24 WILD FLOWERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



It was in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys I found 

 the greatest variety of birds. I saw here a fine species of the 

 road-runner, which is much like the cuckoo ; but in habits more 

 like the pheasant in running, and its inability to fly. 



Perhaps the most interesting of all birds is the California 

 wood-pecker (Melanerpes fonmcivorus), which has the curious 

 habit of boring holes in the bark of trees and filling them \vith 

 acorns, which fit most accurately and closely in the cavities 

 thus made. The object of this arrangement appears to be to 

 allow the grubs to fatten inside the acorns, which thus in time 

 are found to contain a nice meal for the provident bird. 



The quail of California are very handsome. There are two 

 species, and both have elegant crests of long narrow feathers. 

 In one species they turn backward, in the other forward. They 

 are taller and more slender than the quail of the Eastern States. 



I am not a sportswoman, but I have killed my quail. Once 

 when a child, with a horse-hair noose set as a trap, many of 

 them on a string stretched tight and fastened to little sticks, 

 underneath which grains of wheat were scattered to entice 

 the innocent bird to hang himself. And again while in Sacra- 

 mento Valley with a party of friends, one of whom handed me a 

 little shot-gun and said, " Point the sight at that bush ; now, fire." 

 I did so, and a family of quail scattered, leaving behind them a 

 son. His crest turned backward, and he now stands on a mini- 

 ature stump which adorns the most attractive corner of my 

 cabinet. 



