THE 



BOTANIST. 



Vol. I. 



BINGHAMTON, N. Y., NOVEMBER 1. 1891. 



No. XI. 



SOME WINTER BIRDS 



of the east fork of the HumptuUps river, 



Chehalis County, Washington. 



BY ROBERT H. LAWRENCE. 



The past winter I carefully noted the 

 birds of the immediate vicinity; but, tlio' 

 not expecting to see many kinds, I was 

 hardly prepared for the small number 

 seen. The list, however, may prove in- 

 teresting a long time hence, when these 

 giant firs and spruces are gone and 

 meadows, pastures and orchards are 

 where they stood. 



Being bat an amateur, and depending, 

 until recently, on natural eyesight and 

 persistance alone, I was not able to 

 positiveli/ identify some of the birds 

 seen as to varieties. 



I am living on the upper part of the 

 canon of the east fork of the Humptu- 

 lips river, Chehalis county. In a straight 

 line south, Gray's Harbor would be 

 touched at Aberdeen, twenty miles away. 

 By the windings of the river it is nearly 

 thirty n.iles to the Harbor, and some 

 eight miles to the forks of the river. 



The canon walls are here about sixty 

 feet high, which gives but little valley ; 

 the hills come down pretty steep on 

 each side, — especially on the west. Our 

 altitude cannot be less than a thousand 

 feet above tide-level. The high ridges 

 might be called the southern foot-hills of 

 the Olympics. 



Wherever there is a network of fallen 

 branches, or bushes and dead trash, 

 there you will be able to find one or 

 more winter wrens. This little wren is 



with us all the year round and gives a 

 sweet companionship, with his nervous 

 ever-busy manner, and high, vigorous 

 trillings. His song is heard in the 

 midst of the heaviest downpours of this 

 exceedingly wet region. If you fell a 

 tree he is on hand to search for the 

 insect life thrown up by its fall. He 

 seems to prefer the darker places in the 

 woods, where the heavy moss mantles of 

 the hemlocks make a twilight of the 

 brightest da3^ 



American cross-bills are a plentiful 

 bird too, but more often heard than seen, 

 here, for they frequent the tops of the 

 big firs, living most of the time two or 

 three hundred feet above the ground. 

 They occasionally light about my cabin, 

 and show no wariness. They will come 

 quite close to a person if he keeps still, 

 but on the least move they are oflf. 



Chickadees are about in good num- 

 bers. They generally come in small, 

 straggling, chirping flocks to explore a 

 few patches of salmon-berry bushes 

 about the house. I have often seen 

 them too, on tbe high ridges in the 

 smaller hemlock trees. The chestnut- 

 banked is the only kind I have noted. 

 They are the cheeriest companions we 

 have. 



Ravens always turn up where a neigh- 

 bor has killed an elk or some large 

 animal. They have some surprising 

 cries, as well as croaks. More than 

 once 1 have thought a pack of hounds 

 were where a flock of these birds were 

 reveling. They are rarely seen near 

 the crows which s6em to be sort of do- 

 mesticated on the lower river. 



*^nMfe!PiH 



