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.