When I had descended,—singing and whistling right merrily snatches of songs once popular, “Sweet Marie,” and the like, for my spirits were uncommon high,—the mother-bird returned to the nesting tree and haunted the site of the ruined home persistently. First she peered down from the branch above; then she dropped down to the branch below, and craned her head, sorely perplexed. She lighted upon the white stump of the severed limb and examined it confusedly, then she fluttered in midair precisely where the nest ought to have been, and dropped to the limb below again in despair. This mystified quest she repeated over and over again until it wrung the hearts of the beholders. Well, well; we are inconsistent creatures, we humans. And somehow the comfortable philosophy of the bird-nester fails at these critical points.
No. 105.
SITKAN KINGLET.
A. O. U. No. 749 a. Regulus calendula grinnelli Palmer.
Synonyms.—Alaskan Kinglet. Sitka Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Grinnell’s Kinglet.
Description.—Like preceding but of much darker coloration,—a “saturated” form; also wing somewhat shorter, bill larger, etc. Av. measurements of male[44]: wing 2.23 (56.6); tail 1.69 (42.9); bill .34 (8.7); tarsus .72 (18.1).
Recognition Marks.—Of strikingly darker coloration than R. calendula—supposed to be the exclusive form in winter.
Nesting.—As preceding. Does not breed in Washington.
General Range.—Pacific Coast district breeding from British Columbia to head of Lynn Canal and Yakutat Bay, Alaska; south in winter (at least) to middle California.
Range in Washington.—Early spring and late fall migrant, common winter resident on Puget Sound.
Authorities.—? Regulus calendula, Licht. Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. XII. pt. II. 1860, p. 174 (Winter resident on Puget Sound). Bowles, Auk, Vol. XXIII. Apr. 1906, p. 148.
Specimens.—B. E. P(A).
So far as our somewhat scanty observation goes, this would appear to be the prevailing form in the earlier spring migrations, and the only one found in winter upon Puget Sound. Thus, while the lighter-colored birds, which summer in our mountains and in British Columbia, are enjoying sunshine in Mexico, this Alaskan coast dweller is re-dyeing his plumage under the dull skies of the Pacific watershed.
The Sitkan Kinglet is not abundant in winter, altho it enjoys a general distribution. It does not associate in flocks of its own kind to any large extent, but oftener two or three individuals join themselves to winter bird troops consisting of Chickadees, Seattle Wrens, Western Golden-crowned Kinglets, Puget Sound Bush-Tits, etc. At such times it is noticeable that they keep largely to the lower levels, for they hunt and titter among the spiræa thickets, salal bushes, logs and evergreen saplings, while their cousins only occasionally venture within five or ten feet of the ground, and range from there to the tops of the tallest firs.
The notes, too, of the Sitkan Kinglet are low-pitched and explosive, as compared with the fairy sibilations of the Golden-crowns. The neighborhood of “Seattle” Wrens and Western Winter Wrens will serve also to throw a certain wren-like quality of the Alaskan’s note into fine relief.
Paridæ—The Titmice
No. 106.
CHICKADEE.
A. O. U. No. 735. Penthestes atricapillus (Linn.).
Synonyms.—Black-capped Chickadee. Black-capped Titmouse.
Description.—Adult: Top of head and nape shining black; throat dead black with whitish skirting posteriorly; a white band on side of head and neck, increasing in width behind; back and scapulars gray with an olivaceous cast and more or less admixture of buffy at the edges and as skirting; wings and tail dusky, more or less edged, especially on greater coverts and tertials, with ashy or whitish; breast and belly white; sides, flanks and crissum washed with buffy or light rusty (nearly whitish in summer); bill and feet dark. Rather variable in size; one adult specimen measures: wing 2.27 (57.7); tail 2.10 (53.3); bill .34 (8.6). Another: wing 2.70 (68.6); tail 2.57 (65.3) bill .38 (9.7). Length, 4.75-5.75 (120.6-146.1); average of eight specimens of medium size: wing 2.60 (66); tail 2.44 (62); bill .36 (9.1).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; of lighter coloration but not certainly distinguishable afield from P. a. occidentalis (q. v.).
Nesting.—Nest: a heavy mat of moss, grasses, and plant-down, lined with rabbits’ fur, wool, hair, or feathers, in made hole or natural cavity of stump or tree, usually not over ten feet from the ground, and near water. Eggs: 5-8, white, marked sparingly with reddish brown, in small spots, tending to gather about larger end. Av. size, .58 × .47 (14.7 × 11.9). Season: April 15-May 15; one brood.
General Range.—Eastern North America north of the Potomac and Ohio Valleys. “A separate ‘colony’ inhabits the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range, in eastern Washington (Walla Walla, Ellensburg, etc.), western Idaho (Lemi, Fort Sherman, etc.), and central British Columbia (Sicamores [Sicamoos], Clinton, Ashcroft, etc.).[45]”—Ridgway.
Range in Washington.—As above.
Authorities.—P. a. occidentalis Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. 1882, 228 (Walla Walla). J. If this colony proves to be completely isolated, as claimed, the bird should, perhaps, be separately named, and I would suggest Penthestes atricapillus fortuitus.
Specimens.—B. P¹.
The Chickadees of eastern Washington, east of the Cascade foothills, along with those of northeastern Oregon, western Idaho, and southwestern British Columbia, are notably larger and brighter than P. a. occidentalis. In these and other regards they exactly reproduce the characters of P. atricapillus, which is a bird of the eastern United States, and from which they are widely separated by P. a. septentrionalis. Now Chickadees are resident wherever found. The most severe winters do not suffice to drive them south, and they are subjected to such uniform conditions as tend to insure stability of type, once adjustment to local environment is accomplished. We have here, therefore, either an example of a colony widely separated from the parent stock, and remaining inflexible under alien conditions, or else an indistinguishable reduplication of another form not closely related in time thru the interaction of similar conditions. If the latter supposition be the true one, and it probably is, we have in this bird a theoretical sub-species, but one which we cannot describe or distinguish in other than geographical terms.