Oct., ]S,S2.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



165 



California Winter Songsters. 



Anna Humming-bird {Cnhjpte ann<M) 

 is one of the hardiest of all Humming- 

 birds. It is to be seen in the gardens all 

 Winter flashing like a jewel from flower to 

 flower. If no one has heard or seen them 

 while singing they know not what an odd 

 singer he is. His song, if it may be called 

 one, is composed of three wiry lite notes 

 sounding very much as the highest notes 

 of a violin. On any sunny day one can be 

 seen on an Acacia tree near the house, and 

 there he sings and feeds on the tassel-like 

 flowers ; if another one should come to 

 feed, after him he goes, for he will not 

 share that tree with another. In the Spring, 

 when the males are thinking of choosing a 

 mate, then is the time to see the peculiar 

 way they have of trying to drive one an- 

 other away from the female they may be 

 courting. One will be resting on a limb, 

 and the other will rise up in the air for a 

 hundred feet or more, then will come down- 

 ward with a whining, whizzing sound at 

 his enemy, as if to pin him fast. I have 

 not made out if they strike in coming 

 down, or it is only theii- way of trying to 

 drive a rival off. 



Plain Titmouse) Ziojihophanes inorn- 

 atiis.) A very plain little bird, always busy 

 hunting after insects under the bark and 

 in knot holes of the live oak. He keeps up 

 his song at the same time, which is of 

 short whistling notes. I have often seen 

 them pecking away at the bark like the 

 woodpeckers. Have not been able to find 

 them breeding, nor have I heard of a nest 

 being found here yet, although they are 

 here the year round. 



House Finch. {Carpodacns frontdlis.) 

 The pesky little cherry eater is the jolliest 

 rover of the birds. He is found anywhere 

 and everywhere, on the roadside picking 

 up seeds or in the orchards jiicking at a 

 stray apple until he gets his fill, then up 

 to the top of a limb singing out a merry 

 song. It seems as though he was al- 



ways bubbling over with song and could 

 not sing enough. They make fine cage 

 birds, and sing well after the first year. 

 But it is strange that he does not keep his 

 red jacket on after the first moulting Sea- 

 son has passed. Instead of the red breast 

 he takes a yellow one. 



Green-backed Goldfinch, (Astraf/ali- 

 ni<s psaltria.) This little ball of gold and 

 green is found in flocks of ten or more all 

 Winter, feeding in the thistle patches. 

 They come around the gardens and may 

 be heard in the gum trees singing theii' 

 pretty songs, very much like the canary. 

 Two years ago this Winter I caught three 

 after they had gone to roost in the gums 

 for the night. I put them in with some 

 canaries ; they were quite wild for a time 

 then got as tame as the other birds. In 

 about a month they commenced to sing ; 

 would always get on the top perch, turn 

 their heads to the wall, then sing with all 

 their might. But, poor little fellows, when 

 Spring came and they liegan to moult, then 

 it went hard with them. They seem to 

 want some kind of food that will help 

 them in moulting. I found two of them 

 rolled up in a ball one morning dead. The 

 other I let out to go at his will. 



Gambel's White-crovn'ned Sparrow, {Zon- 

 otrichia gambeli.) A plain, pert little Spar- 

 row that comes around the gardens and 

 byways, in great numbers, all through the 

 Winter : leaves us about the first of April. 

 Are great seed eaters, always among the 

 weeds picking and scratching ; are the 

 first to wake us up in the early morning 

 with then- whistling song. I have heard 

 them at midnight break out with three or 

 four notes, as they are roosting in the cy- 

 press trees and hedges. They are the 

 most sociable Sparrows we have and do 

 not seem to be afraid of anything. 



California Sono Sparrow. (Melospiza 

 fasciata somiielis.) This shy wee Spar- 

 row is always found along the creeks and 

 marshy places. They can be seen at all 

 times busy scratching away in the dead 



