tail 1.73 (44).Recognition Marks.—As in preceding but decidedly darker and browner, especially in winter.Nesting.—As inA. t. pallidus.General Range.—Pacific coast district from Lower California (Cerros Id.) north to British Columbia. Has been taken at Okanagan Landing, B. C. (Brooks).Range in Washington.—Not common resident on West-side only, chiefly in cultivated valleys.Authorities.—Chrysomitris tristisBon.,Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 421, 422, part. C&S. L². Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. E.
A. O. U. No. 529b.Astragalinus tristis salicamans(Grinnell).
Synonyms.—California Goldfinch. “Yellow-bird,”etc.
Description.—Similar toA. t. pallidus, but wings and tail shorter and coloration very much darker; adult male in summer plumage has tinge of pale olive-green on back, while winter adults and young are decidedly darker and browner than corresponding plumage ofA. t. pallidus. Wing (of adult male) 2.75 (70); tail 1.73 (44).
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding but decidedly darker and browner, especially in winter.
Nesting.—As inA. t. pallidus.
General Range.—Pacific coast district from Lower California (Cerros Id.) north to British Columbia. Has been taken at Okanagan Landing, B. C. (Brooks).
Range in Washington.—Not common resident on West-side only, chiefly in cultivated valleys.
Authorities.—Chrysomitris tristisBon.,Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 421, 422, part. C&S. L². Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. E.
Goldfinches are a bit of a rarity on Puget Sound. Of course we see them every season, and one may see a great deal of a particular troop, once its general range is ascertained; but, taken all in all, the bird is not common. Neither Cooper nor Suckley saw this Goldfinch, altho particularly wondering at its absence. The clearing of the forests and the cultivation of the soil is conducive to its increase, however; and there is every reason to believe that we are seeing more of it year by year.
There has been a warm discussion as to the subspecific validity of the Willow Goldfinch, but those who see birds of this form in late winter or early spring cannot but be impressed with the striking brownness of its plumage, as well as by the more extensive white upon the wings, as compared with the eastern bird. Beyond its partiality for willow trees, it has no further distinguishing traits, unless, perhaps, it may be reckoned less tuneful, or noisy.
A. O. U. No. 518.Carpodacus cassiniiBaird.Synonym.—Cassin’s Finch.Description.—Adult male: Crown dull crimson; back and scapulars vinaceous mixed with brownish and sharply streaked with dusky; wings and tail dusky with more or less edging of vinaceous; remaining plumage chiefly dull rosy, passing into white on belly and crissum; under tail-coverts white streaked with dusky.Adult female: Everywhere (save on wings, tail and lower abdomen) sharply streaked with dusky, clearly, on a white ground, below; above on an olive-gray or olive-buffy ground.Immature male: Like female in plumage and indistinguishable. Length of adult 6.50-7.00 (165.1-177.8); wing 3.62 (92); tail 2.56 (65); bill .50 (12.6); tarsus .73 (18.5).Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size: red of crowncontrastingwith back distinctive as compared withC. p. californicus; general streakiness of female (and male in more common plumage).Nesting.—Nest: of twigs and rootlets lined with horse-hair, string, etc., placed in pine or fir tree well out from trunk.Eggs: 4 or 5, colored as in succeeding species; a little larger. Av. size .85 × .60 (21.6 × 15.2).Season: June; one or two broods according to altitude.General Range.—Western United States from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains west to (but not including?) the Pacific coast district; north to British Columbia; south over plateau region of Mexico; found chiefly in the mountains.Range in Washington.—At least coextensive with pine timber in eastern Washington; found to summit of Cascades but westerly range imperfectly made out.Authorities.—[“Cassin’s Purple Finch,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 22.]Carpodacus cassini,Dawson, Auk, Vol. XIV. 1897, p. 177. D¹. J.Specimens.—Prov. C.
A. O. U. No. 518.Carpodacus cassiniiBaird.
Synonym.—Cassin’s Finch.
