F. E. Blaauiv—About Birds in North America



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he was not worth having. So the Creator, for fear that the little

bird should be neglected or persecuted, ordained that henceforth

he should have a pretty song which he would repeat all day and vary

in a thousand ways, and thus be at least the equal of so many finely

coloured birds that are silent. And since that time the little Song-

sparrow has sung his pretty song all day long, varying it in a thousand

ways, and has been the delight of all who hear him ! But he has

remained an unobtrusive modest little bird which sings his song under

the shadow of a leafy bush and does not come forward to be admired !


A famous excursion from Monterey is the so-called “ Seventeen

Miles Drive ”. It is a drive round a peninsula, and one passes mostly

through woods of Finns insignis, which have as undergrowth a shrubby

Mimulus, with orange flowers ( Mimulus glutinosus). Bushes of

Lupinus arboreus, with pale yellow flowers, are also very numerous,

especially near the sea. There are several small rocky islands near

the coast, and on them I saw great numbers of Pelicans in the adult

and in the immature dress ( Pelicanus rnfescens), which roosted there in

company of large Blue Gulls and small Black Cormorants. One doubles

the corner of the peninsula at Cypress Point, where many centuries-

old specimens of the Monterey Cypress ( Cupressus macrocarpa) have

withstood the storms for untold ages.


From Monterey I travelled to San Francisco, and there in Golden

Gate Park I met again my old friend the so-called “ Robin ”, or

migratory Thrush, which had here replaced the Mocking Bird of the

south. Golden Gate Park is a very fine park, not only full of interesting

birds but also full of exotic shrubs and trees, which thrive very well

in the mild Californian coast climate. The birds I noted in this park

were numerous Nuttall’s Sparrows, which are brownish, with blue-

grey heads and black stripes. On an artificial lake were a pair of

Erismatura, of which the male had a black head and white face

(Erismatura jamaicensis). When the birds had a sleep on the water

I noticed that they put their heads on their backs and then lifted

their tails from the water, sticking them up perpendicularly. When

this position was assumed nothing could be seen of the white face of

the male. Rather often seen in the lower bushes were pairs or families

of pale-grey birds which reminded me of the European Long-tailed Tit



