ZO OLOGY. 



133 



Rio Grande. The belted king-fis]ier {Ceryle alcyon) is at 

 home in California as well as in all other j^arts of the conti 

 nent. 



§ 102. Fly-catGher.~^\i^ family of %-catchers {Colopteri- 

 d(B\ which connects the non-melodious with the true singing 

 birds, is represented in CaUfornia bj eleven species, most of 

 which are not seen in the Atlantic states. They are small 

 birds, from five to nine inches in length, and their colors are 

 usually dull. Most of them have their upper mandible bent 

 down abruptly at the tip ; and they always have twelve feath- 

 ers in the tail. One of the most common and the best-known 

 of the fly-catchers is the bird called the "pewee." 



§ 103. Si7igers.—The zoological sub-order called Oscines, or 

 smgers, has one hundred and nine species in our state, inclu- 

 ding two mocking-birds, three thrushes, two blue-birds, three 

 robins, three larks, five black- birds, eleven finches, six wrens, 

 six swallows, six warblers, one martin, one buntinir, six tit- 

 mouses, one snow-bird, two grosbeaks, one cow-bird, one ori- 

 ole, one crow, three ravens, three jays, one water-ouzel, two 

 magpies, and so on. Some of these birds are not called " sing- 

 ers" in common language, but they all belong to the Oscines 

 sub-order, which is marked by a peculiar muscular apparatus 

 for smgmg, composed of five pairs of muscles in the throat. 

 Though there are many species of Oscines in the state, yet the 

 bn-ds are not so numerous, so melodious, nor are they heard so 

 often, as the feathered songsters in the Eastern states. The 

 traveller may proceed for days in the Sacramento Basm, durin- 

 the summer season, without hearing more than a few chirps'' 

 Our singing-birds have been multiplying very rapidly of late' 

 because of the settlement and cultivation of the land, Avhereby 

 then- supply of wholesome and palatable food is much increased, 

 and their enemies the hawks are driven away. Most of our 

 swallows, one mocking-bird, one black-bird, and one raven, 

 found in California, are also seen east of the Mississippi ; but 

 aU our jays, robms, blue-birds, and magpies, and our oriole, 

 are of species not found in the Atlantic states. The majority 