Description.—Adult male: Crown dull crimson; back and scapulars vinaceous mixed with brownish and sharply streaked with dusky; wings and tail dusky with more or less edging of vinaceous; remaining plumage chiefly dull rosy, passing into white on belly and crissum; under tail-coverts white streaked with dusky.Adult female: Everywhere (save on wings, tail and lower abdomen) sharply streaked with dusky, clearly, on a white ground, below; above on an olive-gray or olive-buffy ground.Immature male: Like female in plumage and indistinguishable. Length of adult 6.50-7.00 (165.1-177.8); wing 3.62 (92); tail 2.56 (65); bill .50 (12.6); tarsus .73 (18.5).
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size: red of crowncontrastingwith back distinctive as compared withC. p. californicus; general streakiness of female (and male in more common plumage).
Nesting.—Nest: of twigs and rootlets lined with horse-hair, string, etc., placed in pine or fir tree well out from trunk.Eggs: 4 or 5, colored as in succeeding species; a little larger. Av. size .85 × .60 (21.6 × 15.2).Season: June; one or two broods according to altitude.
General Range.—Western United States from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains west to (but not including?) the Pacific coast district; north to British Columbia; south over plateau region of Mexico; found chiefly in the mountains.
Range in Washington.—At least coextensive with pine timber in eastern Washington; found to summit of Cascades but westerly range imperfectly made out.
Authorities.—[“Cassin’s Purple Finch,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 22.]Carpodacus cassini,Dawson, Auk, Vol. XIV. 1897, p. 177. D¹. J.
Specimens.—Prov. C.
Cassin’s Finch is the bird of the eastern Cascades and the timbered foothills of northern Washington. While ranging higher than other finches, it shares with them an inclination to urban life, and a full realization of the advantages of gardens and cultivated patches. At Stehekin I saw a flock of them gleaning crumbs as complacently as sparrows, in the yard at the rear of the hotel. At Chelan they haunt the lonesome pine trees which still dot the shores of the lake, seemingly regarding their gnarled recesses as citadels where alone they may be safe from the terrors of the open country.
As the bird-man lay sprawling in the grateful shadow of one of these grim sentinels, munching a noonday lunch, and remonstrating with Providence at the unguarded virtues of the all-crawling ant, he spied a last year’s Oriole’s nest hanging just over his head, while an accommodating Cassin Finchcalled his attention tothisyear’s nest in process of construction, by going over and helping herself to a beakful of material, which she pulled out of the structure by main force. She evened things up, however, (for the bird-man) by immediately visiting her own nest, pitched on the upper side of a horizontal branch near the end.
This female Cassin was a wearisome bird, for she sat and twittered inanely, or coaxed, every minute her husband was in the tree. He, poor soul, was visibly annoyed at her indolence, not to say her wantonness, and had as little to do with her as possible. However, he was a young fellow, without a bit of red on him, and he should not have been over-critical of his first mate in honeymoon.
On the pine-clad slopes of Cannon Hill in Spokane, there is no more familiar sound in June than the wanton note of the female Cassin Finch,oreé-eh, oreé-eh, delivered as often as not with quivering wings, and unmistakably inviting the attentions of the male. Perhaps it is fair to call this a love note, but it is delivered with the simpering insistence of a spoiled child.
Taken in Spokane. Photo by the Author. CASSIN’S FINCH.Taken in Spokane.Photo by the Author.CASSIN’S FINCH.
Taken in Spokane.Photo by the Author.CASSIN’S FINCH.
The sight of a singing male in high plumage is memorable. He selects a position at the tip of a pine branch, or perhaps on a bunch of cones at the very top of the tree, and throws himself into the work. His color, crimson, not purple, is pure and clear upon the crown only; elsewhere, upon nape, shoulders, and breast, it presents merely a suffusion of red. A song heard near Chelan was much like that of a California Purple Finch in character, but less musical and more chattering, with the exception of one strong note thrown in near the close. This note was very like the characteristic squeal of the Evening Grosbeak,gimp, orthkimp, out of all keeping with the remainder—unquestionably borrowed.
The Cassin Finch is quite as successful as a mimic as his cousin fromCalifornia. Besides his own wild, exultant notes, he rapidly strings together those of other birds, and renders the whole with the spontaneity and something of the accent of the Lark Sparrow. Indeed, when I first heard one sing on a crisp May morning on the banks of the Columbia, I thought I was hearing a rare burst of the latter bird, so much of its song had been appropriated by the Finch. Besides this, strains of Western Vesper Sparrow, Mountain Bluebird, and Louisiana Tanager were recognized.
