196 Tin: IIKKMIT WARBLEIk 



Mr. Bowles has liit u|mjii a clever scheme for decoying tlie haughty Hermits. 

 He resorts to ilie vicinity of some Cassin \'ireo's nest containing young, and 

 stuilies tlie throng of small birds, which the masterly scolding of the \Mreos 

 invariably attracts. L'lxjn one such occasion, having lured down an in(|uisitive 

 pair, he noticed a peculiar trait : ".\fter 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 (lew to it and. hop|)iMg in. crouched down and com- 

 menced tr.im|)ling the bottom, turning amund. |)utling the material i>n the 

 sides into shape with her bill, and altogether acting as tho she had nest-building 

 well under way. This was al)out the middle of May, and, as I subse(|uently 

 discovc'td. almost a month loo early for her to l.ny her eggs."* 



The nest of this species is still rare. The only one taken in Washington 

 was found by Mr. Bowles, June 1 1, 1905, in a fir tree near Tacoma, and con- 

 tained fi\e 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 i)repared himself to insi)ect "another of those Audu- 

 bons." When, instead of the yellow crown-patch of an Audulxm, he saw the 

 lemon-yellow head of a Hermit, the oologist nearly fainted from surprise and 

 joy. The bird sat so dnsc that the collector was obliged to lift her from the 

 nest, and she then (lew only a few feet, where she remained, chii)i»ing and 

 spreading her wings and tail. The male at no time piU in an ai)i)earancc. 



The nesting range of this species is still imperfectly matle out. We found 

 it common at Xcw()ort in Stevens County, and among the ]>ines anfl larches of 

 the Calispell range. We counted them common in the valley of the Stehekin 

 also, but s<M>n encountered that peculiar plagiarism of song, on the ])art of the 

 Townsend Warbler, which (pieered all our local conclusi<ins. In order, there- 

 fore, to gui<le the student in further investigations, I record a few variant 

 song forms which I have clearly traced to the Hermit Warbler: Zcci/lc. 

 Ci'ccjic. zccglc, zcct, fuzzy and low like that of /). uifircscciis — this was heard 

 at Tacoma and is recognized by C. W. Bowles as being the type ft>nu of 

 southern Oregon songs; dzcc ihcc. Icibid-zccdzcc. dzcc dzcc in a sort of sing- 

 song rollick: dzudzudzudzudzcco zcco zed — first syllables very rapid, musical; 

 nasal turn to accented notes very like the "jiing" note of the Cree|K'r song, and 

 occupying much the same ])osition save that it is repeated; days. days. days, 

 days zcct — 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 



