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Birds Across the Continent 



For fifteen years I had been a student of 

 ornithology in Ohio. My spare time, and 

 sometimes not so spare, had been delightfully 

 spent unraveling the complexity of bird- 

 life, delving through all the volumes of the 

 science, until I knew most of the birds by 

 sight and a great many by note. 



I had studied birds from Michigan to 

 Florida, but nowhere did bird-life seem so 

 varied and appealing as in Ohio. We were 

 located about midway between the Arctic 

 and the Tropical faunal zones, giving us the 

 benefit of seeing twice a year most of the 

 myriad inland migratory hosts, in addition 

 to our resident species. 



Notwithstanding the fascination I had for 

 Ohio birds, the call of the West had long been 

 whispering of the many beautiful birds of the 

 setting sun, and I longed to see and know 

 them. While it was a trial to leave these 

 most intimate friends behind, the longing to 

 know new ones in a new land was the more 

 alluring. 



It was my desire to see the change in bird- 

 life across the continent, and there is no 

 Letter way to see this than by motor. 



We left Ohio July 7, and arrived in Cali- 

 fornia August 12. This was the time of year 

 for most of the birds to be rearing their 

 young, which gave us a fairly adequate idea 

 of which birds were residents of the locality 

 in which they were seen. Surprises await the 

 student on a journey like this, where the 

 landscape and environment are constantly 

 changing. My dream was of many new 

 species all along the road. To my surprise I 

 saw no new ones until reaching Lyons, half 

 way across the state of Kansas, when we saw 

 the Arkansas Kingbird. Most of the bird 

 hooks spoke of the Dickcissel being seen as 

 far west as Illinois, while we saw it as far as 

 Trinidad, Colo., and it was plentiful most of 

 the way. A great many Ohio birds were with 

 us as far as Missouri, then we began missing 

 them — the Downy and Red-bellied Wood- 



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pecker, Cardinal, Catbird, etc. — and I began 

 to realize that maybe I was leaving forever 

 a great many of my feathered friends. The 

 Red-headed Woodpecker, Flicker, King- 

 bird, Phoebe, Meadowlark, Baltimore Oriole, 

 Goldfinch, Towhee, Logger-headed Shrike, 

 Brown Thrasher, Chickadee, Robin, and 

 Bluebird were with us more or less, all the 

 way to Kansas and Colorado, several species 

 overlapping the western forms. We saw the 

 Kingbird long after seeing the Arkansas 

 Kingbird, and the Eastern Meadowlark after 

 seeing the Western. We saw the Brown 

 Thrasher frequently as far as northern New 

 Mexico. The Kingfisher, Killdeer and, 

 Mourning Dove were the only three species 

 which remained unchanged to the Pacific 

 coast. 



As stated above, the Arkansas Kingbird 

 was the first new species seen, then followed 

 new ones in rapid succession. The Yellow- 

 headed Blackbird was the next seen beyond 

 Lyons, Kan., although we should have seen 

 it sooner. No drawing I have ever seen has 

 given this bird its natural beauty. The 

 gorgeous golden orange of the head and neck 

 in contrast with the glossy black of the bod)', 

 makes it one of the most attractive birds I 

 have ever seen. We saw it no place but 

 central Kansas. The Desert Horned Lark, 

 Magpie, Lark Bunting, Mountain Bluebird, 

 and the Burrowing Owl we saw in Colorado. 

 In New Mexico we saw the Road Runner, 

 Black-chinned Sparrow and the House Finch. 

 In Arizona we saw the White-headed, North- 

 ern Pileated, and Lewis' Woodpeckers, Blue- 

 fronted Jay, Audubon's and Black-throated 

 Gray Warblers, Slender-billed, Red-breasted 

 and Pigmy Nuthatches, Plain Titmouse, and 

 Western Robin. 



Crossing the desert we saw very few birds. 

 Occasionally we would see the Desert Horned 

 Lark and a few Scaled Quail. After passing 

 through the Cajon Pass, over the San 

 Bernardino Mountains, into Southern Cali- 

 fornia, we came to more vegetation and more 

 water and naturally saw more birds. We 



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