Bi.AiNE, Wash., All-Day. 103 



But the bird-world was oppressed by the cloud-cap. It had 

 had its breakfast, and, since there was not light enough to 

 encourage thoughts of supper, it betook itself early to bed. 

 There was little to be heard except the tick, tick, tick of the 

 Western Winter Wren {OUnorchiliis hicntali^ paci/icii<;) and the 

 drowsy tss, iss; tss tstr of the Western Golden -crowned Kinglet 

 {Regulics satrapa oUyaceus). 



At 3 p. m., as I stood upon a little bridge over a ravine 

 choked full with a jungle of vine maple, goooseberry bushes, 

 devil's club, and ferns, an incautious chickadee, grumbling 

 over its hard piliow, led the Bird-Man to attempt the chicka- 

 dee call. (The notes of these Oregon Chickadees, f'ams 

 atricapilhis oaidciifa/is, have a slightly different pitch from 

 those of Panis atricapillus, and I have not quite mastered them 

 yet). As a result, the bushes began to yield up sleepy Chick- 

 adees. Western Golden-crowned Kinglets emerged unex- 

 pectedly from snug sleeping-bags hidden in the vegetation 

 under my feet. The Northwest Bewick Wren ( T/irvoniancs 

 bcirickii ca/op/ioiins) scolded, W. W. W. (which is note-book 

 shorthand for Western Winter Wren ) ticked apprehensivel)^ 

 and the fruitful bush began to yield a tribute of Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglets, aroused from deeper slumbers, but cheerful and for- 

 giving still. It remained only for the .yaior do/no, v^hich m 

 these parts is the Oregon Towhee ( Pipi/o i?iacu/afus oregofi^is), 

 to peep out and through the curtains to see that the children 

 were not taking harm, and then the disturber of midnight 

 peace, at 3:00 p. m., withdrew "in good order." 



But even after this disheartening adventure, Fortune 

 perched upon the Bird-Man's banner in the shape of a Califor- 

 nia Pygmy Owl (G/auddiu»i glioma californianu) . This 

 pocket edition of the powers that prey stood out boldly upon 

 the topmost splinter of a wayside stub and challenged scrutiny. 

 The gnoma gave his back to the road, but every now and then 

 turned a careful eye upon the stranger. Then all at once the 

 bird whirled backward and launched himself like a bolt across 

 the road, at a mouse some sixty feet away. Seizing the "wee, 

 timerous, cowerin' beastie " at the very entrance of its hole, 

 the bird maintained its grasp with both feet and supported 

 itself by wings outstretched upon the ground. Not until the 

 squeakings of the victim had quite cea.sed, did the captor rise 



