The Pine Siskin 



Taken in Mono County 



WHERE SISKINS NEST 



LAKE GEORGE: MAMMOTH LAKE SECTOR 



Photo by the A itthor 



love of the wild in us. It is a call to fellowship with the simple, sincere things, 

 a call which wakes responsive chords in an honest heart. Adios, brother! 



When fired by passion the Siskin is capable, also, of extended song. 

 This daytime serenade is vivacious, but not loud, except in occasional 

 passages, — a sort of chattering, ecstatic warble of diverse elements. The 

 bird has, besides its own peculiar notes, many finch-like phrases and 

 interpolations, reminding one now of the Willow Goldfinch, and now of 

 the California Purple Finch. The most striking phrase produced in this 

 connection is a triple shriek of the Evening Grosbeak, subdued of course, 

 but very effective. An ecstatic singer heard on the banks of the Eel 

 River in Humboldt County, used the chirp of the English Sparrow in- 

 stead of the shriek of the Evening Grosbeak in concluding its medley. 

 The bird would perch on the top of a redwood sapling just over my head, 

 and pour out a flood of mostly meaningless twaddle. One recognized it 

 as an intended anthology, but it was too incoherent, too childish, to be 

 identified. Then would come with startling distinctness this would-be- 

 fetching vocal masterpiece, chirp chirp, — moving one to a strange disgust. 



Lest one should suppose we were exhausting the repertory of the 



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