THE OOLO^tIST. 



259' 



The 3'oung are beautiful liltle puffs 

 of down, and are so characteristically 

 marked that their parentage is at once 

 suggested at sight. Within a day or 

 two the young leave their home in the 

 hollow and quickly lose their reckon- 

 ing and within a week can run about 

 the fields and can elude any but a de- 

 termined follower. 



In the late summer and fall the fam- 

 ilies of birds, from four to six, may be 

 seen feeding together on the mai'shes, 

 low fields and borders of lakes and 

 ponds. 



The Thrasher's Song. 



The ears of a pedestrian wandering 

 among the wooded hills and valleys af 

 Southern California, will suddenly be 

 greeted with the loud clear notes of a 

 hidden songster. If he be inclined to 

 notice these manifestations of rural life, 

 his attention will be attracted by this 

 melody, and he will desire to see the 

 author of it. Upon approaching the 

 hiding place of the minstrel, the song 

 will abruptly cease and the observer 

 may catch a glimpse of a di-ab colored 

 bird as it flies hastily from the thickh^ 

 foliaged tree in which it was secreted. 



If the wanderer is accustomed to the 

 habits of the California Thrasher, for 

 this is the bird he is endeavoring to 

 discover, he will remain quietly where 

 he is lest his movements will disturb 

 the other songsters of the locality, 

 and soon the song will burst forth 

 anew from a different quarter. Pres- 

 ently this song is answered by another 

 bii'd, and then another, until several of 

 these sweet woodland musicians are 

 engaged in a generous rivalry of song 

 in Avhich the participants become so ab- 

 sorrjed that the presence of an intruder 

 is not noticed. Xow the observer may 

 venture to approach one of the song- 

 sters. The grass-carpeted ground so 

 deadens the tread that he may steal 

 noislessly up behind an Intervening 



shrub and through its foliage catch a. 

 sight of the Thrasher pouring forth his 

 sweet song from the topmost limb of a 

 neighboring tree. 



The Thrashers frequent the wooded 

 hillsides and valleys of the coast region 

 of the southern part of the state of 

 California, p.nd are especially abundant 

 in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. Here- 

 the grassy sides of the hills are covered 

 with clumps of trees, the intervals be- 

 tween being occupied by patches of 

 shrubs and plots of flowers. Here also 

 occur giant live oaks which lift their 

 leafy canopies high above the earth and 

 throw the ground belov into a dense 

 shade into which the light scarcely pen- 

 etrates. Yet these shady retreats are 

 ovei'grown with a dense mass of herb- 

 age, and wherever the light enters the 

 vegetation grows in rank profusion. 



It would be difficult to find a spot 

 more conducive to bird life. The trees 

 above are alive with arboreal birds, 

 every field and open upland teems with 

 the more terrestrial while about the 

 shaded pools of the small streams and 

 over the bosom of the mild Pacific 

 hover numbers of the aquatic. 



During the spring these places are 

 the scenes of great activity. The air 

 resounds with the varied strains of the 

 feathered songsters. The sweet music, 

 like a river of song, floods the vales 

 and surges through the gorges, its rip- 

 pling accents breaking far up the sides 

 of the surrounding hills. The wings of 

 sportive creatures glance in the sun- 

 shine in every for st opening; the 

 squirrels scurry hither and thither 

 sounding their shrill notes of alarm at 

 any unfamiliar object; numerous gor- 

 geously-hued butterflies flit uncertainly 

 about, a few of the hapless creatures 

 falling victims to the flycatchers; mul- 

 titudes of bees rove amid the blossoms 

 making the fields murmur with their 

 busy toil; various birds fly about enliv- 

 ening the scenes with their gay colors 

 and delightful songs, a Phainopepla . 



