Birds of Oregon and Washington 229 



jerky style. The song is striking, and on account 

 of it the bird, in Colorado, its eastern territorial 

 limit, is called the " Scale Bird." Mrs. Bailey 

 (nee Merriam) says, " He is not seen unless you 

 go to the brush to look for him, but, wherever 

 you are, you will hear the clear ringing voice 

 running down the scale, the bell-like tones now 

 coming from the chaparral of the valley, now 

 from the boulder-strewn hillsides above. The 

 Wren-Tit seems timid about singing in sight. 

 A common form of the song is a scale of seven 

 two-syllabled notes, — 'tip-it, tip-it.'" 



There are possibly two varieties of this Tit in 

 the section covered by this book. The one de- 

 scribed here is certainly not uncommon on our 

 coast. 



Osgood gives a Particular Description nearly 



as follows : 



Upper parts, almost uniformly umber-brown, darkest 

 on head, becoming blackish on wings ; tail, blackish- 

 brown, with tinge of olivaceous ; flanks, about like rump, 

 insensibly grading into side ; lores, cheeks and sides of 

 head, dark ashy ; a white spot above and below the eye ; 

 throat, breast and sides, deep brownish-rufous ; limited 

 area in middle of abdomen, huffy-yellow. 



Permanent resident. 



