192 THE TOVVNSEND WARBLER. 



Authorities. — Syli'ia towiisciidi "(Nuttall)," Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. 

 Sci. Phila. VII. pi. II. 18^7, iqi ("forests of the Columbia River"). C&S. Rh. 

 Ra.'D-'. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. of W. Prov. C. E. 



WHAT a niuniing that was at the old parsonage in the Alitanuni \-alley. 

 when the shade trees of the five acre enclosin"e were lit up by the presence of a 

 dozen of these fairies! Waste acres of sage lay around, or fields of alfalfa 

 and growing wheat, hardly more inviting, but the eye of the leader, winging 

 languidly from the S(juth, at early dawn had spied a patch of woods}- green, 

 and had ordered a halt for the day in our comfortable-looking box-elders and 

 insect-harboring apple trees. To be sure it was absurdly late for migrants, 

 June 5th, but thev appeared more like an eniljassage of foreign grandees, who 

 deignetl to make requisition upon our hospitality, than mere birds with threats 

 of family cares ahead. So while they sought breakfasts of aphis and early 

 worm, or disported among the branches in the growing sunshine, I attended 

 their movements in rustic wonder. Now and then a member of the party 

 paused to adjust his golden trapi)ings. i.ir to settle the black head-piece with a 

 daintv shake. It was, indeed, a notable occasion for the bird-man, inasmuch 

 as these dandies were in "higher" plumage than any yet recognized b_\' the l^est 

 bird-books of the day,^ in that the shining black, supposedly confined to the 

 lower throat, now occupied the very chin as well. 



There was a little conversational lisping in a foreign tongue, in which the 

 ladies of the party were include<l ; and after breakfast the males ventured song. 



Seventy-eight days later, viz., on the 23d of August, a southward bound 

 party visited our orchard. The males were still in song, and it was difficult 

 to believe that all the joys and sorrows of wedlock and child-rearing had inter- 

 vened ; yet such was probably the case. 



A bird sighted at Chelan on the 25th day of May, 1905, haunted a pine 

 and a balm tree at the foot of the Lake, singing constantly. The song ran, 

 dszvee, dzxvcc, dzzvce, dzzvcc, dcivcctscc, the first four notes drowsy and drawl- 

 ing, the fourth prolonged, and the remainder somewhat furry and squeaky. 

 The bird hunted patiently thru the long needles of the ])ine, under what would 

 seem to an observer great difficulties. Once he espied an especially desirable 

 tidbit on the under side of a needle-beset branch. The bird leaned over and 

 peered beneath, until he quite lost his balance and turned a somersault in the 

 air. But he returned to the charge again and again, now creeping cautiously 

 around to the under side, now clinging to the pine needles themselves and 

 again fluttering bravely in the midst, until he succeeded in exhausting the little 

 pocket of provender, whatever it was. 



In June, 1906, we found these birds in the valley of the Stehekin, and 



a. Coues' Key to N. A. Birds, Fourth Edition, is especially referred to. The matter has been cor- 

 rected in the Fifth Edition. 



