130 SONG-BIRDS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



SONG-BIRDS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



BY LYMAN BELDING. 



The Pacific Coast has many fine feathered songsters. 



The Western Meadow Lark with its numerous loud, 

 sweet and always cheery songs, which are heard in all the 

 agricultural districts, in sunshine and shower, in summer 

 and winter, is a general favorite. 



The well known Mocking-bird needs no praise. The 

 Western Robin has a song like the Robin of the Atlantic 

 Coast, with its habit of singing late and early, but finds its 

 summer home in the pines and firs of the mountains instead 

 of the orchards and groves near human habitations. The 

 Russet-backed Thrush, Black-headed Grosbeak, Californian 

 Thrasher, Louisiana Tanager, Bullock's Oriole, Townsend's 

 Soltaire, three species of Purple Finches, and several other 

 birds are excellent singers. 



Few birds please and interest me more than Cassin's 

 Vireo. Its notes are few but greatly varied in expression, 

 always sweet and tender, in perfect harmony with its char- 

 acter as I know, having often noted its endearing manners 

 and devotion to its mate during nesting-time. 



The Canon Wren, swift-running, rock-bound mountain 

 streams, high mountains, dark blue canons, sunlit peaks, and 

 trout are, to my mind, inseparable. Its loud descending 

 whistle, heard in this, its favorite environment, leaves a last- 

 ing impression. 



The American Dipper has a loud musical song which it 

 utters while at rest and occasionally while flying rapidly up 



