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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



DWELLERS ON THE GROUND FLOOR. 



(winter notes from a SANTA BARBARA CANON.) 



NY one who wishes to see a new 

 side of bird life has only to take up 

 the point of view of the birds that 

 choose to live close to the earth and 

 give up their prerogative of swift and 

 airy flight in exchange for the safety 

 which is found in thickets and low- 

 growing tangles of bushes. These 

 -^ I birds are perhaps the hardest of all 

 I to get a good sight of ordinarily, 

 I When frightened they refuse to fly, 

 t— ^but slip away noiselessly among the 

 brush, or stay crouched where their 

 dull colors make them invisible. 

 Some of the sparrows that have this 

 habit are rarely seen, though fairly 

 abundant. But now throw yourself 

 on the ground in one of those 

 tangles of chaparral beloved of 

 sparrow and bunting, and if you have long days of leisure, you will 

 see sights that will repay you. Besides, you will never pity the 

 wild things again, houseless in wind and storm, for you will find 

 that no matter how the March wind blusters overhead, there are 

 nooks and tiny glades among the roots and bushes where the air 

 is always warm, and where the sunshine filters through, giving a 

 tempered shade, :'uite different from the sombre shadows of a full 

 grown forest. Then, too, you feel an absolute security from inter- 

 ruption. You know what a tussle you had with thorn and tangled 

 vines to reach your retreat, and you feel, as the birds do that there 

 is nothing to bring meddlesome human beings to such a place. 

 Overhead is a light screen of miniature boughs, tiny branching 

 arcades run in every direction, along which an interesting woodland 

 visitor may arrive at any moment. Underneath you will find the 



softest, lighest bed already spread for you. Rolls of reddish bark 

 from the ceanothus and manzanita bushes, the dried seed-pods and 

 curled up leaves collecting year after year in this dry climate makes 

 a light, clean cushion, on which you will easily fall asleep between 

 the acts. And now we have taken our place and are waiting for 

 the curtain to rise and the woodland drama to begin. There is no 



