Part 37

All times are killing time for this bloodthirsty fellow, and even in winter he “jerks” the meat not necessary for present consumption—be it chilly-footed mouse or palpitating Sparrow—upon some convenient thorn or splinter. In spring the north-bound bird is somewhat more amiable, being better fed, and he pauses from time to time during the advance to sing a strange medley, which at a little remove sounds like a big electric buzz. This is meant for a love song, and is doubtless so accepted by the proper critics, but its rendition sometimes produces about the same effect upon a troop of Finches, which a cougar’s serenade does upon a cowering deer.

Experts try to make out that this creature is beneficial, on the whole, because of the insects he devours, but I have seen too much good red blood on this butcher’s beak myself. My gun is loaded!

Suckley writing in the Fifties remarks the scarcity of all Shrikes in Oregon or Washington “Territories,” and this is fortunately still true, especially west of the Cascades. The probable explanation is that the mild climate of the Pacific slope of Alaska retards or prevents the southward movement of the more hardy species.

No. 136. WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE.

A. O. U. No. 622 a. Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides (Swains.).

Description.—_Adult_: Dark bluish gray above, changing abruptly to white on upper tail-coverts; scapulars chiefly white; wings black, a small white spot at base of primaries; the inner quills narrowly tipped with white; tail black, the outer pair of feathers chiefly white, and the succeeding broadly tipped with white in descending ratio until color disappears in two central pairs; below white slightly soiled on breast, but everywhere strongly contrasting with upperparts; narrow frontal line including nasal tufts, lores, and ear-coverts, black,—continuous, and passing mostly below eye; bill and feet black. _Immature_: Colors of adult less strongly contrasted; lower parts washed with brownish; loral bar obscure; more or less vermiculated with dusky all over (in younger birds), or upon the underparts alone; ends of wing-quills, coverts, and tail-feathers often with ochraceous or rusty markings. Length of adult male: 8.50-10.00 (215.9-254); wing 3.96 (100.6); tail 3.9 (99); bill .60 (15.3); tarsus 1.1 (28).

Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; dark gray above; whitish below; longitudinal black patch of head; wings black and white; breast of adult unmarked, as distinguished from both _L. borealis_ and _L. l. gambeli_.

Nesting.—_Nest_: a bulky but well-built structure of sticks, thorn-twigs, sage-bark, dried leaves, etc., heavily lined with wool, hair, and feathers; placed at moderate heights in sage-brush or sapling. _Eggs_: 5-7, dull grayish or greenish white, thickly speckled and spotted with pale olive or reddish brown. Av. size, .97 × .73 (24.6 × 18.5). _Season_: April, June; two broods.

General Range.—Western North America from the Great Plains westward, except Pacific Coast district and from Manitoba and the plains of Saskatchewan south over the tablelands of Mexico; south in winter over the whole of Mexico intergrading with _L. l. migrans_ in region of the Great Lakes.

Range in Washington.—Common summer resident east of the Cascades, chiefly in sage-brush country.

Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, XIV. 1897, 179. (T). D¹. D². Ss¹. Ss².

Specimens.—(U. of W.) P. C.

The brushy draws of the low lava ranges and the open sage stretches of the East-side constitute the favorite preserve of this lesser bird of prey. He arrives from the South early in March when his patchy plumage harmonizes more or less with the snow-checkered landscape, but he is nowise concerned with problems of protective coloration. Seeking out some prominent perch, usually at this time of year a dead greasewood or a fence-post, he divides his time between spying upon the early-creeping field mouse and entertaining his lady love with outlandish music. Those who have not heard the White-rumped Shrike _sing_, have missed a treat. He begins with a series of rasping sounds, which are probably intended to produce the same receptive condition in his audience which Ole Bull secured by awkwardly breaking one string after another on his violin, till only one was left. There, however, the resemblance ceases, for where the virtuoso could extract a melody of marvelous variety and sweetness from his single string, the bird produces the sole note of a struck anvil. This pours forth in successive three-syllabled phrases like the metallic and reiterative clink of a freely falling hammer. The chief difference which appears between this love song and the ordinary call of warning or excitement is that in the latter case the less tender passions have weighted the clanging anvil with scrap iron and destroyed its resonance.

