Part 43

“The way of any bird in the air commands interest, but the way of the Swift provokes both admiration and astonishment. With volitatorial powers which are unequaled by any other land bird, this avian missile goes hurtling across the sky without injury, or else minces along slowly with pretended difficulty. Now it waddles to and fro in strange zigzags, picking up a gnat at every angle, and again it “lights out” with sudden access of energy and alternate wing strokes, intent on hawking in heaven’s upper story. At favorite seasons the birds cross and recross each other’s paths in lawless mazes and fill the air with their strident creakings, while here and there couples and even trios sail about in great stiff curves with wings held aloft. It is the only opportunity afforded for personal attentions, and it is probable that the sexes have no further acquaintance except as they pass and repass in ministering to the young.

“In nesting the Chimney ’Sweeps’ seek out the smaller chimneys of dwelling houses, and usually only one pair occupies a single shaft. Short twigs are seized and snapped off by the bird’s beak in midflight, and these, after being rolled about in the copious saliva, are made fast to the bricks, a neat and homogeneous bracket being thus formed. This will be sufficient to support the half dozen crystal white eggs and the hissing squabs which follow, unless a premature fire or a long-continued rain dissolves the glue and tumbles the fabric into the grate.

“Sitting birds, when discovered, oftenest drop below the nest and hide, clinging easily with the tiny feet supported by the spiny tail. The male bird seldom pays any attention unless there are young, in which case he even brushes past the intruder and enters the nest in his eagerness to share the hour of danger. The young are rather slow in development and it requires, according to Mr. Otto Widmann, two months to rear a family of them. Usually only one brood is raised, but a second nesting is undertaken even as late as August if the first has proven unsuccessful” (Birds of Ohio).

Save in the matter of nesting, the Vaux Swift does not differ essentially in habit or appearance from the well-known Chimney Swift, referred to in the preceding paragraphs. It is, however, very much less common and is only of local distribution, chiefly in the lower mountain valleys. Local attachments are doubtless largely determined by the presence of large cottonwood timber, but the birds descend to the lowlands, especially after the close of the nesting season, in small roving parties, somewhat after the fashion of the Cloud Swifts, with which indeed they frequently associate. They have thus been regularly reported by West-side observers at Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellingham, and I have seen them at Blaine, and in the valleys of the Nooksack (at Glacier), Skagit, Nisqually (in Rainier National Park), and Quillayute Rivers. The only East-side records appear to be those from the north fork of the Ahtanum, in Yakima County, and the valley of the Stehekin, in Chelan County.

Vaux’s Swift with us nests only in the hollow recesses of tall dead cottonwood trees, where they glue a shallow bracket of broken twigs, cemented with hardened saliva, to the curving inner wall. In California, however, they are said to be adopting the ways of civilization, and are beginning to nest in chimneys, after the fashion of _C. pelagica_.

No. 161. WHITE-THROATED SWIFT.

A. O. U. No. 425. Aeronautes melanoleucus (Baird).

Synonyms.—Rock Swift. Mountain Swift. Rocky Mountain Swift. White-throated Rock Swift.

Description.—_Adults_: Plumage black (variable, sooty brown to glossy black); forehead and line over eye paler; lore velvety black; chin, throat, breast, and belly, centrally, white—also outer edge of outer primary, tips of secondaries, lateral tail-feathers, and a conspicuous patch on flank, sometimes nearly meeting fellow across rump; bill black. Length 7.00 (177.8) or under; wing 6.50-7.00 (165.1-177.8); tail 2.65 (67.3).

Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size but larger to appearance; exceedingly rapid flight with flashing white underparts and flank patches distinctive.

Nesting.—“The nest is securely placed far in holes or crevices of rocks or indurated earths, usually at a great height; it is a saucer-like structure, about 5 × 2 inches, with a shallow cavity, made of various vegetable materials well glued together with saliva, and lined with feathers. Eggs several, in one instance 5, narrowly subelliptical, 0.87 × 0.52, white” (Coues). _Season_: May and June.

General Range.—Western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, north to Montana, Idaho, and southern British Columbia (Okanagan Valley); south in winter to Guatemala.

Range in Washington.—Known only from the valley of the Columbia near Chelan, the Grand Coulee (near Cold Spring Lake), and the Cascade Pass.

Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, XIV., 1897, p. 175.

Specimens.—C.

Swift, swifter, swiftest, will best express the relations of our Washington _Cypseli_, where the positive degree is represented by the Vaux Swift, the comparative by the Black Cloud Swift, and the superlative by the White-throat. No one who is troubled with acrophobia, the fear of high places, should attempt to spy upon the nesting haunts of these Swifts from above; for when to the ordinary terrors of a sheer cliff, say a thousand feet in height, is added the hurtling passage of resentful Swifts flashing about like hurled scimetars, the situation will try the strongest nerve. Viewed from below, in the open air, the evolutions of these birds may be regarded with some degree of equanimity; but when a Swift dips toward the ground, or measures its speed across the face of some frowning precipice, one sees what a really frightful velocity is attained. There is no exact way of measuring this, but an estimate of five miles per minute would be well within the mark, and six not unreasonable. The bird, that is, would require only an hour to flit from Spokane to Aberdeen; or, it might breakfast at Osooyoos on the Forty-ninth Parallel, lunch in Chihuahua, and dine, a trifle late, in Panama.

This Rock Swift nests only in crevices and caves of the most inaccessible cliffs. Most of its hunting, however, is done in the upper air, where its lighter colors soon render it indistinguishable. It appears also to be less sociable than the other species upon the hunt, so that almost the only opportunities for careful study of it are afforded near the cliffs. Here there is much amorous pursuit, and the frequent sound of thrilling notes. The characteristic notes constitute a sort of war-cry, rather than song, and consist of a liquid descending scale of musical chuckling, or rubbing tones. The noise produced is much as if two pebbles were being fiercely rubbed together in a rapidly-filling jar of water.

The birds exhibit a preternatural cunning in the selection of nesting sites. Not only do they choose sheer walls, but those which, because of the fissures so afforded, are crumbling and dangerous to a degree. The butte shown in the illustration consists of a hard lava capping over a disintegrating bed of tufa, impossible of ascent and impracticable of descent. Here in some remotest crevice the birds affix a narrow shelf, of straws, bits of weed-stalks, and miscellaneous trash, agglutinated with saliva; and in this four or five narrowly elliptical white eggs are deposited late in June or early in July.

These interesting birds are newcomers within our borders, and their comings and goings are as yet little known. Bendire in 1895 remarked[69] their utter absence from Oregon and Washington. In 1896 I saw a single bird in the gorge of the Columbia near Chelan, and upon revisiting this scene in May, 1906, found that quite a colony of them were haunting a granite wall some 800 feet in height. Late in the same season, and in each succeeding year I have found them in the vicinity of Cold Spring Butte in Douglas County; and have every reason to suppose that other such colonies exist in the Grand Couleé. In the summer of 1906 Mr. Bowles and myself observed them crossing the Cascade Pass in company with Black Swifts; while still more recently, Mr. Charles De Blois Green announces[70] that they have extended their range up the valley of the Okanogan into British Columbia.

_Picidæ_—The Woodpeckers

No. 162. ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAIRY WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 393 e. Dryobates villosus monticola Anthony.

Description.—_Adult male_: Above, in general, black,—glossy, at least on crown and cervix, dull on tail, fuscous on wings; a narrow scarlet band across the nape; broad white superciliary and rictal stripes separated by a black band thru eye (including lore), continuous with nape; a black malar stripe broadening behind; white nasal tufts; a lengthened white patch down middle of back; wing-coverts black, or sometimes lightly spotted with white; primaries and outer secondaries spotted with white on both webs (often very lightly on inner webs), the spots on the outer webs confluent in bars on the closed wing; tail black centrally, the two outer pairs of feathers white on exposed portions, the third pair white-tipped; entire underparts clear white; bill and feet light plumbeous. _Adult female_: Similar but without scarlet band on hindneck. _Young birds_ have the crown chiefly red or bronzy or, rarely, yellowish. Length of adult: 10.00-11.00 (254-279.4); wing 5.20 (132); tail 4.20 (106.7); bill 1.50 (38).

Recognition Marks.—Robin size; black-and-white pattern of head (11 alternating areas of black and white, viewed anteriorly), with size, distinctive; lores black and underparts _clear white_, as compared with _D. v. hyloscopus_.

