fe) _ Oregon's Imported Songsters. [ ZOE 
wrens; yellow, Audubon’s, black-throated-gray, Townsend’s, her- 
mit and Macgillivray’s warblers; warbling and Cassins vireos, purple 
martin, Californian purple finch, vesper and Gambel’s sparrows; 
Bullock’s oriole and a score of others, all more or less common, 
and many of them abundant throughout the Willamette Valley and 
vicinity of Portland. And to such as believe that ‘ America is a 
country where the flowers have no scent and the birds no song ’’— 
a phrase frequently heard while discussing, with residents of Port- 
land, the merits of the imported species—I would suggest that a 
visit be made some morning in May to any wooded thicket or ravine 
in northwestern Oregon, where a chorus of bird music will be heard 
that will convince the most skeptical that Oregon’s native songsters 
are, at least, worthy of more than passing consideration. 
As for the desirability of these European species, economically 
and otherwise, the writer has but little to say, being entirely unac- 
quainted with the birds in their native haunts; there is no good 
reason, however, why they should be otherwise than beneficial to 
the farmer and horticulturist, as well as adding to the already rich 
and varied avi-fauna of Oregon a number of new and interesting 
species. It will be especially interesting to the ornithologist to note 
the effect upon the allied native species. The Oregon Loxia cur- 
virostra bendire? is not so far removed from the imported Loxza 
curvirostra as to be past all danger of interbreeding. 
As for the birds offered by the Alpine Club, comment is hardly 
necessary; both the mocking bird and bobolink are birds that could 
not be expected to thrive in the heavy fir forests of the Columbia‘ 
and it would not be strange if they declined to return after the first 
migration. 
It would be difficult to Say too much in praise of the motive that 
has prompted Mr. Dekum and his associates in presenting to the 
people of Oregon this handsome addition to their list of feathered 
Songsters. It is nothing new to take from one part of the globe to - 
another game birds or fish that the Sportsman may find better and 
cheaper amusement, but the moving impulse has usually been of a 
sordid and unsentimental nature. In the action of this society, how- 
ever, there has been no thought of pecuniary gain and all considera- 
tions but those of sentiment have been cast aside, ist oe 
It is plain that in many respects a lack of judgment has been 
shown in the selection of species, several of which could hardly be 