The Shrike is a bird of prey but he is no restless prowler or hoverer, wearing out his wings with incessant flight—not he. Choosing rather a commanding position on a telegraph wire, or exposed bush top, he searches the ground with his eye until he detects some suspicious movement of insect, mouse, or bird. Then he dives down amongst the sage, and if successful returns to his post to devour at leisure. The bird does not remain long enough at one station to inspire a permanent dread in the local population of comestibles; but rather moves on from post to post at short intervals and in methodical fashion. In flight the bird moves either by successive plunges and noisy reascensions, or else pitches downward from his perch and wings rapidly over the surface of the vegetation.

The Sage Shrikes are prolific and attentive breeders. The first brood is brought off about the 1st of May, but fresh eggs may sometimes be found as early as the last week in March in the southern part of the State. A second brood may be expected from June 1st to 15th.

The nest is a bulky but usually well-built affair, placed habitually in a sage bush, or a greasewood clump, with wild clematis for third choice. The structure is designed for warmth and comfort, so that, whenever possible, to the thickened walls of plant fibers, cow-hair, or sheep’s wool, is added an inner lining of feathers, and these not infrequently curl over the edge so as completely to conceal the nest contents. One nest examined in Walla Walla County contained the following materials: Willow twigs, broom-sage twigs, sage bark, weed stems, dried yarrow leaves, dried sage leaves, hemp, wool, rabbit fur, horse-hair, cow-hair, chicken feathers, string, rags, and sand, besides a thick mat of finely comminuted scales, soft and shiny, the accumulated horny waste from the growing wing-quills of the crowded young—altogether a sad mess.

The parent birds are singularly indifferent as a rule to the welfare of a nest containing eggs alone. The female sits close, but once flushed, stands clinking in the distance, or else absents herself entirely. When the young are hatched, however, the old birds are capable of a spirited and deafening defense.

It is curious that in Washington we have seen no signs of the out-door larder, consisting of grasshoppers, mice, garter-snakes, etc., impaled on thorns, which the eastern birds of this species are usually careful to maintain somewhere in the vicinity of the nest. It may be simply that the lack of convenient thorns accounts for this absence, or for the failure of the habit.

Altho this bird belongs to a bad breed, one containing, among others, the notorious “_Neuntöter_,” or Ninekiller, of northern Europe, concerning which tradition maintains that it is never satisfied until it has made a kill of nine birds hand-running, the evidence seems to be overwhelmingly in its favor. Birds are found to constitute only eight per cent of this bird’s food thruout the year, while, on account of its services in ridding the land of undoubted vermin, its presence is to be considered highly beneficial.

No. 137. CALIFORNIA SHRIKE.

A. O. U. No. 622 b. Lanius ludovicianus gambeli Ridgway.

Description.—Similar to _L. l. excubitorides_ but decidedly darker, duller gray above; underparts more sordid, tinged with brownish or with more or less distinct transverse vermiculation of pale brownish gray on chest and sides of breast; averaging slightly smaller.

Recognition Marks.—As in preceding—duller.

Nesting.—As in _L. l. excubitorides_—has not yet been reported from Washington.

General Range.—Pacific Coast district from southwestern British Columbia to northern Lower California; south in winter to Cape St. Lucas and western Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Rare summer resident west of the Cascades.

Authorities.—? Orn. Com., Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII. 1837, 193 (Columbia River). _Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides_ Lawrence, Auk, IX. 1892, 46.

Resident Shrikes, presumably referable to this recently elaborated subspecies, are exceedingly rare in western Washington. Mr. Bowles has not seen any near Tacoma, and neither Mr. Rathbun nor myself have encountered them in Seattle. Mr. R. H. Lawrence, however, notes having seen three “White-rumped Shrikes” on June 10, 1890, in a small clearing on the Humptulips River[54].

The smaller Shrikes are birds of the open country, and they should be found in at least Lewis, Thurston, and Pierce Counties.

_Vireonidæ_—The Vireos

No. 138. RED-EYED VIREO.

