6o THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



indicated in the landscape the course of the 

 stream. 



On the open plain were flocks of horned larks, 

 assemblies of chestnut-collared buntings, while 

 meadow-larks were ubiquitous. Flying overhead 

 a turkey-buzzard might occasionally be seen, while 

 now and then a sentinel hawk (genus, Buteo), from 

 some fence-post or other point of vantage, presided 

 over the destinies of the field-mice and smaller 

 mammals of the surrounding area. 



It was only when the streams were reached, 

 with their bordering trees and bushes, that the 

 great abundance and variety of bird life was fairly 

 to be appreciated. Here the air was resonant 

 with the songs and notes of many birds. The 

 voices of the mocking-bird and the cardinal rang 

 out everywhere, and were fairly rivalled by the 

 cries and calls of two kinds of birds that were 

 present in great numbers — the red-headed and 

 red-bellied woodpecker. Sparrows and other 

 small birds haunted the trees and underbrush, 

 and the waters of the creeks, even where narrow, 

 afforded resting-places and feeding grounds for 

 innumerable ducks which were then on their mi- 

 gration. Among these shovellers, mallards, and 

 widgeon, were perhaps the most common. 



Many covies of quail were along the banks, 

 and in the adjacent grass-lands. The proximity 

 of these covies indicated a " bob white " popula- 



