The Townsend Solitaire 
above the ground. The song is broken and frag¬ 
mentary, and is rendered in a matter-of- 
fact, passionless way which harmonizes well 
enough with the sedate bearing of the bird. 
Yet the song itself is one of the weirdest 
and wildest in nature’s repertory.” 
It was during two magic weeks I 
spent on Shasta, weeks chiefly memor¬ 
able for the constant presence of the 
Solitaire, and enlivened by the daily 
repetitions of their songs, that 1 
studied the nesting habits of six 
pairs of these birds, and familiarized 
myself not alone with the “bell-like” 
scolding note, but also with the 
hitherto almost undescribed ecstasy 
song flight. So plentiful were the 
birds, indeed, and so frequently tune¬ 
ful that one could scarcely credit 
Merriam’s earlier statement based 
upon a much longer acquaintance 
with Shasta: “I saw six during our 
stay. * * * They were always 
silent and rather shy.” (The future 
monographer of bears had small ear, 
I take it, for bird music.) 
The strangest and most baffling 
sound of the western world is the 
musical creaking alarm note of the 
Townsend Solitaire. It is a ghost¬ 
ly, ventriloquistic, droning sound, 
uttered at frequent and monotonously regular intervals, yet with such a 
detached and altogether impersonal air that the authorship of the sound 
is distrusted, even when the bird is caught in flagrante delictu, that is, with 
mandibles beating time to the music. With this note the bird celebrates 
his disquietude over human intrusion, or notifies his mate of trouble brew¬ 
ing. In far happier mood is he when, all unsuspicious of hostile presence, 
he soars far above the tree-tops. When at a height of some 300 feet, he 
pauses and lets himself fall slowly, with fluttering wings, in a great spiral, 
while he pours out his soul in an ecstasy of song. Now more than ever he 
looks like the Mockingbird, save that his action does not at all savor of the 
grotesque. The song torrent on this occasion is light and sprightly in 
Fresno 
County 
Photo by 
the Author 
INSECT-LADEN 
794 
