226 THE TOWNSEND SOLITAIRE. 



irregularly from British Columbia ( Sumas ) southward, straggling into Mississippi 

 \"alley during migratiims. 



Range in Washington. — Not unconimon spring and fall migrant thruout the 

 State, summer resident in the mountains to the limit of trees and elsewhere 

 irregularly to sea level; partially resident in winter west of the Cascade Alountains. 



Authorities. — ? Ptiliogon\s tozvnsciidi. Townsend, Narrative, 1839. p. 338. 

 Mviadestcs tuzvusciidii Baird/Rep. Tac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 321. T. C&S. D'. 

 Ra. J. B. E. 



Specimens.— U. of W. P". Prov. B. BN. E. 



"OF this singular bird I know nothing hut that it was shot by my frieutl. 

 Captain \V. Brotchie, of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, in a pine for- 

 est near Fort George, (Astoria). It was the only specimen seen." In these 

 words J. K. Townsend, the pioneer ornithologist of tlie Pacific Northwest, 

 records^ the taking of the first example of this species known to science. 



The bird thus presented as a conjectural native of Washington, has long 

 been a puzzle to naturalists. It has been called Flycatcher, Thrush, and a com- 

 bination of the two; but the name Solitaire seems to express both our noncom- 

 mittal attitude toward the subject, and the demure independence with which 

 the bird itself proceeds to mind its own affairs. Barring the matter of struc- 

 ture, which the scientists have now pretty well thrashed out, the bird is every- 

 thing bv turns. He is Flycatcher in that he delights to sit quietlv on exposed 

 limbs and watch for passing insects. These he meets in mid-air and bags with 

 an emphatic snap of the mandibles. He is a Shrike in appearance and manner, 

 when he takes up a station on a fence-post and studies the ground intently. 

 When its prev is sighted at distances varying from ten to thirty feet, it dives 

 directly to the spot, lights, snatches, and swallows, in an instant ; or, if the catch 

 is unmanageable, it returns to its post to thrash and kill and swallow at leisure. 

 During this poimcing foray, the display of white in the Solitaire's tail reminds 

 one of the Lark Sparrow. Like the silly Cedar-bird, the Solitaire gorges itself 

 on fruit and berries in season. Like a Thrush, when the mood is on, the Soli- 

 taire skulks in the thickets or woodsy depths, and flies at the suggestion of ap- 

 ]iroach. l^pon alighting it stands quietly, in expectation that the e_\-e of the be- 

 holder will thus lose sight of its ghostly tints among the interlacing shadows. 



And so one might go on comparing indefinitely, but the bird is entitled to 

 shine in its own light. The Solitaire is sui generis — no doubt of that. As soon 

 as we establish for it a certain line of conduct, the bird does something else. 

 We banish it to tlie mountains for the nesting season — a iiair nests in a rail- 



a. Narrative of a Tourney Across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River [etc.1. by Jolin K. 

 Townsend fr83Q), p. 339. Townsend's "Catalog' of birds found in the territory of the Oregon," which 

 appeared in this work, "pp. 331-336, enjoys the distinction of being the first faunal list of this north- 

 western region. It contains 208 titles but the naturalist included in it mention of many species encount- 

 ered by him in his passage of the Rocky Mountains, and he does not, of course, distinguish between 

 the regions lying north and south of the Columbia River. Of the total number recorded, therefore, 

 Washington cannot possibly be entitled to above 168 species, and the list has little value in establishing 

 the status of a bird as a resident of Washington. 



