F. E. Blaauiv—About Birds in North America



187



From Seattle I made a trip to Mount Rainier, which mountain,

with its surroundings, is a national park. The trip was done by auto¬

mobile, and the first stage was to Long mire Springs, which is situated

at 2,700 feet altitude. At first, after leaving Seattle, the Douglas firs

which had been my almost constant companions after I had passed

Mount Shasta on my way to Seattle, were again conspicuous, but after

a while, as we got into the mountains, the forest became mixed, and I

saw splendid examples of the Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), also

Giant thuyas, Abies amabilis, Abies nobilis, and some Abies grandis.


In the forest I noticed a specimen of the Golden Winged Woodpecker,

but of the Western form. This form appears to be a little larger than

the true Colaptes auratus of the Eastern States, and is conspicuously

different by having red instead of golden feather shafts in the wings

(Colaptes cafer collaris).


At Longmire Springs is an hotel where I spent the night, and next

morning, under the kind guidance of Professor Flet, who is ranger of

the park, I had a delightful walk up the mountains. Before starting

we saw a couple of Black-tailed deer in a low meadow near the hotel, and

in the trees near, several brown, black, and white Tits (Partes rufescens)

were very active searching the branches of a fir-tree for insects. Our

walk led us through splendid forests, chiefly composed of Abies amabilis,

Abies nobilis, and Abies grandis, whilst the Douglas firs did not follow us

so far up. As we got still higher we met specimens of Tsuga mertensiana,

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, and near the snow-line little groups of

Abies lasiocarpa were conspicuous by the spire-shaped crowns of the

single trees. In these woods we came across a mountain form of Turdus

migratorius, which is conspicuous by a black band across its red breast.

We also saw a Pine squirrel, which is grey, with yellowish eyebrows and

belly. As we had passed out of the forest and had reached an alpine

meadow full of most beautiful flowers, we rested on a heap of loose

stones, and whilst we were sitting there a little creature like a small

dark grey rabbit without a tail, with small rounded ears and beautiful

black eyes, emerged from the ramble and watched us curiously,

without showing any fear. It was what was called locally a “ coney of

the stones ” or “ little chief hare ” (Ochotona princeps), and when it had

examined us to its satisfaction it quickly re-entered its stone fortress !