A. O. U. No. 624. Vireosylva olivacea (Linn.).

Description.—_Adult_: Crown grayish slate, bordered on either side by blackish; a white line above the eye, and a dusky line thru the eye; remaining upperparts light grayish olive-green; wings and tail dusky with narrow olive-green edgings; below dull white, with a slight greenish-yellow tinge on lining of wings, sides, flanks, and crissum; first and fourth, and second and third primaries about equal, the latter pair forming the tip of wing; bill blackish at base above, thence dusky or horn-color; pale below; feet leaden blue; iris red. Little difference with age, sex, or season, save that young and fall birds are brighter colored. Length 5.50-6.50 (139.7-165.1); wing 3.15 (80); tail 2.10 (53.5); bill .49 (12.5); tarsus .70 (18).

Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; largest; white superciliary line contrasting with blackish and slate of crown; red eye. Note smoother, and utterance a little more rapid than in _L. s. cassinii_.

Nesting.—_Nest_, a semi-pensile basket or pouch, of bark-strips, “hemp,” and vegetable fibers, lined with plant-down, and fastened by the edges to forking twigs near end of horizontal branch, five to twenty feet up. _Eggs_, 3 or 4, white, with black or umber specks and spots, few in number, and chiefly near larger end. Av. size, .85 × .56 (21.6 × 14.2). _Season_: c. June 1; one brood.

General Range.—Eastern North America, west to Colorado, Utah, Washington and British Columbia; north to the Arctic regions; south in winter from Florida to the equator. Breeds nearly thruout its North American range.

Range in Washington.—Imperfectly made out. Summer resident on both sides of the Cascades. Either increasingly abundant or more observed latterly (Brook Lake, Chelan, Stehekin, Seattle, Tacoma, Kirkland breeding 1908).

Migrations.—_Spring_: Seattle, May 3, 1908.

Authorities.—Belding, Land Birds of the Pacific District, 1890, p. 199. (Walla Walla by J. W. Williams, 1885). Ss². B.

Specimens.—C.

We are rubbing our eyes a little bit and wondering whether the Red-eyed Vireo has really been here all the time, or whether he only slipped in while we were napping a decade or two since. Certain it is that the bird’s presence in the Pacific Northwest was unknown to the pioneers, Townsend, Cooper, Suckley, and the rest; and the first intimation we had of the occurrence of this Vireo west of the Rockies was Chapman’s record, published in 1890[55] of specimens taken at Ducks and Ashcroft, B. C. The year following, viz., August 4, 1891, a singing Red-eye was recognized by Mr. C. F. Batchelder, of Cambridge, Mass., at the Little Dalles, in this State[56]. Mr. Lyman Belding, the veteran ornithologist, of Stockton, Cal., advises me, however, that this Vireo was first seen by his friend, Dr. J. W. Williams, of Walla Walla, on June 4 and 24, 1885, and that six specimens were taken. Dr. Merrill, writing in 1897[57], records them as abundant summer visitors at Fort Sherman, Idaho; and Fannin notes their occurrence upon Vancouver Island. Messrs. C. W. and J. H. Bowles met with this species in the Puyallup Valley on June 23, 1899, when they saw and heard at least half a dozen. Mr. Bowles and I were constantly on the lookout for this bird during our East-side trip in May and June, 1906, but we failed to observe it in either Spokane or Stevens Counties. We found it first in a wooded spur of the Grand Coulee on June 13th; then commonly at Chelan, where it nested; and also at the head of Lake Chelan with Cassin Vireos right alongside. And now comes the announcement of its breeding at Kirkland where Miss Jennie V. Getty took two sets in the season of 1908.

The truth is, the Cassin Vireo has so long occupied the center of the stage here in the Northwest, that we may never know whether his cousin, Red-eye, stole a march on us from over the Rockies, or was here for a century grieving at our dullness of perception. In habit the two species are not unlike, and their ordinary notes do not advertise differences, even to the mildly observant. Those of the Red-eye are, however, higher in pitch, less mellow and soft in quality, and are rendered with more sprightliness of manner. Its soliloquizing notes are often uttered—always in single phrases of from two to four syllables each—while the bird is busily hunting, and serve to mark an overflow of good spirits rather than a studied attempt at song. His best efforts are given to the entertaining of his gentle spouse when she is brooding upon the nest. A bird to which I once listened at midday, in Ohio, had chosen for his station the topmost bare twig of a beech tree a hundred feet from the ground, and from this elevated position he poured out his soul at the rate of some fifty phrases per minute, and without intermission during the half hour he was under observation.

