136 THE SLATE-COLORED SPARROW. - 
of southeastern California, and the mountains of northeastern California; south 
in winter to New Mexico, Arizona, etc. 
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in the timbered districts of the 
East-side and in the Cascade Mountains (west to Mt. Rainier). 
Authorities.—|[‘‘Slate-colored sparrow,’ Johnson, Rep. Goy. W. T. 1884 
(1885), 22]. Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II., p. 435. 
THE residents of Cannon Hill, in Spokane, are to be congratulated, 
not alone for their wealth, for Nature is not curious as to bank accounts, 
but for the rare good taste which has been displayed in utilizing the largess 
of Nature. Instead of going in with axe and shovel and fire-brand, first 
to obliterate the distinctive features of Nature and then rear mocking plati- 
tudes in mortar and stone upon her pale ashes, they have accepted the glory 
of her grim lava bastions and the grace of her unhewn pines; nor have they 
even despised the tangles of wild shrubbery, those decent draperies without 
which both tree and cliff would be overstark. To be sure the landscape artist 
with consummate skill has said to the piny sentinel, “Stand here!” and to 
the copse, “Sit there!” but he has not forgotten withal the primeval rights 
of the feathered aborigines. As a result the birds approve. What higher 
meed could mortal ask? Or where is there a better criterion of taste? 
Taken all in all I doubt if there is a more delightful spot in Washington in 
which to study bird life, certainly not within municipal bounds, than 
Cannon Hill affords. 
Here, for instance, is this wood sprite, the very genius of the unravished 
wild; no one would think of looking for him in a city, yet of an early morn- 
ing as the bird-man was passing along Seventh Avenue, he was arrested by 
the crisp and hearty notes of a Slate-colored Sparrow, coming from a bush 
in an artistically unkempt corner of the adjoining yard. In the half light, 
nothing in the pose and appearance of this bird would have induced an 
ornithologist to bestow a second glance upon the evident Song Sparrow, 
had it not been for the sweet and powerful challenge which poured from 
his earnest beak. Ooree, rickit, loopiteer, it said, with varied cadence and 
minor change, which gave evidence of no mean ability. There is something 
so forthright and winsome about the song of this modest bird, that the 
listener promptly surrenders “‘at discretion,’ and begins to ask eager questions 
of his dainty captor. 
A few yards further on three of these Sparrows were seen feeding on 
a well-kept lawn, but ready to skurry at a breath to the shelter of bush-~ 
clumps, thoughtfully provided. And all this in the first week in June, the 
very height of nesting time! With this as an example, what need to speak 
of Hammond Flycatchers, Mountain Chickadees, Catbirds, Pine Siskins, 
Audubon Warblers, Shufeldt Juncoes, Cassin Finches, Pygmy Nuthatches, 
American Crossbills, Cassin Vireos, Louisiana Tanagers, Ruby-crowned 
