Birds of tke Higk Cascades 

 By WILLIAM LEON DAWSON 



T3E shape of a mountain, be it 

 conical or roughly pyramid- 

 al, is symbolic of the attitude 

 of men thereto ; and as the area of its 

 apex is to its base, so is the number 

 of the elect who dare or care to 

 stand on its summit, to the multitude 

 at the bottom who do not. In like 

 manner we shall scarcely expect to 

 find the birds vying for the honors 

 of the peak, altho the gratification of 

 such a whim would be for them com- 

 paratively easy. Rather are their 

 haunts and habits dictated to them 

 by the stern necessities of food-find- 

 ing, and since few birds may subsist 

 on souvenir flint flakes and scenery 

 alone, they folloAv the ascending alti- 

 tudes in rapidly descending ratio. 



But to compensate for the decreas- 

 ing bird-life there is an improvement 

 in quality, which the student of anal- 

 ogies cannot but note with satisfac- 

 tion. Quality may appear at first 

 thought a vague or presumptuous 

 term to use as a basis of classifica- 

 tion in bird life, but the illustration 

 will justify the word. In the matter 

 of song, for example, four of our 

 choicest Washington singers, the 

 "Water Ouzel, the Sierra Hermit 

 Thrush, the Slate-colored Sparrow, 

 and the Townsend Solitaire, are to 

 be found exclusively or at their best 

 in the mountains. 



In speaking of the high Cascades, 

 one excludes the volcanoes. Rainier, 

 Baker, and the rest, for they are in- 

 dependent members and are each 

 worthy of special study ; yet it is but 

 fair to say in passing that each sub- 

 stantially reproduces the conditions 

 which obtain in the higher parts of 

 the main range. In like manner I 

 cannot assume to speak accurately of 

 the southern half of the Cascade 



Range in Washington, for the peaks 

 in this section do not attain the 

 heights which prevail in the vicinity 

 of Glacier Peak and in the areas to 

 northward. The northern mountains 

 are therefore the High Cascades par 

 excellence and it is to this region that 

 the bird notes gathered below most 

 strictly apply. 



Logically one should begin at the 

 bottom, but because the birds of the 

 valley are legion, and because it is 

 difficult to draw a line of demarca- 

 tion between lowland and mountain 

 species, we shall follow the reverse 

 order and stop on the descent at 

 about the point where we begin to 

 feel again the bewildering complex- 

 ity of every-day life. 



There is room at the top of every 

 mountain, but some of our Cascade 

 aiguilles, Mt. Sahale, for instance, 

 are sharp enough to recall the moot 

 point of scholastic debate, viz.. How 

 many angels can dance on the point 

 of a needle ? One man at a time may 

 stand over the pinnacle, but to attain 

 this point he has displaced the pre- 

 siding genius of all unsealed peaks, 

 the Hepburn Leucosticte (Leucostic- 

 te tephrocotis littoralis), from his 

 favorite perch. Here is the patron 

 saint of Mountaineers ! He alone of 

 all creatures is at home on the 

 heights, and he is not even dependent 

 upon the scanty vegetation which fol- 

 lows the retreating snows, since he is 

 able to wrest a living from the very 

 glaciers. Abysses do not appal him, 

 nor do the flower-strewn meadows of 

 the lesser heights alienate his snow- 

 centered affections. 



The Leucosticte, or Rosy Finch, is 

 only a little longer than a Song Spar- 

 row, but appears considerably larger 

 by reason of its full plumage. It is 