A. O. U. No. 517a.Carpodacus purpureus californicusBaird.Description.—Adult male: General body plumage rich crimson or rosy red, clearest on crown and upper tail-coverts, more or less mingled with dusky on back and scapulars, passing into white on crissum and under tail-coverts; wings and tail brownish dusky with reddish edgings. Bill and feet brownish.Adult female: Above olive dusky in streaks, with edging or gloss of brighter olivaceous; underparts whitish, everywhere, save on middle abdomen, crissum and under tail-coverts, streaked with olive dusky, finely on throat, broadly on breast and sides, shading into pattern of upperparts on sides of head, neck and chest.Immature male, and male in ordinary(?) plumage: exactly like female in coloration. Length about 5.75 (146); wing 3.07 (78); tail 2.28 (58); bill .45 (11.5); tarsus .70 (17.9).Recognition Marks.—“Warbler size” but sturdier, an unmistakable sparrow; rosy coloration of male distinctive (without crossed mandibles) butstreakypattern oftenest seen. Distinguishable from the Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) by larger size, more sedate ways and absence of sulphury wing- and tail-markings.Nesting.—Nest: well built, of fir twigs, heavily lined with green moss, horse-hair, string, etc.; placed in tree (deciduous or evergreen) at elevation of 5-40 feet and usually at some distance from trunk; measures outside 5 in. wide by 3 in. deep, inside 2½ in. wide by 1¼ in. deep.Eggs: 4 or 5, light greenish blue, spotted and streaked with violaceous and black, chiefly about the larger end. Round ovate to elongate ovate; varying in dimensions from .75 × .56 (19 × 14.2) to .91 × .59 (22.8 × 15).Season: first week in May and first week in June; two broods.General Range.—Pacific coast district from southern California north to British Columbia (including Vancouver Island). More or less resident thruout range but drifts (casually?) to southeastward in Arizona during migrations.Range in Washington.—West-side, chiefly at lower levels; especially partial to orchards and cultivated sections. Irregularly resident but numbers augmented in spring.Authorities.—Carpodacus californicusBaird,Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 414. T. C&S. L². Rh. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. P. B. BN. E.
A. O. U. No. 517a.Carpodacus purpureus californicusBaird.
Description.—Adult male: General body plumage rich crimson or rosy red, clearest on crown and upper tail-coverts, more or less mingled with dusky on back and scapulars, passing into white on crissum and under tail-coverts; wings and tail brownish dusky with reddish edgings. Bill and feet brownish.Adult female: Above olive dusky in streaks, with edging or gloss of brighter olivaceous; underparts whitish, everywhere, save on middle abdomen, crissum and under tail-coverts, streaked with olive dusky, finely on throat, broadly on breast and sides, shading into pattern of upperparts on sides of head, neck and chest.Immature male, and male in ordinary(?) plumage: exactly like female in coloration. Length about 5.75 (146); wing 3.07 (78); tail 2.28 (58); bill .45 (11.5); tarsus .70 (17.9).
Recognition Marks.—“Warbler size” but sturdier, an unmistakable sparrow; rosy coloration of male distinctive (without crossed mandibles) butstreakypattern oftenest seen. Distinguishable from the Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) by larger size, more sedate ways and absence of sulphury wing- and tail-markings.
Nesting.—Nest: well built, of fir twigs, heavily lined with green moss, horse-hair, string, etc.; placed in tree (deciduous or evergreen) at elevation of 5-40 feet and usually at some distance from trunk; measures outside 5 in. wide by 3 in. deep, inside 2½ in. wide by 1¼ in. deep.Eggs: 4 or 5, light greenish blue, spotted and streaked with violaceous and black, chiefly about the larger end. Round ovate to elongate ovate; varying in dimensions from .75 × .56 (19 × 14.2) to .91 × .59 (22.8 × 15).Season: first week in May and first week in June; two broods.
General Range.—Pacific coast district from southern California north to British Columbia (including Vancouver Island). More or less resident thruout range but drifts (casually?) to southeastward in Arizona during migrations.
Range in Washington.—West-side, chiefly at lower levels; especially partial to orchards and cultivated sections. Irregularly resident but numbers augmented in spring.
