A First Glance at the Birds, 



of the eastern woods does not cross the 

 Rocky Mountains, but the western tan- 

 ager has a dash of scarlet on his yellow 

 head and breast. Some species of birds, 

 which are distributed over the entire 

 northern portion of our country, have 

 remained so constant in coloration 

 throughout their range that the most 

 exacting scrutiny of experts has failed 

 to show any tangible variation. Of these 

 may be mentioned the mocking-bird, the 

 ruby-crowned kinglet and the belted 

 kingfisher. By far the largest propor- 

 tion of our Pacific Coast birds, however, 

 differ, at least to a slight degree, from 

 their eastern relatives, this divergence 

 ranging from a mere shade of marking 

 or of size to an entirely different color- 

 ation, as in some of the examples cited 

 above. There are also a number of 

 birds here which are unrelated to any 

 living species, and occupy genera of 

 their own. Such are the white-headed 

 woodpecker, the wren-tit, and the 

 phainopepla. 



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