So thoroly possessed does our little hero become with the spirit of poesy, that when he takes a turn upon the nest he indulges, all unmindful of the danger, in frequent outbursts of song. Both birds are closely attached to the home, about which center their fears and their hopes; and well they may be, for it is a beautiful structure in itself. The nest is a semipensile cup, bound firmly by its edges to a small fork near the end of some horizontal branch of tree or bush, and usually at a height not exceeding five or ten feet. It is composed largely of fibers from weed-stalks, and fine strips of cedar or clematis bark, which also forms what little lining there is. A curious characteristic of the entire Vireo family is the attention paid to the outside instead of the inside of the nest. The outside is carefully adorned with lichens, old rags, pieces of wasp nests, or bits of newspaper, with no idea of furthering concealment, for the result is often very conspicuous. The walls are not over a third of an inch thick, but are so strong that they not infrequently weather the storms of three or four seasons.

When we came upon a female sitting contentedly in her nest in the center of a charming birch tangle in Chelan County, we had as good as photographed the eggs. We were particularly elated at our good fortune because the eggs had not yet been taken within the limits of the State. When we had watched the mild-eyed mother for ten minutes, and had lessened the distance to five feet, we began to suspect young; but when she flitted, we found nothing at all. She was only fooling.

No. 139. WESTERN WARBLING VIREO.

A. O. U. No. 627 a. Vireosylva gilva swainsonii (Baird).

Description.—_Adult_: Above, dull ashy, almost fuscous, tinged with olivaceous, same on pileum,—the last-named color brightest on interscapulars, rump, and edgings of secondaries and rectrices; wings and tail fuscous, the primaries with faint whitish edgings; no wing-bars; first primary spurious,—only about a third as long as the others; point of wing formed by third, fourth, and fifth primaries; second shorter than sixth; below white with slight tinges on sides,—buffy on sides of head and neck, olive-fuscous on sides of breast, sulphur-yellow on sides of belly and flanks, and sometimes vaguely on breast; lores and space about eye whitish, enclosing obscure dusky line thru eye; bill dusky above, lighter below; feet blackish. Length 5.00-6.00 (127-152.4); wing 2.64 (67); tail 1.94 (49.3); bill .39 (10); tarsus .69 (17.5).

Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; general absence of positive characteristics,—altogether the plainest-colored bird of the American avifauna.

Nesting.—_Nest_: a pensile pouch of bark-strips, grasses, vegetable fibers, and trash, carefully lined with plant-down; hung usually from fork of small limb, at any height. _Eggs_: 3 or 4, white, sparingly and distinctly dotted or spotted, or, rarely, blotched with black, umber, or reddish brown, chiefly at the larger end. Av. size .75 × .55 (19 × 13.9). _Season_: June 1-20; one brood.

General Range.—Western United States and Canada (British Columbia, Alberta and Athabasca), breeding south to southern border of United States and southern extremity of Lower California; south in winter thru Mexico to Vera Cruz and Oaxaca.

Range in Washington.—Summer resident thruout the State in deciduous timber, chiefly at lower levels.

Migrations.—_Spring_: Yakima, May 6, 1900; Seattle, May 5, 1905; Yakima, May 4, 1906; Tacoma, May 5, 1907; Seattle, May 3, 1908.

Authorities.—? _Vireo gilvus_, Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., VIII. 1839, p. 153 (Columbia River). _Vireo gilvus_ (_swainsonii_ proposed), Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., IX. pt. II. 1858, 336. T. C&S. L. Rh. D¹. Ra. D². J. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. BN. E.

The old-fashioned name “Greenlet,” as applied to the Vireos, was a misnomer, if a description of plumage was intended; but if it was intended to memorialize the bird’s fondness for greenery, nothing could have been more apt. The Warbling Vireo’s surroundings must be not only green, but freshly green, for it frequents only deciduous trees in groves and riverside copses. It is not an abundant bird, therefore, in Washington, altho equally distributed, whether in the willows and birches which gather about some lonesome spring in the bunch-grass country, or among the crowded alders and maples of the turbid Nooksachk. Moreover, the bird is not so frequently found about parks and shade trees as in the East, altho it looks with strong favor upon the advent of orchards. And the orchardist may welcome him with open arms, for there is not among all his tenants a more indefatigable gleaner of bugs and worms.

