TOWN SEND SOLITAIRE 597 



As an indication of the numbers in which this bird occurs in the 

 Yosemite region, we cite the following notebook censuses. Along the trail 

 to Eagle Peak, on June 4, 1915, 8 were seen or heard between 12 :30 and 

 4 :10 P.M. Among the junipers on a south-facing slope near Glen Aulin, 

 on September 30, 1915, 23 were seen in 3 hours. Three were seen and 8 

 heard in 20 minutes on the Big Oak Flat grade, at 4500 feet altitude, on 

 December 28, 1914. These last two enumerations are maxima, the result 

 of concentration where conditions were most favorable for the species. 



The song of the Townsend Solitaire must be heard to be appreciated. 

 No description can suffice. The notes are many of them clear, rich, and 

 full, but of a sort which does not permit of rendition in syllables of human 

 speech. In general effect the song resembles most closely that of the Black- 

 headed Grosbeak, while certain notes or phrases recall the songs of the 

 Western Mockingbird and California Thrasher. The song lacks set char- 

 acter, being much varied, and it is long sustained. 'Rests' of greater or 

 less length are interpolated at irregular intervals. In summer much sing- 

 ing is done in the early morning and late afternoon hours ; in colder weather 

 some of the best songs are heard during the middle of the day. During 

 the courting and nesting season the males do most of their singing while 

 perched near the tops of lofty firs, but in the fall and early winter the birds 

 sing in the low-growing junipers or oaks not many feet above the ground. 

 A lofty circling flight accompanied by voluble singing is sometimes wit- 

 nessed, again reminding the observer of the Black-headed Grosbeak. 



The usual call given by the Townsend Solitaire is a single dink, not 

 loud yet far-carrying, metallic yet mellow. It has been likened to the 

 creaking of a wood-wagon coming down a caiion, or to the sound produced 

 by an old windlass. The quality is such that it seems to echo, first from 

 one direction, then from another. ''Bell-like" has been used as a descrip- 

 tive term, but fails to quite express the idea. To some hearers this note 

 is so much like the whistle of the California Ground Squirrel that the 

 observer is tempted to seek as the source of the note a mammal on the 

 ground rather than a bird at the top of a tree. And, indeed, the peculiar 

 ventriloquial quality serves to further this misdirection of attention. Less 

 often, and, so far as our experience goes, only during the winter season, 

 a solitaire when highly excited will utter a harsh chack, much like the note 

 of a Red-winged Blackbird. 



The bird student, to find the nest of the Townsend Solitaire, would 

 search in vain the lofty trees where the male bird does his singing, for 

 the female places her nest far below, on the ground. A steeply cut bank 

 with protruding rootlets and niches left by dislodged stones, or the tangle 

 of roots and earth at the base of some overturned forest tree makes a 

 favored nesting place. The nest departs widely from the type constructed 



