257 



THE OOLOGIST 



Gila Woodpecker 



— Photo by Earl R. Forrest 



Photographing Wild Birds in Southern 



Arizona. 



Earle R. Forest 



During the fall of 1903 I was located 

 near Oracle, Pinal County, Arizona. 

 There is scarcely any town there, the 

 place merely consisting of a store, a 

 post office, and two hotels, while a 

 nnmber of ranchmen live in the vi- 

 cinity. It is situated forty miles north 

 of Tucson and on the western spur 

 of the Santa Catalina range. The 

 mountains in the vicinity of Oracle 

 are covered with a thick growth of 

 scrub oaks, and the deserts close by 

 have large thickets of cholla and 

 prickly pear cactii. 



Bird life is very abundant, consid- 

 ering the scarcity of food and the dry 

 climate where water is only obtain- 

 able at long distances. 



I was located on a sheep ranch 

 about two miles north of the store. 



It was about one-half mile to my near- 

 est neighbor, who was an easterner 

 in search of health. He had taken up 

 a mining claim, fenced it, built a com- 

 fortable house upon it, and made 

 other improvements which made the 

 place very attractive for that lonely, 

 desolate country. This claim was sit- 

 uated right among the scrub oaks, 

 and birds, which were always looking 

 for a few crumbs or a drink, were 

 rather abundant. Finding that they 

 were not molested they soon became 

 quite tame, and large numbers came 

 every morning to drink from a pan of 

 water that my friend had placed for 

 them. 



This gave him an idea. He cut the 

 side out of a large syrup can, made a 

 wooden frame to hold it, and nailed it 

 on top of a fence post about fifty feet 

 from the house. This he filled daily 