Authorities.—Carpodacus californicusBaird,Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 414. T. C&S. L². Rh. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. P. B. BN. E.
Of the streaked, streaky is this demure and inoffensive bird in the olivaceous plumage, in which we usually see him, and always seeher. But the sharpness and magnitude of the dusky streaks above and below confer a measure of distinction, even when there is no trace of the adult crimsons, miscalled purple. This finch is a familiar object about the gardens, orchards, and parks in Western Washington. It moves about for the most part silently, inspecting birds and flowers, sampling fruit, or gleaning seeds from the ground in company with its own kind, or with the humbler and equally streaked Siskins. While not altogether dependent upon human bounty, it probably owes more to man than does any other native species.
Wright’s Park, in Tacoma, appears to lead the state by two weeks in the early budding of its flowering plants, and here Purple Finches appear to the best advantage. In the luxuriant bushes of the red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) one may see them feeding during the last week of March. The Finches pluck the flowers assiduously, and either eat the fleshy part at the base, the tender ovary, or else press out the nectar just above, or both. A flower is first plucked off whole and held in the bill, while the bird appears tosmack its lipsseveral times; then the crimson corolla is allowed to drop upon the ground, which thus becomes carpeted with rejected beauty. Like many related species, the California Finch is rather unwary, so that one may study his behavior at close range.
Because the Purple Finch is usually so unobtrusive, we are startled at the first outburst of spring song. Nothing more spontaneous could be desired, and the mellow, musical yodelling of this bird is one of the choicest things allowed us on the West-side. The song is midway between a trill and a carol, and has a wild quality which makes it very attractive. The notes are so limpid and penetrating that one is sometimes deceived as to the distance of the singer, supposing him to be in a neighboring copse when, in truth, he occupies a distant fir-top.Cheedooreédooreé dooreé dooreé dooreé dooreé dooreé dreeetoreetmay afford an idea of the rolling, rollicking character of the song, but is, of course, absurdly inadequate.
A master singer among the Purple Finches once entertained us from the top of a fir tree a hundred feet high. He was in the dull plumage, that is, without red; and altho he sang briskly at intervals we were not prepared for any unusual exhibition of vocal powers on his part. It was a long time, therefore, before we put the cry of a distant Steller Jay up to him. Our suspicions once aroused, however, we caught not only the Steller jay cry, unmistakably, but also half a dozen others in swift and dainty succession, after the usual Purple Finch prelude. I clearly recognized notes of the Flicker, Steller Jay,Canary, American Crossbill, and Seattle Wren. These imitative efforts varied in correctness of execution, and came to us with thedistance of the original singer plus that of the Finch, so that the result was not a little confusing, tho very delightful when explained.
During courtship this Finch will execute an aerial song-dance, consisting of sundry jerks and crazy antics, interspersed with a medley of ecstatic notes; at the conclusion of which he will make a suggestive dive at his fianceé, who meanwhile has been poking fun at him.
For some reason nests have been exceedingly hard to find. Many birds are always pottering about with no apparent concern for nesting time, and Mr. Bowles hazards that they do not mate until the third year. Apropos of this, one remarks the scarcity of highly plumaged males at all seasons. I have gone six months at a time, where Finches were not uncommon, without seeing a singleredbird. In fact, I never found the latter common except in the vicinity of Tacoma.
Nests are placed, preferably, near water, in evergreen or deciduous trees, and at heights varying from six to forty feet. They usually occur on a bough at some distance from the trunk of a supporting tree, seldom or never being found in a crotch. Composed externally of fir twigs, they are lined copiously with green moss, horse-hair, and string, and contain four or five handsome blue-green eggs, spotted and dashed with violet and black.
Two broods are probably brought off in a season, the first about the 20th of May and the second a month later. A sitting female outdoes a Siskin in her devotion to duty, and not infrequently requires to be lifted from her eggs. The male trusts everything to his wife upon these occasions, but is on hand to do his share of the work when it comes to feeding the babies.
