16 



THE MOUNTAINEER. 



district of the United States and 

 British Columbia" and is found com- 

 monly in the highlands intervening 

 between the Rockies and the main 

 range of the Cascades. The discov- 

 ery of a bird of this type, first upon 

 Church Mountain (across the north 

 fork of the Nooksack from Baker) 

 in 1905, and again upon the slopes of 

 Mt. Sahale in 1906, came in the na- 

 ture of a surprise; and the Cascade 

 bird may prove upon further study 

 to be a distinct form*. Belonging to 

 the well-known Fox Sparrow group, 

 the bird of the Cascades appears to 

 be pre-eminent in song. The singer is 

 exceedingly modest, and the student 

 may follow thru the stunted growths 

 of the upper reaches of timber for 

 half an hour, without getting a sat- 

 isfactory view of him, but he will be 

 teased meanwhile by a succession of 

 song snatches, sprightly, varied, and 

 caressing sweet, which will set his 

 expectation on edge. 



Townsend's Solitaire (Myiadestes 

 townsendii) is another notable song- 

 ster, and a queer chap he is all 

 around. In size approaching that of 

 the Robin, and in color of a brownish 

 ash, lightening beloAv, and varied by 

 black and white in wings and tail, 

 the Solitaire is like Kipling's cat, in 

 that he flits by himself, and all places 

 are alike to him. Altho the bird 

 sometimes nests at sea level, you are 

 more likely to see him at an eleva- 

 tion of from 5.000 to 8.000 feet, and 

 to hear the song where the singer 

 may have a fair field in the open. 

 The song is an ecstatic hurly-burly 

 of sweet notes, reminding one some- 

 what of the Sage Thrasher but less 

 impetuous in delivery. The nest, as 

 in the case of so many mountain spe- 

 cies, is set into the soil of a steep 

 bank in such fashion as to enjoy pro- 

 tection from rain or unseasonable 

 snows. 



But space fails to tell at such 

 *The writer means to settle this 

 point during the coming summer. 



length of all the characteristic moun- 

 tain species. Let us then imagine 

 ourselves in camp upon some mile- 

 high divide beside a rock-bound lake- 

 let, and let the birds come to us. The 

 lake is necessary for in that case the 

 Water Ouzels (Cinclus mexicanus 

 unicolor) will be among our first 

 visitors. If one has not yet seen one 

 of these slate-colored morsels wade 

 about in water ten times over its 

 head, and icy cold, there is some- 

 thing to live for. Ouzels also are 

 famous singers, but they are more 

 tuneful in March and April than in 

 July and August. 



If our camp be in late July strange 

 Sandpipers, such as the Red-backed 

 (Pelidna alpina sakhalina) or 

 Baird's (Actodromas bairdi) the 

 avant couriers of the southward 

 moving host, will drop down to rest 

 for a day on the floating ice cakes 

 of our lake, or else dabble hungrily 

 in the margins. Of ducks perhaps 

 only the handsome Harlequin (His- 

 trionicus histrionicus) will reach 

 such a high point, and its interest is 

 rather in the brawling stream than 

 placid lakes. 



"When our camp has been well es- 

 tablished the Gray Jay (Perisoreus 

 obscurus griseus) commonly called 

 Camp Robber, will make his appear- 

 ance ; and altho usually a silent bird 

 the joy of discovery may betray him 

 into strange chucklings of a soft coo- 

 ing "Whee-ew. " Every mountain- 

 eer knows the friendly impudence of 

 this bird and boasts of the times 

 when he has been induced to pilfer 

 from the outstretched hand. 



The Gray Jay is a little under a 

 foot in length (but please remember 

 that birds are usually much longer 

 than a novice would guess) while the 

 Clarke Nutcracker (Nucifraga Col- 

 umbiana) is something over. This 

 bird is of a much lighter gray than 

 the preceding, with black wings and 

 tail strongly contrasting, and he has 

 no interest in the mountaineer's bill 

 of fare, for he subsists chiefly upon 



