156 TOWNSEND'S WARBLER 



our stay." Macoun*, quoting Spreadborough, says they are common 

 on Vancouver Island and nest in the Douglas firs. Woodcock^, quoting 

 Anthony, says that at Beaverton, Oregon, Townsend's Warbler is not 

 at all rare in second growths of fir. In California, Grinnell states, it 

 is a "common winter visitant to the Santa Cruz district, and sparingly 

 elsewhere west of the Sierras; occurs more widely during migration." 



Song. — "This usually consists of five notes — dee dee dee — de de 

 all, especially the first three, uttered in the peculiar harsh drawl of D. 

 virens. Later in the season the song changes somewhat at times." 

 {MerriW^.) 



Nest and Eggs. — June 7, 1875, Bendire^ took what he believed to 

 be the nest and eggs of this species in southwestern Oregon. It was 

 placed among several willow shoots about four feet from the ground. 

 The identification, however, was incomplete. Spreadborough, as 

 quoted above, states that this Warbler nests in the Douglas firs on 

 Vancouver Island, but no further details are given. 



The data accompanying a set of four eggs in the collection of 

 J. Lewis Childs, reads as follows: June 12, 1892, Collected by Walter 

 Raine, Vancouver, B. C, "on a branch of Willow four feet from 

 ground." Mr. Childs writes: "I give you herewith the information 

 regarding the nest and set of eggs of Townsend's Warbler, as per your 

 request of the 15th. The four eggs measure respectively .70X.50, 

 .72X.52, .70X.51, .68X.51. Color, light ashen gray, heavily blotched, 

 specked and marbled dull rufous-brown ; eggs showing wide variation 

 in extent of color, all having more or less of it on all parts with a 

 predominance at the large end. The color on the large end of one 

 tgg is almost solid, on another very sparse. The eggs may be said to 

 be fairly distinct, not resembling those of any other species of Warbler, 

 and none, excepting possibly Cape May and Hermit, show so much 

 color. Nest neat and firm, made entirely of fine grasses (no hair of 

 any sort) with some downy substance and vegetable fiber on the out- 

 side. Inside measurement, width 2 inches, depth, i 1-2 inches." (Figs. 

 97-99, Childs Coll.) 



Biographical References 



(i) C. E. Bendire, Notes on Some of the Birds found in Southeastern 

 Oregon, etc., Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1877, 114. (2) J. C. Merrill, Notes 

 on the Birds of Fort Sherman, Idaho, Auk, XV, 1898, 19. (3) L. B. Bishop, 

 Birds of the Yukon Region, N. A. Fauna, No. 19, 1900, 90. (4) J. Macoun, 

 Cat. of Canadian Birds, III, 631. (5) A. R. Woodcock, Birds of Oregon, 87. 

 (6) J. Grinnell, Check-List of California Birds, 65. 