Nesting.—_Nest_: A hole excavated in tree, usually in dead portion, unlined. _Eggs:_ 4-6, white. Av. size, 1.08 × .77 (27.4 × 19.6). _Season_: May 15-June 1; one brood.

General Range.—Rocky Mountain district of the United States from New Mexico north to Montana, west to Utah and eastern Washington.

Range in Washington.—Mountain districts of eastern Washington, intergrading with _D. v. harrisii_ along eastern slopes of Cascades, especially northerly.

Authorities.—_Not previously published._ Based here on specimen taken May 23rd, 1906, at Usk, Wash. (Ident. by Biol. Surv., Washington, D. C.) J. (Open to question thru confessed lack of specimens).

Specimens.—B.

This form finally displaces Harris (_D. v. harrisii_, with which it intergrades on the eastern slopes of the Cascades) only in the northeastern corner of the State and in the Blue Mountains. It differs in no essential respect from the western variety in habit; but because of the more open character of the timber, is rather more in evidence thruout its range.

On the 22nd of May, 1906, a male of this species was sighted at Usk, on the banks of the Pend d’Oreille River, as he clung to the top of a forty-foot pine stub and delivered, rather gently, his rolling tattoo, or call-note. After repeating this several times he dropped down and entered a hole a few feet lower. We returned the following morning and found the male bird (distinguishable by his red nuchal patch) again on the nest. When I rapped gently on the stub he emerged; and proceeding to his drumming ground above, he rolled repeatedly. By and by the female answered in the distance with the _plimp_ or _plick_ note. Soon she arrived upon the nesting stub, whereupon Mr. Hairy took himself off promptly, and Mrs. Hairy entered the nest and settled to her eggs. Or so you would have supposed, wouldn’t you? By the aid of sixteen spikes, “60’s,” and a rope, I climbed to the nest, thirty-five feet up. With a small hand-axe I enlarged the entrance (sacrificing incidentally a thumbnail, and giving sad evidence of the sway of “mortal mind”) to find only _one_ fresh egg, fourteen inches down.

Of course it was disappointing, but the egg was a pearl, so transparent that one could see the very outlines of the imprisoned yolk.

No. 163. CABANIS’S WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 393 d. Dryobates villosus hyloscopus (Cab.).

Synonym.—Rocky Mountain Hairy Woodpecker (name now restricted to preceding form).

Description.—Similar to _D. v. monticola_ but averaging smaller; lores chiefly or entirely white; underparts more or less soiled whitish; some few white spots appearing on wing-coverts and upon inner secondaries (thus shading into eastern forms of the _D. villosus_ group).

Recognition Marks.—As in preceding.

Nesting.—As in _D. v. monticola_.

General Range.—Imperfectly made out as regards that of _D. v. monticola_—“Western United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, excepting the special range of _D. v. harrisii_, and southward into Mexico” (Coues).

Range in Washington.—Undetermined; perhaps resident in eastern Washington between ranges of _monticola_ and _harrisii_, perhaps only casual west of Cascades.

Authorities.—Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, p. 53. Puyallup, Wash., Dec. 25, 1895, by Geo. G. Cantwell (Ident. by Biol. Surv. Washington, D. C.).

Specimens.—C.

Woodpeckers of the _Dryobates_ group are not migrants, but they are inclined to experiment, and so not infrequently turn up in their neighbors’ preserves. A specimen taken at Puyallup, December 25, 1895, must be regarded as a wanderer from the North, altho Brooks characterizes this form as regular at Sumas, B. C.

No. 164. HARRIS’S WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 393c. _Dryobates villosus harrisii_ (Aud.).

Description.—Similar to _D. v. hyloscopus_, but underparts light smoky brown or smoke-gray; sometimes narrowly streaked with black on sides; spotting on wing-quills still further reduced, that of wing-coverts usually wanting. Length of adult: 9.00-10.50 (228.6-266.7); wing 5.00 (127); tail 3.35 (85.1); bill 1.25 (31.8).

Recognition Marks.—Robin size; black-and-white pattern of head (with touch of scarlet on hind-neck of male); smoky below as compared with _D. v. monticola_ or _D. v. hyloscopus_.

