196 THE HERMIT WARBLER. 
Mr. Bowles has hit upon a clever scheme for decoying the haughty Hermits. 
He resorts to the vicinity of some Cassin Vireo’s nest containing young, and 
studies the throng of small birds, which the masterly scolding of the Vireos 
invariably attracts. Upon one such occasion, having lured down an inquisitive 
pair, he noticed a peculiar trait: “After examining me closely and apparently 
deciding that I was a new kind of stump, the female commenced feeding; but 
her attention was soon attracted to a last year’s nest of a Russet-backed 
Thrush. She at once flew to it and, hopping in, crouched down and com- 
menced trampling the bottom, turning around, putting the material on the 
sides into shape with her bill, and altogether acting as tho she had nest-building 
well under way. ‘This was about the middle of May, and, as I subsequently 
discovered, almost a month too early for her to lay her eggs.’ 
The nest of this species is still rare. The only one taken in Washington 
was found by Mr. Bowles, June 11, 1905, in a fir tree near Tacoma, and con- 
tained five eggs, the only set of five yet recorded. The nest was placed at a 
height of twenty feet on a horizontal limb six feet from the trunk of the tree. 
Mr. Bowles had seen the tail of the bird from below as it projected over the 
brim of the nest, and prepared himself to inspect “‘another of those Audu- 
bons.” When, instead of the yellow crown-patch of an Audubon, he saw the 
lemon-yellow head of a Hermit, the odlogist nearly fainted from surprise and 
joy. The bird sat so close that the collector was obliged to lift her from the 
nest, and she then flew only a few feet, where she remained, chipping and 
spreading her wings and tail. The male at no time put in an appearance. 
The nesting range of this species is still imperfectly made out. We found 
it common at Newport in Stevens County, and among the pines and larches of 
the Calispell range. We counted them common in the valley of the Stehekin 
also, but soon encountered that peculiar plagiarism of song, on the part of the 
Townsend Warbler, which queered all our local conclusions. In order, there- 
fore, to guide the student in further investigations, I record a few variant 
song forms which I have clearly traced to the Hermit Warbler: Zcegle, 
seegle, seegle, sect, fuzzy and low like that of D. migrescens—this was heard 
at Tacoma and is recognized by C. W. Bowles as being the type form of 
southern Oregon songs; dzee dseé, tzibid-seedzeé, dzee dzeé in a sort of sing- 
song rollick: dzudzudzudzudzeéo scéo zeet—first syllables very rapid, musical ; 
nasal turn to accented notes very like the ‘“‘ping” note of the Creeper song, and 
occupying much the same position save that it is repeated; days, days, days, 
days zeét—the first notes lisping, with slight accelerando, and the nasal ring- 
ing quality reserved for the last. 
a. The Condor, Vol. VIII., March 1906, p. 41. 
