Sept., 1906 | 
109 
Among the Flathead Birds 
BY P. M. SI 1, 1,0 WAY 
4 4 r T'' HERE is a pleasure in the pathless woods,” wrote the poet, or something 
I like that; for the present occasion finds me too far from my library to verify 
the accuracy of the quotation. There is a stack of birds in the Flathead 
woods around my headquarters, at any rate, and it was a pleasure to strike the 
forest at its best. 
The first day of June, 1906, found me afield, roaming the woods for things new 
or old in bird nature. This portion of the forest is by no means pathless, altho on 
every side lies the interminable domain of one of the largest forest reserves in the 
United States. Around us is a little settlement, carved out of the wilderness; but 
a few steps leads into magnificent areas of mixed growth of towering tamaracks, 
yellow pines, red fir, Engelmann spruce, and related conifers, with others varying 
from the sapling stage to veterans of the wilderness. In the more swampy re- 
gions are cottonwoods, willows, alders, maples, and swamp-loving shrubs. A few 
running extracts from my notes will perhaps be of most interest to readers of Thk 
Condor, and the outcome will depend upon material the woods afford. 
June 1. — \ nest of the Audubon warbler was found in the clearing west of the 
biological station. A bunch of grayish material in a likely place caught my glance. 
It was in a cottonwood sapling, one of several under a spreading veteran whose 
exposed roots were washed by the gentle ripple of the lake shore. A pair of 
bright eyes were twinkling over the brim of the nest, and as I gave the tree a 
shake, downward darted Mrs. Dendroica auduboni soon to appear in the large tree 
and chirp apprehensively. A step or two, or a couple of hitches, carried me up 
so that I could see the five handsome eggs. The nest was in an upright crotch 
formed by several small branches against the main stein, the top of the nest being 
eight feet from the ground. The site was remarkably exposed, and indicated a 
degree of familiarity not generally ascribed to this frequenter of the wilderness. 
The nest was made of rather coarse material, chiefly dark colored, such as rootlets, 
grass stems, weed-bark, and fine grasses, the latter forming a sort of middle layer. 
The lining was mostly white horsehair, soft feathers, and some white felt stuff in 
the bottom under the horsehair. The eggs were perfectly fresh. The male was 
moving around in neighboring trees, and frequently sang near the place. 
June 2. — Today it was my fortune for the second time to find a nest of the 
Townsend warbler ( Dendroica townsendi). The males were singing persistently 
in the woods, and I spent the day in exploring a rocky ridge on which I found 
my first nest of this warbler. It was on the side of a rugged fault, overgrown 
with bushes and fir trees in small and large sapling stage. The males were sing- 
ing in the larger trees growing on lower ground around the fault. Toward the 
close of a wearisome afternoon I saw a nest near the top of a large fir sapling in 
the edge of a small clump. A gentle shake caused the sitting bird to dart down- 
ward among the bases of adjacent trees, where she skulked in silence, flitting 
around the periphery of my limited view. The large black area surrounded by 
yellow on the side of her head, with other markings, soon informed me that I had 
at length found the goal of my search. For twenty minutes I sat and waited, 
watching her movements. Only once did she make any noise, when she flitted 
quite near me and uttered a low chirp followed by a subdued chattering of three 
or four notes. The male did not appear while I was about the place. 
The nest was ten feet from the ground, near the top of the fir. As I before 
