. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Townsend Solitaire above the ground. The song is broken and frag- mentary, and is rendered in a matter-of- fact, passionless way which harmonizes well enough with the sedate bearing of the bird. Yet the song itself is one of the weirdest and wildest in nature's ; It was during two magic weeks I spent on Shasta, weeks chiefly memor- able for the constant presence of the Solitaire, and enlivened by the daily repetitions of their so
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Townsend Solitaire above the ground. The song is broken and frag- mentary, and is rendered in a matter-of- fact, passionless way which harmonizes well enough with the sedate bearing of the bird. Yet the song itself is one of the weirdest and wildest in nature's ; It was during two magic weeks I spent on Shasta, weeks chiefly memor- able for the constant presence of the Solitaire, and enlivened by the daily repetitions of their songs, that I studied the nesting habits of six pairs of these birds, and familiarized myself not alone with the "bell-like" scolding note, but also with the hitherto almost undescribed ecstasy song flight. So plentiful were the birds, indeed, and so frequently tune- ful that one could scarcely credit Merriam's earlier statement based upon a much longer acquaintance with Shasta: "I saw six during our stay. * * * They were always silent and rather ; (The future monographer of bears had small ear, I take it, for bird music.) The strangest and most baffling sound of the western world is the musical creaking alarm note of the Townsend Solitaire. It is a ghost- ly, ventriloquistic, droning sound, uttered at frequent and monotonously regular intervals, yet with such a detached and altogether impersonal air that the authorship of the sound is distrusted, even when the bird is caught in flagrante delictn, that is, with mandibles beating time to the music. With this note the bird celebrates his disquietude over human intrusion, or notifies his mate of trouble brew- ing. In far happier mood is he when, all unsuspicious of hostile presence, he soars far above the tree-tops. When at a height of some 300 feet, he pauses and lets himself fall slowly, with fluttering wings, in a great spiral, while he pours out his soul in an ecstasy of song. Now more than ever he looks
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
