April in Berkeley, 



On one of these fair April days, when 

 the linnets are singing their loudest 

 from the tree tops and the green-backed 

 goldfinches, resplendent in their spring 

 attire, are busy with their love-making, 

 we may observe on some fence post by 

 a country road the lark-finch, content- 

 edly singing his humble ditty. He is a 

 strikingly marked bird, with individual 

 characteristics which enable the novice to 

 distinguish him with but little difficulty 

 from his fellows of the sparrow family. 

 Probably the first peculiarity about him 

 to attract the observer is the unusual 

 pattern of the head-markings. A line 

 of white extends from the bill down the 

 back of the head, bounded on each side 

 by a strip of chestnut or blackish, 

 which in turn is bordered with another 

 white streak, just above the eye. A 

 fine line of black is next below this, 

 while on the white throat is also a 

 streak of black, less sharply defined, 

 however. Thus the entire head has the 

 effect of a succession of black and white 



