58 THE NORTHWESTERN RED-WING. 



hue, contrasting witli a l)lack mantle vvliich fairly shone. He appeared 

 an amiable old fellow, and as he lighted ponderously on an uplifted branch 

 of my tree, he remarked, "W'lwo-kiisiuee-ung," so hospitably that I felt 

 impelled to murmur, "Thanks," and assured him of my unhostile intent. 

 "Conqucree/" he questioned, richlv. "Er — well, ves, if vnu are the con- 

 (jueriir." 



I;!ul the general had nther interests to watch. An upstart male of 

 the second year with sh(julder-straps of a sickly orange hue, was descried 

 a rod away climljing hand-over-hand up a cat-tail stem. Keyring, keyring, 

 the despot warned him : and because the presumptuous youth did not heed 

 him quickly enough, he launched his splendor over the spot, wdiereat the 

 youth sank in dire confusion. .And ne.xt, nur hem caught sight of a 

 female fair to look upon peeping at him furti\ely frcjui behind her lattice 

 .of reeds. Tc* see was to act, he flung his heart at the maiden upnn the 

 instant, and followed headlong after, thru I knnw nut what reech- mazes. 

 Oh, heart ever young, and pursuit ne\er wearying! 



Northwestern Red-wings fintl rather restricted range thrunut western 

 Washington, Init they appear wherever there are fresh-water marshes or 

 reed-bordered lakes. In default of cat-tails they will accept the shelter of 

 dwarf willows, or coarse dense grass of any sort. 



Nesting is undertaken at Tacoma at least by the thinl week in April, 

 and we have found eggs as early as the sixth of that month. The nest of 

 the accompanying illustration ( photogra\ure ) is composed solely (jf the 

 coiled stems of the dried bulrushes, amongst which it is ijlaced, with a 

 lining of clean dried grass-stems. 



Few eggs exceed in beauty those of the Red-winged Blackbird. The 

 liackground is a pale bluish green of great delicacy, and upon this occur 

 sharph-defined spots, blotches, marblings, traceries, and "pen-w'ork" of dark 

 sepia, purplish black, drab, and heliotrope ptirple. Or a spot of color appears 

 to be deeply imbedded in the fine, strong te.xture of the shell, and carries 

 about it an aura of diminishing color. Occasionally, the whole egg is 

 sufifused with pale brownish, or, more rarely, it is entirely unmarked. 



Incubation lasts fourteen days and the \oung are ready to leave the 

 nest in a little over two weeks mr>re. They are frizzly, helpless, complain- 

 ing little creatures, but if they cannot Hy well they can clamber, and they 

 cling with the grip of terrified monkeys. 



Our Northwestern Red-wings are normally migratory, but they also 

 winter with us irregularly ; and this habit appears ti) be gaining ground as 

 the guarantee of food becomes more certain. Numbers of them subsist in 

 both Seattle and Tacoma in the vicinity of grain elevators, where they will 

 have comfortable sustenance until such time as the augmented English Spar- 

 rows decree death to all native birds. 



