ZOOLOGY. 133 
Rio Grande. The belted king-fisher (Ceryle alcyon) is at 
home in California as well as in all other parts of the conti 
nent. : 
§ 102. Fiy-catcher—The family of fly-catchers ( Colcpteri- 
de), which connects the non-melodious with the true singing 
birds, is represented in California by 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. Singers.—The zodlogical sub-order called Oscines, or 
singers, 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 bunting, 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 
tor singing, composed of five pairs of muscles in the throat. 
Though there are many species of Oscines in the state, yet the 
birds 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 Basin, during 
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, whereby 
their 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 
all our jays, robins, blue-birds, and magpies, and our oriole, 
are of species not found in the Atlantic states. The majority 
