BIRDS ABOUT WRANGELL 209 



flitted about with light agile turns and fine chattering cries, 

 quite as much at home in this historic Alaska hamlet as 

 they are in the farmyards of Massachusetts and the ranches 

 of California. A few white-breasted swallows sported over 

 the house tops, and the demure little Lincoln's finch was 

 at home in the shrubbery. He is a first cousin to the song 

 sparrow a commonplace appearing bird, brown and gray 

 in color with profuse streakings above and below. He 

 may be distinguished from his nearest relatives by the buff 

 ground color of the breast, that of the song sparrows being 

 white. Here also we caught our first glimpse of the 

 dwarf hermit thrush, and heard the first far-away strains 

 of his entrancing song, but as we afterwards found him in 

 far greater abundance and had ample opportunities of lis- 

 tening to his melody, I shall defer an account of him to a 

 later period. Suffice it to say now that he is a constant 

 winter visitant of the valleys of California, but, so far as 

 observation goes, he is never betrayed into the faintest 

 suggestion of a song at that season only a short, low, 

 chuck! chuck! as he retires into the shadow of the 

 shrubbery. 



Another bird, Townsend's sparrow, singularly like a 

 thrush in general coloration, although profoundly different 

 in structure, was first encountered at Wrangell. In Cali- 

 fornia he is abundant all winter lon^. He is about the size 



O 



of a thrush, but whereas the bill and feet of that bird are 

 long and slender, those of Townsend's sparrow are short 

 and stout. He is a great scratcher and may often be found 

 in his quiet retreats in woodland thickets by the noise he 

 makes scratching away the leaves to get at his food. 



I saw a belted kingfisher here, and greeted him as an 

 old friend, for wherever one may go in northern North 

 America, if a stream of water large enough to hold fish 

 flows through the country, his big crested head and dark 

 blue and white body are to be seen. 



