BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



During this month the birds of winter are still with us — 

 the robins, the golden-crowned sparrows, the Oregon juncos, 

 the kinglets, and many others whose acquaintance we have still 

 to make. So also are the resident species which were so 

 abundant in January — the California brown towhee, the white- 

 crowned sparrows, Anna's hummer, and the wren-tit. In the 

 meadows are large flocks of American pipits, the goldfinches 

 throng the roadside, the California jays are squawking in the 

 underbrush, and the plain crested titmouse makes merry in the 

 live-oaks. 



The pipit, or titlark, as it is also called, is a wanderer from 

 the far north — a plainly clad bird of the size of a sparrow, 

 eccentric in its motions, with the body teetering back and forth 

 every now and then as the bird runs about on the ground in 

 search of food. The plumage has everywhere something of a 

 streaked effect, this being most marked on the under sides of 

 the body. The back is a dull brown, and the breast pale buffy. 

 Flocks of these birds may be seen in open meadows all winter 

 long, uttering their restless titter of a note as they run about on 

 the ground. At the advent of spring they are off in search of 

 fresh fields and pastures new, nesting in the high mountains and 

 the far north. 



Among our reliable birds who never desert us the year 

 round, the little green-backed goldfinch has a tender place in 

 my heart. It is a sociable, domestic body, frequenting the 

 gardens and roadsides, now among the lofty tops of the 

 eucalyptus trees, and again busily feeding amid the weeds or 

 upon the ground. A member of the great sparrow family, with 

 the characteristic thickened beak of the group, it is, neverthe- 

 less, quite unlike the birds which popularly go under the name 



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