Introduced.Passer domesticus(Linn.).Synonyms.—House Sparrow. Domestic Sparrow. Hoodlum.Description.—Adult male: Above ashy gray; middle of back and scapulars heavily streaked with black and bay; tail dusky; a chestnut patch behind eye spreading on shoulders; lesser wing-coverts chestnut; middle coverts bordered with white, forming a conspicuous white bar during flight; remainder of wing dusky with bay edging; below ashy gray or dirty white; a black throat-patch continuous with lores and fore-breast; bill and feet horn color.Adult female: Brownish rather than gray above; bay edging lighter; no chestnut, unmarked below. Length 5.50-6.25 (139.7-158.8); wing 3.00 (76.2); tail 2.20 (55.9); bill .50 (12.7). Sexes of about equal size.Recognition Marks.—“Sparrow size,” black throat and breast of male; female obscure brownish and gray.Nesting.—Nest: a globular mass of grass, weeds and trash, heavily lined with feathers, placed in tree and with entrance in side; or else heavily linedcavity anywhere. Holes in trees and electric lamps are alike favored.Eggs: 4-7, whitish, heavily dotted and speckled with olive-brown or dull black. The markings often gather about the larger end; sometimes they entirely obscure the ground color. Av. size, .86 × .62 (21.8 × 15.8).Season: March-September; several broods.General Range.—“Nearly the whole of Europe, but replaced in Italy byP. italiæ, extending eastward to Persia and Central Asia, India, and Ceylon” (Sharpe). “Introduced and naturalized in America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.” (Chapman).Range in Washington.—As yet chiefly confined to larger cities and railroad towns, but spreading locally in farming sections.Authorities.—Rathbun, Auk, Vol. XIX. Apr. 1902, p. 140. Ra. Kk. B. E.Specimens.—B. C.
Introduced.Passer domesticus(Linn.).
Synonyms.—House Sparrow. Domestic Sparrow. Hoodlum.
Description.—Adult male: Above ashy gray; middle of back and scapulars heavily streaked with black and bay; tail dusky; a chestnut patch behind eye spreading on shoulders; lesser wing-coverts chestnut; middle coverts bordered with white, forming a conspicuous white bar during flight; remainder of wing dusky with bay edging; below ashy gray or dirty white; a black throat-patch continuous with lores and fore-breast; bill and feet horn color.Adult female: Brownish rather than gray above; bay edging lighter; no chestnut, unmarked below. Length 5.50-6.25 (139.7-158.8); wing 3.00 (76.2); tail 2.20 (55.9); bill .50 (12.7). Sexes of about equal size.
Recognition Marks.—“Sparrow size,” black throat and breast of male; female obscure brownish and gray.
Nesting.—Nest: a globular mass of grass, weeds and trash, heavily lined with feathers, placed in tree and with entrance in side; or else heavily linedcavity anywhere. Holes in trees and electric lamps are alike favored.Eggs: 4-7, whitish, heavily dotted and speckled with olive-brown or dull black. The markings often gather about the larger end; sometimes they entirely obscure the ground color. Av. size, .86 × .62 (21.8 × 15.8).Season: March-September; several broods.
General Range.—“Nearly the whole of Europe, but replaced in Italy byP. italiæ, extending eastward to Persia and Central Asia, India, and Ceylon” (Sharpe). “Introduced and naturalized in America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.” (Chapman).
Range in Washington.—As yet chiefly confined to larger cities and railroad towns, but spreading locally in farming sections.
Authorities.—Rathbun, Auk, Vol. XIX. Apr. 1902, p. 140. Ra. Kk. B. E.
Specimens.—B. C.
What a piece of mischief is the Sparrow! how depraved in instinct! in presence how unwelcome! in habit how unclean! in voice how repulsive! in combat how moblike and despicable! in courtship how wanton and contemptible! in increase how limitless and menacing! the pest of the farmer! the plague of the city! the bane of the bird-world! the despair of the philanthropist! the thrifty and insolent beneficiary of misguided sentiment! the lawless and defiant object of impotent hostility too late aroused! Out upon thee, thou shapeless, senseless, heartless, misbegotten tyrant! thou tedious and infinite alien! thou myriad cuckoo, who dost by thy consuming presence bereave us daily of a million dearer children! Out upon thee, and woe the day!
