JANUARY IN BERKELEY 



although by no means rare. Occasionally it ventures into our 

 Berkeley gardens and scratches about under the rose-bushes, 

 but I fancy it is ill at ease here and anxious to be back in the 

 sequestered canon. 



In the more open country, especially among the live-oaks, 

 flocks of western bluebirds are not infrequently seen at this 

 season. The male bird is colored a deep, intense, glossy blue 

 upon the back, and a lighter blue upon the throat and belly. 

 The breast and a patch upon the back are chestnut. In the 

 female the brilliant blue is much subdued and replaced in part 

 by brownish gray. The bluebirds do not nest here and I have 

 never heard their song, although their sweet call-note has a 

 distinctive quality all its own and cannot be mistaken for that 

 of any other species. 



There is much to be seen among the hills during the clear 

 days between rains. Then the ground-squirrels come out of 

 their burrows and scamper near and far, with one weather-eye 

 always turned to the red-tailed hawk sailing calmly but omi- 

 nously overhead; the song-sparrow sings a few snatches of his 

 modest song from the roadside thicket, and we may even have 

 the good fortune to happen upon some of our rarer winter visi- 

 tors, as, for example, Lewis's woodpecker or the evening gros- 

 beak. It will be a red-letter day on our bird calendar when we 

 discover either of these birds, for they only come here when 

 driven from the mountains by extreme cold. At such times 

 they may be present in numbers for a few days and then dis- 

 appear for several years. Lewis's woodpecker is a large mem- 

 ber of its tribe, and colored a dark, glossy, bottle-green. TTiis 

 general tone is varied by a crimson area around the bill and a 

 gray collar on the back of the neck. The breast is ashy gray, 



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