Nesting.—_Nest_: a hole about 25 feet up in a dead fir tree, lined with chips. _Eggs_: usually 4, crystalline white. Av. size, 1.05 × .74 (26.7 × 18.8).

General Range.—Pacific coast district from northern California north to southern Alaska.

Range in Washington.—West-side, resident, chiefly at lower levels; east slopes of Cascades, where intergrading either with _D. v. homorus_ southerly (?) or _D. v. monticola_ northerly.

Authorities.—_Picus harrisii, Audubon_, Orn. Biog. 1839, 191; pl. 417. Townsend, Narrative, (1839), p. 347. T. C&S. L¹. Rh. D¹. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E.

Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. B. BN.

Dr. Cooper judged the Harris to be the most abundant Woodpecker in Western Washington; and this, with the possible exception of the Flicker (_Colaptes cafer saturatior_), is still true. The bird ventures well out upon the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and is found sparingly in the higher mountain valleys; but his favorite resorts are burns and the edges of clearings, rather than the depths of the woods. Altho he is resident the year around we are quite likely to overlook his presence until cold weather appears to quicken his pulses, and to send him careering noisily over the tree-tops. He has spent the night, it may be, in the heart of a fir stub at the end of his winter tunnel, and now he covers a half-wooded pasture with great bounds of flight, shouting, _plick, plick_, from time to time; and he gives a loud rolling call—a dozen of these notes in swift succession—as he pulls up in the top of a dead tree to begin the day’s work.

He is an active fellow, hitching up or dropping down the tree trunk with brusque ease, and publishing his progress now and then in cheerful tones. But he knows how to be patient too. In the search for hidden worms and burrowing larvæ it seems not improbable that the Woodpecker depends largely upon the sense of hearing—that he practices auscultation, in fact. A meditative tap, tap, is followed by a pause, during which the bird apparently marks the effect of his strokes, noting the rustle of apprehension or attempted escape on the part of the hidden morsel. It is not unusual for the bird to spend a half hour tunneling for a single taste, and even then the wary game may withdraw along some tunnel of its own, even beyond the reach of the bird’s extensible tongue. But besides that which must be secured from the bowels of the wood, there is much to be gleaned from the surface and in the crannies of the bark. The winter fare is also supplemented by cornel berries and the fruit of certain hardy shrubs.

It is a fair question whether the Harris Woodpecker did not get his dingy breast thru long association with his grimy grub cupboards. The dead trees which he frequents, where not actually blackened by fire, are often stained by decaying fungic growths and clinging spores, so that the snowy shirt-front of the eastern Hairy Woodpecker would be small satisfaction to him here. Or if this grimy condition of tree-trunk be not the _terminus a quo_ the smoky front of the Woodpecker started, it is certainly the _terminus ad quem_ its color is accurately tending. And, of course, it is easy to see how these conditions are due exactly to the humidity which prevails on the Pacific Coast, and to a lesser degree thruout the Cascades. The dry dirt of the Rocky Mountain pines is by comparison clean dirt, and so _Dryobates villosus_ is able to take some decent pride in his linen as he proceeds eastward.

The Harris Woodpecker visits the winter troupes only in a patronizing way. He is far too restless and independent to be counted a constant member of any little gossip club, and, except briefly during the mating season and in the family circle, he is rarely to be seen in the company of his own kind.

The nest of this bird is usually placed well up in a small dead fir tree in some burn or slashing on dry ground. It is about ten inches deep and has no lining save fine chips, among which the crystal white eggs, four or five in number, lie partially imbedded. Incubation is begun from the last week in April to the last week in May, according to altitude, and but one brood is raised in a season. These Woodpeckers are exceptionally valiant in defense of their young, the male in particular becoming almost beside himself with rage at the appearance of an enemy near the home nest.

No. 165. DOWNY WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 394 c. Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swains.).

Description.—Similar to _D. v. monticola_, but much smaller; wing-coverts heavily spotted with white,—a round blotch on tip of each feather; wing-quills and primary-coverts heavily spotted with white on both webs, the blotches on outer webs forming bars on the closed wing; tertials barred and tipped with white; the outer tail-feathers barred with black; underparts white or slightly soiled. Length of adult 6.25-7.00 (158.8-177.8); wing 3.75 (95.3); tail 2.60 (66.1); bill .66 (16.8).

Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white color pattern with small size distinctive; red nape of male; heavily white-spotted on wings as compared with D. p. homorus; white below as compared with _D. p. gairdnerii_.

Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. _Nest_: A hole in stub or decayed limb of tree, usually at moderate height, unlined. _Eggs_: 4-6, white. Av. size, .75 × .59 (19.1 × 15).

General Range.—Middle and northern portions of United States and northward; of casual occurrence in the Pacific Northwest.

Range in Washington.—One example, Seattle, Feb. 20, 1892, by S. F. Rathbun.

Authorities.—_Dryobates pubescens_ (Linn.), Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, pp. 55, 56. Ra.

Specimens.—P¹(?). C. E.

On the 20th of February, 1892, Mr. S. F. Rathbun took what is considered to be a typical specimen, a female, of this species, near Seattle; and on the 23rd of March, 1896, I took one at Chelan which belongs either to this or to the more recently elaborated _D. p. nelsoni_. Apart from _D. gairdnerii_, whose center of distribution, at least, is pretty well known, great confusion exists in our knowledge of _Dryobates pubescens_ and its varieties in the Northwest. Downy Woodpeckers are not migratory, but they rove considerably in winter, and the most we can say of these Washington specimens is that they point to the presence of _D. pubescens_ or _D. p. nelsoni_, or both, as resident birds in British Columbia.

No. 166. BATCHELDER’S WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 394b. Dryobates pubescens homorus (Cab.).

Synonym.—Rocky Mountain Downy Woodpecker.

Description.—Similar to _D. p. medianus_, but larger, clearer white below, and with less white spotting on wing, that of middle and greater coverts reduced or wanting. Length: 6.75-7.50 (171.5-190.5); wing 4.00 (101.6); tail 2.65 (67.3); bill .73 (18.5).

Recognition Marks.—As in preceding; white spotting of wing reduced as compared with _D. p. medianus_; underparts _clear white_ as compared with _D. p. gairdnerii_.

Nesting.—_Nest_ and _Eggs_ as in preceding. _Season_: May; one brood.

General Range.—Rocky Mountain region of western United States and British Columbia, west to eastern slopes of Cascade-Sierra Range.

Range in Washington.—East-side, not uncommon resident, especially in valleys of more heavily timbered section; intergrades with next form on eastern slopes of Cascades.

Authorities.—Dawson, Auk, Vol. XIV. 1897, p. 174. J. E(H).

Specimens.—U. of W. Prov.

In the nature of the case the line of demarcation cannot be clearly drawn between this species and the more abundant Gairdner’s. Specimens taken by Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. A., at Fort Sherman, Idaho, near our eastern boundary, were doubtfully referred to this subspecies, and really represent intergrades between _homorus_ and _gairdnerii_. I have seen specimens in Spokane County which favored this form, in the whiteness of the underparts, much more strongly than _gairdnerii_.

Moreover, Batchelder’s Woodpecker, if it be he, is not nearly so common in the pine and larch districts of the extreme Northeast, as is the Rocky Mountain Hairy. In the course of a two-weeks’ trip along the Pend d’Oreille in May and June we encountered it only once. Bendire met with Downy Woodpeckers of some sort near Walla Walla, but found them of rare occurrence and confined to the willows of stream banks.

No. 167. GAIRDNER’S WOODPECKER.

A. O. U. No. 394a. Dryobates pubescens gairdnerii (Aud.).

Description.—Similar to _D. p. homorus_, but white spotting of wing still further reduced, usually wanting on coverts; underparts smoky gray; under tail-coverts spotted or barred with black. Length of adult about as in _D. p. medianus_.

Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white pattern of head; white back contrasting with black scapulars, etc.; much the commonest woodpecker; wing scarcely spotted as compared with _D. p. medianus_; underparts smoky as compared with _D. p. homorus_.

Nesting.—_Nest_: A hole, usually in deciduous tree, some 20 feet up. _Eggs_: 4-6, glossy crystalline white; rounded ovate in shape. Av. size, .74 × .56 (18.8 × 14.2). _Season_: c. May 1st; one brood.