The Phainopepla 
Taken at Palm Springs Photo by the Author 
SONS OF THE DESERT 
“peps” in winter 
quite—a cat-call, mayhap, with a gun behind it—while caution will 
drive him forth at a hundred yards and keep him a skidking wraith in the 
offing while the home-trees are being searched. Gallantry struggles in 
his breast with spiteful tyranny, daintiness with gourmandizing greed, 
dignity with buffoonery, courage with cowardice, and last but not least, 
diligence and devotion alternate in his purpose with the most shocking 
caprice. 
To speak soberly, therefore, of the Phainopepla, one’s first impres¬ 
sion is of a shining black beauty, graceful and active, enlivened by a 
mobile crest, a fiery red eye, a snowy mantle (in interrupted pattern, 
shown only in flight), and a bird possessed, withal, of a voice which prom¬ 
ises all sorts of good things. But this favorable first impression pales 
with familiarity, and one admits after long accjuaintance that the Phaino¬ 
pepla is, without doubt, a little queer, his voice a little disappointing, his 
