May, 1922 MISCELLANEOUS BIRD NOTES FROM MONTANA 79 
or two after this, at an elevation of 7000 feet, a single bird was seen at a little 
eamp belonging to a prospector, consisting of a tent pitched amid scattered 
pines, with snow all about excepting where the sun had locally exposed the 
forest floor. A number of men with a pair of horses were working here, fell- 
ing trees and dragging logs, when the Solitaire alighted close to us on the 
ground, flying from a perch on the top of a tall pine, where he had been sing- 
ing. I was able to approach within fifteen feet of the bird when he flew, 
ascending above the pines in little curved flights first to the left and then to 
the right as if confused, or uncertain where he wished to go. Later, this pecu- 
larity was found to be much elaborated as an accompaniment to the flight 
singing of the species, used both in ascending and descending. A number of 
times on this date a Solitaire could be heard singing high in the air and well 
above us up the mountain, and sometimes it could be seen coming down the 
steep slope just over the trees with great velocity, alighting suddenly on a tree 
top, when he would again burst into song.. On May 24 I witnessed the begin- 
-ning of a sone-flight, no doubt a courtship performance, of which the precipi- 
Fig. 30. DIAGRAM OF SONG-FLIGHT OF THE TOWNSEND SOLITAIRE, A-B, 1420 FERT; 
B-C, 500 FEET. ELEVATION OF RIDGE (B), 7300 FEET. 
tate descent over the tree tops just described is the termination, although at 
that time the birds appeared to have mated. 
I was standing on a nearly treeless ridge, at an elevation of 7300 feet, 
when a Solitaire which was singing close by on a stunted pine, flew upward 
in two series of irregular spirals. The first series was made by circling to the 
left, and the second series by circling to the right, as shown diagramatieally in 
figure 30. By this method the bird mounted to a height of perhaps 500 feet, 
singing at intervals. Then he started off as though to leave the vicinity, when, 
suddenly and with astonishing velocity, he plunged downward, apparently 
with set wings, in a succession of steeply-pitched zigzags, almost to the ground, 
and then turned abruptly upward again in a second series of spirals of the 
same character, which ended in another zigzag drop of at least 700 feet when 
he disappeared down the slope. 
A little time afterwards the bird reappeared and joined a second one in a 
group of fire-killed pines standing in deep snow accumulated on the lee slope 
of the ridge. The pair sat on a dead tree and occasionally dropped to the snow 
to pick up insects which had become chilled by coming in contact with the cold 