Without question the most deplorable event in the history of American ornithology was the introduction of the English Sparrow. The extinction of the Great Auk, the passing of the Wild Pigeon and the Turkey,—sad as these are, they are trifles compared to the wholesale reduction of our smaller birds, which is due to the invasion of this wretched foreigner. To be sure he was invited to come, but the offense is all the more rank because it was partly human. His introduction was effected in part by people who ought to have known better, and would, doubtless, if the science of ornithology had reached its present status as long ago as the early Fifties. The maintenance and prodigious increase of the pest is still due in a measure to the imbecile sentimentality of people who build bird-houses and throw out crumbs for “the dear little birdies,” and then care nothing whether honest birds or scalawags get them. Such people belong to the same class as those who drop kittens on their neighbors’ door-steps because they wouldn’t have the heart to kill them themselves, you know.
The increase of this bird in the United States is, to a lover of birds,simply frightful. Their fecundity is amazing and their adaptability apparently limitless. Mr. Barrows, in a special report prepared under the direction of the Government, estimates that the increase of a single pair, if unhindered, would amount in ten years to 275,716,983,698 birds.
As to its range, we note that the subjugation of the East has long been accomplished, and that the conquest of the West is succeeding rapidly. It is not possible to tell precisely when the first Sparrows arrived in Washington, but it is probable that they appeared in Spokane about 1895. Of its occurrence in Seattle, Mr. Rathbun says: “Prior to the spring of 1897 I had never seen this species in Seattle, but in June of that year I noted a pair. The following season I saw fourteen; in 1899 this number had increased to about seventy, associating in small flocks.”
The favorite means of dissemination has been the box car, and especially the grain car. The Sparrows, being essentially grain and seed eaters, frequent the grain cars as they stand in the railroad yards, and are occasionally imprisoned in them, hopeful stowaways and “gentlemen of fortune.” On this account, also, the larger cities and railroad towns are first colonized, and at this time of writing (Jan., 1908) the birds are practically confined to them, Tacoma having an especial notoriety in this respect because of its immense grain-shipping interests.
Difficult as it may seem, it is true that the English Sparrow adopts the policy of Uriah Heep upon first entering a town. With all the unctuous humility of a band of Mormon apostles, the newcomers talk softly, walk circumspectly, and either seek to escape notice altogether, or else assiduously cultivate the good opinion of their destined dupes. Thus, I resided in the town of Blaine for two months (in 1904) without running across a single member of the pioneer band of nine English Sparrows, altho I was assured on good authority that the birds had been there for at least two years previous.
It requires no testimony to show that the presence of this bird is absolutely undesirable. It is a scourge to the agriculturist, a plague to the architect, and the avowed and determined enemy of all other birds. Its nests are not only unsightly but unsanitary, and the maudlin racket of their owners unendurable. The bird is, in short, in the words of the late Dr. Coues, “a nuisance without a redeeming quality.” Altho we assent to this most heartily, we are obliged to confess on the part of our race to a certain amount of sneaking admiration for the Sparrow. And why, forsooth? Because he fights! We are forced to admire, at times, his bull-dog courage and tenacity of purpose, as we do the cunning of the weasel and the nimbleness of the flea. He is vermin and must be treated as such; but, give the Devil his due, of course. What are we going to do about it? Wage unceasing warfare, as we do against rats. There will possibly be rats as long as there are men,but a bubonic plague scare operates very effectually to reduce their numbers. No doubt there will be English Sparrows in cities as long as there are brick-bats, but a clear recognition of their detestable qualities should lead every sensible person to deny them victuals and shelter. The House Sparrow is no longer exterminable, but he may be,must bekept within bounds.
A. O. U. No. 534.Plectrophenax nivalis(Linn.)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.
A. O. U. No. 534.Plectrophenax nivalis(Linn.)
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 fromearth toward heaven. I held my breath and listened to the mild babel oftut-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,teworte-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.
A. O. U. 536a.Calcarius lapponicus alascensisRidgw.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.
A. O. U. 536a.Calcarius lapponicus alascensisRidgw.
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, andChehalis 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.”
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 buffybehind; 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).WESTERN LARK SPARROW.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 darkbrowns 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.
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 buffybehind; 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).
WESTERN LARK SPARROW.WESTERN LARK SPARROW.
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 darkbrowns 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.