Birds of Oregon and Washington 229 



jerky style. The song is striking, and on account 

 of it the bird, in Colorado, its eastern territorial 

 limit, is called the *' Scale Bird." Mrs. Bailey 

 (nee Merriam) says, ''He is not seen unless you 

 go to the brush to look for him, but, wherever 

 you are, you will hear the clear ringing voice 

 running down the scale, the bell-like tones now 

 coming from the chaparral of the valley, now 

 from the boulder-strewn hillsides above. The 

 Wren-Tit seems timid about singing in sight. 

 A common form of the song is a scale of seven 

 two-syllabled notes, — 'tip-it, tip-it.' " 



There are possibly two varieties of this Tit in 

 the section covered by this book. The one de- 

 scribed here is certainly not uncommon on our 

 coast. 



Osgood gives a Particular Description nearly 

 as follows : 



Upper parts, almost uniformly umber-brown, darkest 

 on head, becoming blackish on wings ; tail, blackish- 

 brown, with tinge of olivaceous ; flanks, about like rump, 

 insensibly grading into side ; lores, cheeks and sides of 

 head, dark ashy; a white spot above and below the eye ; 

 throat, breast and sides, deep brownish-rufous ; limited 

 area in middle of abdomen, huffy-yellow. 



Permanent resident. 



