BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



habit of climbing about the bark. Its bill is too curved and 

 slender for boring holes, so the little fellow contents himself 

 with such insect food as he can pick up in the crevices of the 

 bark. A sharp eye is necessary to detect this pygmy of a bird, 

 as its back is streaked with brown and gray in perfect harmony 

 with the tree trunk. So perfectly do its colors blend with its 

 surroundings that I have sometimes been unable to distinguish 

 the bird when looking directly at it, only a few yards away. 



Of all the California birds, the western tanager is per- 

 haps the most brilliant. It is a quiet, retiring species, although 

 not especially shy, and even ventures out of the seclusion of the 

 forest, at times, to sun itself on some adjacent fence post. The 

 full-plumaged male is golden in color, with a scarlet head and 

 black wings and tail. There is something wonderfully beauti- 

 ful about this quiet, unassuming bird, so richly endowed by 

 nature, and yet so indifferent to its charms as to conceal them 

 in the seclusion of the limitless forest, like some rare shell in 

 the depths of the sea. 



We have found the robin flocking in the hills about Berke- 

 ley during the winter months, but here in the redwoods he finds 

 his summer home. In the shade of the mighty trees he lives a 

 happy, independent life, building his nest of mud and straw 

 to contain those lovely eggs which have given the name to a 

 shade of blue. Hear his loud, free, piping trill from the top 

 of a young redwood tree ! Anon he comes to the ground and 

 stands eyeing us, pausing with head erect and wings slightly 

 drooping. We note his fine, upright bearing, his open-hearted, 

 whole-souled manner. Now he hops with quick, vigorous 

 movements, gives a sudden peck or two in the ground and 

 swiftly flies off to a tree. The young are here in the woodland 



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