90 Californian Garden Birds. [ February, 
CALIFORNIAN GARDEN BIRDS. 
BY J. G. COOPER, M. D. 
pe sociable and confiding disposition of the birds of the west- 
ern United States as compared with the same species eastward 
has been noticed by several late writers, but the reasons have so 
far been scarcely mentioned. Among them perhaps the strongest 
is that bird-collectors and idle boys are less numerous, while 
sportsmen find larger game so plenty that they do not waste 
ammunition on birds so small that no one but a foreigner would 
take the trouble to pick them for the table. 
Besides this, the prevalence of prairies over most of the western 
regions makes any garden full of trees and shrubs a rare nursery 
for the woodland species, where they find more protection from 
hawks and weasels than in their native groves, while they may 
also levy a small contribution on the fruits in return for the 
insects they destroy, and their lively songs. In California the 
poison intended for ground-squirrels has also destroyed millions 
of birds about the fields, and left them unhurt in gardens. 
It is interesting to notice that most of the early travelers in 
California mention the comparative scarcity and silence of small 
birds about the first settlements. 
_In the garden at Haywood, eighteen miles southeast of San 
Francisco, in which I have before noted the nesting of the Anna 
humming-birds, so great a variety have built this spring that 
some notes on the others may be of general interest. The ex- 
tent of ground is only half an acre around the house in which I 
live, and most of the nests mentioned are within it. The hum- 
ming-bird referred to (Calypte Anna) is the only species that 
has built here, though swarms of the Nootka hummer frequented 
the eucalyptus-trees during April, on their way north. Another 
nest was built, and the eggs, laid April 28d and 24th, hatched 
one Trochilus Alexandri May 4th, and one Calypte costæ May 
the street adjoining the garden, but too high to examine. A 
black pewee (Sayornis nigricans) had built under the eaves of 
an adjoining barn as early as F ebruary, but also too high for close 
observation. A pair of western bluebirds (Stalia Mexicana) had 
