NOTES AND QUERIES. gSJ. 



Sparrows. In early summer they do much mischief in the gardens, 

 unearthing young potatoes, as Rooks do in England. Occasionally they 

 attempt young chickens, hut the commotion their presence excites in the 

 yard usually defeats their purpose. When at rest on housetops and 

 elsewhere they carry on a continuous chatter, accompanied with grotesque, 

 gesticulations. They are resident throughout the year. Their near relatives, 

 the Fish Crows, C. caurinus, are equally abundant, but move more in flocks, 

 and confine themselves chiefly to the sea-shore. They are about the size 

 of Jackdaws. The Song Sparrow, Melaspiza fasciata, is the commonest of 

 our smaller birds. Its song is short, but really sweet, and constitutes 

 almost the only bird-music we enjoy. The only other songster of importance 

 is the Wren, Anorthura troglodytes, whose song is indistinguishable from 

 that of its little English relative. A walk round my garden usually calls 

 forth the harsh scream of the Blue Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri, an almost black 

 variety found on this coast ; while a Golden Woodpecker, Colaptes auratus, 

 rises with startling whirr from the foot of some tree, and displays the rich 

 lining of the wings as it hurries off to the neighbouring forest. Snowbirds, 

 Junco hiemalis, may always be found in the surrounding bushes, and 

 Titmice, Parus rufescens, and Goldcrests, Regulus satrapa, in the pine 

 branches overhead. A peep over the garden fence often reveals a Wood- 

 pecker on the tall pine trunks close by. The Downy Woodpecker, Picus 

 pubescent, is the commonest, but the Hairy and Yellow-bellied, P. villosus 

 and Sphyropicus varius, are by no means rare. A Creeper, Certhia 

 familiaris, I have only once met with. At a little pond at the bottom of 

 my garden I can usually, on winter mornings, flush a Wilson's Snipe, 

 Gallinago wilsoni. Flocks of Crossbills, Loxia curvirostra, with a few 

 L. leucoptera, frequent the forest during the winter months. Hawks are 

 numerous, though I have not met with many species. The Goshawk 

 Astur atricapillus, is so common an offender in the poultry yard, that I have 

 been compelled to institute a "keeper's tree" for his special benefit. The 

 Bald Eagle, Halia'etus leucocephalus, constantly passes overhead, but is 

 too busily engaged in watching the movements of the Ospreys, Pandion 

 halia'etus, to stoop to poultry. As many as six or eight Ospreys may often 

 be seen at one time hovering over a little arm of the sea close by; and the 

 dastardly treatment these birds receive at the hands of the Bald Eagles, so 

 graphically described by Wilson, may be witnessed almost daily during the 

 summer. The Ospreys retire to the south in winter, and leave the Eagles 

 to fish for themselves. In the little salt inlet just alluded to may also be 

 seen the beautiful Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, wading in the shallow 

 water; while the Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon, is compelled, by the 

 absence of fresh- water streams, to seek a living in the same place. The 

 earliest of our summer migrants are the " Robins," Turdus migratorius, 

 which appear about the middle of March. They are usually accompanied 



