iy8 THE TOLMIE WARBLEB 



ll matters n<it ulit-tlicr it be a liillsidc in King County, a luncsomc spring draw 

 in the hills n{ Klickitat, or the Ixmlers of a s\vain|) in Okanogan, if only tiierc 

 he cover and plenty of it. Xo more ])ersistenl skulker haunts the shrubbery 

 than this wary, suspicious, active, anil very competent W'liod Warbler. Yet 

 even he, when he thinks no one is looking, emerges fnjm his shrubbery depths, 

 selects a toi)niost twig and breaks out in song, — a song which is neither 

 diftident nor uncertain. Slwi'l^ slwrp slicrl> slwar slwur j/irr/', he ainiounces 

 in a brisk, business-like tone, totally devoid of musical (|uality. .And when you 

 have heard him once, or, say, a hun<lrc<l times, you have learned all that may Ix* 

 known of the Tolmie Warbler — out of cover. Tho.se who know the Dickcissel 

 of the middle West will at once be struck with the close similarity of its song, 

 altho it must be admitted that the Warbler's is lighter in quality and less 

 wooden. Practically, the only variety is in the number of syllables and in the 

 number and distribution of the r's; thus, Sliccf>, shcrf', sluuir. slwiir, slii\'f>; 

 Slircp. slircp, slicur, slwar. slnu-p, slwrf^: and, ;i shade more cnipliatic, Jiclc, 

 jiclc. jick, jick, shear, sheep. 



For all we see so little of the Tolmie Warbler, the converse is by no 

 means true. That is to say, the bird does see a great deal of us if we frecpient 

 the thickets. Whenever there is anything doing in his vicinity, the Warbler 

 |)romptly and silently threads the intervening mazes, takes observations of the 

 distmber from every angle, and retires with, at most, a disapproving chuck. 

 In the fall of the year discipline is somewhat rela.xed. and a little judicious 

 screeping in the shrubbery will call up platoons of these in(|uisitive Warblers. 



Owing partly to the caution of the sitting female, and more t<j the density 

 of its cover, the nest of tlie Tolmie Warbler is not often found. When ap- 

 proached the bird glides aw;iy silently froni her nest, and begins feeding osten- 

 tatiously in the neighboring bushes. This of itself is enough to arouse susjji- 

 cion in an instructed mind, for the exhibition is ])lainly gratuitous. But the 

 brush keei)s the secret well, or, if it is forced, we find a bulky, loose-built afTair 

 of coarse dead grasses and rootlets, lined with black rootlets or hi>rse-liair. 

 and placed either in an u|)right fork of a bush, or built around the ascending 

 stems of rank herbage at a few inches or at most two or three feet from the 

 groimd. Eggs, usually four in luimber. are deposited alxmt the first week in 

 June, and Tolmie babies swarm in July anil August, quite beyond the ex|)ecta- 

 tion of our oological fore season. 



.\ word of explanation reganling the change (W' name from Macgillivray 

 to Tolmie is in order. Townsend discovered the bird and really published it 

 first, saying.* "I dedicate the species to my friend. W. T. Tolmie. Ksq. of Kort 

 \'ancouver." .Audulxin. being entrusted with Townsend's specimens, but dis- 

 regarding the owner's prior ritjlil-;. piiblisjicd tlie binl indeju-ndi-iitlv. and tardi- 



a. "Xtrrative." April 1839. p 343 



