Of their nesting Mr. Bowles says: “In Washington these Warblers are strictly confined to the large coniferous timber of the prairie country, during the breeding season placing their nests midway out on a fir limb, at from 25 to 50 feet above the ground. Strangely enough, however, in Oregon they almost always nest low down in the deciduous trees, sometimes only three or four feet up in a bush. In Washington the nests are always placed directly on a limb, while in Oregon my brother, Mr. C. W. Bowles, found them mostly in upright crotches.
“The nest is rather a loosely-built little structure, measuring externally three inches wide by two inches deep, internally one and three-quarters inches wide by one deep. It is composed of dead grass, silky plant fibers, moss, etc., with an ample lining of different kinds of hair and feathers;—a pretty little nest, tho scarcely as artistic as that of the Audubon Warbler.
Taken in Tacoma. Photo by J. H. Bowles.
NEST AND EGGS OF THE BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
“The eggs are laid during the last week in May and the first week in June, and are invariably four in number. They are creamy white in color, marked chiefly around the larger end, with spots and small blotches of varying shades of brown, lavender, and black. Eggs in my collection from Washington average .83 × .63 inches in dimensions, while eggs from Oregon average .67 × .50 inches, the largest egg from Oregon being smaller than the smallest Washington egg. In shape the eggs vary from long to short ovate, and only one set is laid in a season.
“The parent birds are very shy in the vicinity of the nest, the female leaving at the first sign of danger and keeping out of sight.
“In Oregon, my brother noted that the male often accompanied the female while she was collecting building material, continuously scolding, but never assisting her in any way. In that section the nests were greatly preyed upon by that prince of egg-robbers, the California Jay.”
No. 77.
TOWNSEND’S WARBLER.
A. O. U. No. 668. Dendroica townsendi (Towns.).
Description.—Adult male: Pileum, hindneck, lores and auriculars, chin, throat and upper chest black; supraloral region continuous with broad superciliary, a spot under eye and a malar stripe broadening behind (and nearly meeting end of superciliary on side of neck) yellow, breast yellow heavily streaked on sides with black, the black streaks thickening and merging with black of chest in front, scattering on flanks and reappearing on under tail-coverts; upper sides and flanks and remaining underparts posteriorly white as to ground; back, scapulars and rump yellowish olive-green streaked with black shading into black of head on hindneck; upper tail-coverts abruptly bluish gray; wings and tail blackish with some edgings of light gray; two white wing-bars formed by tips of middle and greater coverts; three outer pairs of tail feathers blotched with white on inner webs in descending ratio. Bill black with paler tomia; feet and legs brown; iris brown. Adult male in fall and winter: Areas and intensity of black much reduced, pileum and hindneck with much skirting of olive green thru which black appears mesially on feathers; auriculars entirely concealed by olive green feather-tips; black of chin and throat nearly concealed by yellow and streaks of sides reduced; black streaks of upperparts more or less concealed; upper tail-coverts color of back. Adult female: Very similar in coloration to adult male in fall; throat often more or less black, pileum sometimes more extensively black but black streaking of upperparts still further reduced. Young birds in first autumnal plumage have no clear black, and the yellow of throat and underparts is paler. Length about 5.00 (127); wing 2.64 (67); tail 1.97 (50); bill .34 (8.6); tarsus .74 (18.8).
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; black on crown, cheeks and throat in high plumage; in low plumage extensively yellow on sides of head enclosing area of darker (olive-green)—yellow of throat combined with this character may afford clew to identification of winter specimens.
Nesting.—Nest: a well built, bulky but rather shallow structure, chiefly of cedar bark with a few slender fir twigs interwoven; lined with stems of moss flowers; placed at moderate heights in young fir trees well out on limb or settled against trunk. Eggs: 4, white, wreathed and speckled with brownish and lilac. Av. size, .61 × .51 (15.5 × 12.9). Season: first week in June; one brood.
General Range.—Western North America breeding from the mountains of southern California north to Alaska and east to Idaho; during migrations eastward to Rocky Mountains and southward to Guatemala, Lower California, etc.
Range in Washington.—Not uncommon spring and fall migrant on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, summer resident in coniferous timber, probably thruout the State; partially resident in winter on Puget Sound.
Migrations.—Spring: Seattle April 20, 1907; Ahtanum (Yakima Co.) May 4, 1906, June 5, 1899; Chelan May 25, 1905. Fall: August. Winter records: Seattle Dec. 31, 1905; Tacoma Dec. 4, 13, 15, 21 and 29, 1906.
TOWNSEND WARBLERS, MALE AND FEMALE.
Authorities.—Sylvia townsendi “(Nuttall),” Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII. pt. II. 1837, 191 (“forests of the Columbia River”). C&S. Rh. Ra. D². B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. C. E.
What a morning that was at the old parsonage in the Ahtanum valley, when the shade trees of the five acre enclosure were lit up by the presence of a dozen of these fairies! Waste acres of sage lay around, or fields of alfalfa and growing wheat, hardly more inviting, but the eye of the leader, winging languidly from the South, at early dawn had spied a patch of woodsy green, and had ordered a halt for the day in our comfortable-looking box-elders and insect-harboring apple trees. To be sure it was absurdly late for migrants, June 5th, but they appeared more like an embassage of foreign grandees, who deigned to make requisition upon our hospitality, than mere birds with threats of family cares ahead. So while they sought breakfasts of aphis and early worm, or disported among the branches in the growing sunshine, I attended their movements in rustic wonder. Now and then a member of the party paused to adjust his golden trappings, or to settle the black head-piece with a dainty shake. It was, indeed, a notable occasion for the bird-man, inasmuch as these dandies were in “higher” plumage than any yet recognized by the best bird-books of the day,[26] in that the shining black, supposedly confined to the lower throat, now occupied the very chin as well.