WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



97 



wet clay. While gathering the material some 

 of them kept up a humming or buzzing noise 

 which they seemed to make in some other 

 way than with their wings. I could not de- 

 tect the slightest vibration of their wings. 

 However, my failure to note any movement 

 of the wings, did not fully satisfy me that 

 those appendages were not the instruments 

 used in producing the noise. 



While observing the actions of the little 

 winged visitors to the mud hole, I saw only 

 one other species of the mud-daubers there. 

 It was blue-black and somewhat smaller than 

 the prefty yellow and black wasp whose oper- 

 ations have just been described, but its 

 method of work in gathering the material was 

 not unlike that of its larger relative. 



The red-headed woodpeckers are among 

 the most numerous birds about the club 

 grounds. They can be seen at almost any 

 hour of the day and in almost any kind of 

 weather, making their peculiar dipping 

 flights about the park or from one oak to 

 another. Their harsh but not disagreeable 

 notes continuously greet the ear. They are 

 busy birds, when not pilfering in the almond 

 and fruit orchards they are hammering holes 

 into the dead branches of the big oak trees. 

 The rapidity of the blows remind one of the 

 operation of a machine hammer. The only 

 people who regard them with any unfriendly 

 feeling are the orchardists who charge the 

 birds with taking more than their share of 

 the nut and fruit crops. 



For some years past the yellow-hammer's, 

 or flickers, have been very numerous here, 

 but for some unaccountable reason very few 

 are to be seen this year. This bird belongs 

 to the woodpecker family but is considerably 

 larger than its red-headed cousin. When 

 present in such large numbers they were 

 commonly regarded as a nuisance. They 

 were not only destructive to fruit on the trees 

 but were continually boring holes under the 

 eaves of all the houses. As the holes were 

 large and numerous the owners of the houses 

 were not pleased with the unornamental 

 work of the birds. No more effort to drive 

 the birds away was made last season than had 

 been attempted in the previous years; so 

 their departure for other scenes and to other 

 parts seems to have been wholly voluntary, 

 but like the cat they may come back. 



The bird life of our state is well represented 

 here, but of all the birds to be seen in and 

 about the park, the humming birds, perhaps, 

 attract the most attention from visitors of the 

 Club. It is a common thing to see a hum- 

 ming bird, here and there, in almost any part 

 of our state, but it is unusual to find them 

 congregated in such numbers as are frequently 

 witnessed in the flower gardens of the Club, 

 especially when the salvia plants are in blos- 

 som. The bright scarlet flowers seem to 

 have more than ordinary attraction for the 

 little birds, for while the salvia is in bloom 

 they show no interest in the other flowers 

 which are there in profusion. I have noticed 

 elsewhere this preference for red flowers 

 manifested by the humming birds; so this in- 

 stance at Diablo is not exceptional. A large 



bed of salvia was located near the front en- 

 trance to the club house where members and 

 visitors were passing continually to and fro, 

 but the beautiful little creatures seemed to 

 have little fear of human kind. No matter 

 how many people were about the birds would 

 be darting from flower to flower, or hovering 

 over blossoms seeking their sweets with their 

 long slender bills, or be perched on some 

 projecting leaf or little branch where the 

 glint of the sunlight added to the display of 

 their brilliant coats. It was no trouble to 

 approach within six or seven feet of the birds 

 and sometimes with a little care much less. 



While different kinds of humming birds have 

 been noted hereabouts the birds visiting the 

 club gardens appeared to be largely of one 

 species, known as the ruby-throated humming 

 bird. 



The blackheaded grossbeak and bullock 

 oriole appear in the park grounds in large 

 numbers every spring. These ' birds of beau- 

 tiful plumage remain with us while nesting 

 and rearing their young. Their singing is the 

 most musical of all the bird voices heard here 

 and attract the attention of nearly all visitors. 



In addition to about forty different resident 

 birds, a variety of other species of the 

 featherd tribe visit the park at different sea- 

 sons of the year. Of the visitants, the Pileo- 

 lated warbler, with the scientific name of 

 Wilsonia pusilla pi loo lata, is probably the 

 most notable. Not on account of size, how- 

 ever, for it is a small bird. The feature 

 making its visits conspicuous is the enormous 

 number that gather here. They come in the 

 spring when the flower and leaf buds on the 

 elm trees begin to open, and remain until the 

 blossoming period closes. I have never seen 

 any of the birds about the park prior to the 

 event mentioned, and soon after the elm 

 blossoms wither and fall the birds disappear. 



There are quite a number of the elm trees. 

 They were planted many years ago along a 

 roadway of the grounds' for a distance of 

 over half a mile. Apparently the nectar of 

 the tree blossoms attract certain insects 

 which in turn attracts the birds, they being of 

 the insectivorous class. I have observed the 

 presence of the visitors in the spring of the 

 last three years, and on each occasion the 

 number was about the same. Each elm tree 

 would be filled with the little beauties m 

 ceaseless activity from morning until night. 

 The birds would flit from one branch to 

 another and from one blossom to another 

 until it appeared as if every possible flower 

 must be visited time and time again during 

 the day. On several occasions I endeavored 

 to make an exact count of the number of 

 birds in a single tree, but their active move- 

 ments made it impossible. I could only esti- 

 mate the number by making several counts in 

 a small portion of a tree. In this way I reached 

 the conclusion that there were at least eighty 

 birds on an average to each of the elm trees, 

 As there were fifty-two trees I concluded 

 there were somewhere near 4000 of these 

 sweet little songsters, that remained all day 

 long in the trees described. At about half- 

 past eight o'clock in the mornings they be- 