Because he is clad in Quaker gray there is little need for the Vireo to show himself as he sings, and he remains for the most part concealed in the dense foliage, a vocal embodiment of the living green. Unlike the disconnected fragments which the Red-eye furnishes, the song of this bird is gushing and continuous, a rapid excursion over pleasant hills and valleys. Continuous, that is, unless the bright-eyed singer happens to spy a worm _in medias res_, in which event the song is instantly suspended, to be resumed a moment later when the wriggling tid-bit has been dispatched. The notes are flute-like, tender, and melodious, having, as Chapman says, “a singular alto undertone.” All hours of the day are recognized as appropriate to melody, and the song period lasts from the time of the bird’s arrival, early in May, until its departure in September, with only a brief hiatus in July.

In sharp contrast with the beautiful canzonettes which the bird showers down from the tree-tops, come the harsh, wren-like scolding notes, which it often delivers when searching thru the bushes, and especially if it comes across a lurking cat.

The Warbling Vireo’s cradle is swung midway from the fork of some nearly horizontal branch in the depths of a shady tree. In height it may vary from fifteen to twenty-five feet above the ground; but I once found one in a peach tree without a shadow of protection, and within reach from the ground. The structure is a dainty basket of interwoven grasses, mosses, flower-stems, and the like. It is not, however, so durable as that of some other Vireos, since much of its thickness is due to an ornamental thatching of grass, bark-strips, green _usnea_ moss, and cottonwood down, which dissolves before winter is over. The female is a close sitter, sticking to her post even tho nearly paralyzed with fear. The male is usually in close attendance, and knows no way of discouraging the inquisitive bird-man save by singing with redoubled energy. He takes his turn at the eggs when his wife needs a bit of an airing, and even, it is said, carries his song with him to the nest.

No. 140. CASSIN’S VIREO.

A. O. U. No. 629 a. Lanivireo solitarius cassinii (Xantus).

Synonym.—Western Solitary Vireo.

Description.—_Adult male_: Crown and sides of head and neck deep olive-gray; a supraloral stripe and eye-ring whitish, the latter interrupted by dusky of lore; remaining upperparts olive-green overcast with gray, clearing, pure olive-green on rump and upper tail-coverts; wings and tail blackish with edging of light olive-green or yellowish (white on outer web of outer rectrices); tips of middle and greater coverts yellowish olive, forming two rather conspicuous bars; underparts white tinged with buffy, changing on sides and flanks to sulphur yellow or pale olive; under tail-coverts yellowish; bill grayish black above, paler below; feet dusky, iris brown. _Adult female_: Like male but duller, browner on head and neck, less purely white below. _Immature_: Head and neck more nearly like back; supraloral streak, orbital ring, and underparts washed with brownish buff. Length about 5.50 (139.7); wing 2.84 (72.2); tail 2.05 (52.2); bill .39 (10); tarsus .75 (19).

Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; slaty gray head contrasting with olivaceous back; whitish eye-ring distinctive; voice has more of an edge than that of _V. olivacea_.

Nesting.—_Nest_: a semi-pensile basket of woven bark-strips, grasses, and vegetable fibers, variously ornamented externally with cherry petals, spider cases, bits of paper, etc., lashed to bark of horizontal or descending bough of sapling (oak, vine-maple, fir, etc.) at a height of from five to thirty feet; bulkier and of looser construction than that of other Vireos; measures 2¼ inches across by 1½ inches deep inside; walls often ¾ of an inch in thickness. _Eggs_: 3-5, usually 4, white or creamy white, sparingly marked with spots, which vary from rich red brown to almost black—but unmarked specimens are of record. Av. size .75 × .55 (19 × 13.9). _Season_: May 15-June 5; one brood.

General Range.—Pacific Coast district north to British Columbia, east to Idaho (Ft. Sherman; Ft. Lapwai), breeding from Los Angeles County, California, northward thruout its range; south in winter to western Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Common summer resident on both sides of the Cascades, found chiefly in timbered areas.