XX11 



RECREATION. 



BIRDS OF THE GILA COUNTRY. 



ALBERTA A. FIELD. 



The game birds and animals of Arizona 

 are fast learning to regard man with fear. 

 Her song birds, however, have not yet 

 been taught that lesson of civilization, and 

 I know of no corner of the United States 

 in which bird nature may be more closely 

 and easily studied than in the wooded 

 country between the Salt and Gila rivers 

 and among the foothills of the Pinal and 

 Mogollon mountains. 



A peculiarity of Western birds is the 

 faded or bleached appearance of their 

 plumage as compared with that of repre- 

 sentatives of the same species East of the 

 Mississippi. This is true alike of robins, 

 thrushes, mocking-birds, sparrows, wrens, 

 jays, and many kinds of humming-birds. 

 It finds its only exception in the cardi- 

 nal grosbeak and some of the green hum- 

 mers. The fiery plumage of the grosbeak 

 seems even more brilliant than that of its 

 Ohio brethren,. I have never heard this 

 peculiarity attributed to any special cause. 

 It may be due to the alkaline properties of 

 the air and soil, but why some of the emer- 

 ald hummers and the grosbeak should be 

 favored exceptions puzzles me. 



The principal enemies of Arizona birds, 

 particularly of the ground-nesting species, 

 are snakes, with which the country is 

 more than plentifully supplied. However, 

 Nature, with an eye to the protection of 

 her best loved children, has provided al- 

 most every shrub, bush, cactus or thicket 

 growth with an abundance of sharp thorns, 

 which catch the intruder at every turn. 

 One of the most aggressive of these shrubs, 

 but particularly fitted for nest hiders, is 

 the cat-claw, which is of low growth, brist- 

 ling with instruments of torture. The 

 credulous are told that this little plant is 

 able to reach out its claws and grasp 

 intruders. That it can, with its hooked 

 thorns, hold securely whatever comes in 

 contact with it is a fact. Occasionally a 

 bird attempts to build in a grape cactus, 

 but this plant is so dangerous and difficult 

 of access, being a mass of prickers, that 

 the attempt is usually abandoned. Not- 

 withstanding cat-claws and cacti, now and 

 then some snake undulates his way to a 

 nest, carrying desolation to a mother heart. 



A favorite resort for the larger and 

 higher building birds is the great Sahura, 

 or organ, cactus, which sometimes grows 

 to the height of 40 or 50 feet, and is as a 

 rock on which to build, proving effective 

 protection from man and beast. In this 

 cactus the American raven, Corvus corax 

 principalis, abundant in the valleys of the 

 Pinal range, frequently nests. I never saw 

 more intelligence and common sense among 

 birds than are displayed by these ravens, 

 which seem pleased with offal-producing 

 civilization, and gratefully accept their of- 

 ficial position of public scavengers. They 

 are a happy, gregarious lot, but given to 

 stealing, and it is well to keep all bright 



and portable articles under cover wher- 

 ever they have access. 



All Arizona birds love company and are 

 never seen alone. In a mile of hillside 

 can be counted, by thousands, woodpeckers, 

 nuthatches, blue jays, indigo buntings, 

 blackbirds, whippoorwills, thrushes, brown 

 threshers, finches, cross-bills, mocking- 

 birds, grosbeaks, swallows, flycatchers, 

 larks, sparrows, warblers, cat-birds and 

 vireos. Of game birds it is almost distress- 

 ing to speak, recalling as it does, the awful 

 slaughter that is going on among them. 

 The Arizona quail, which becomes the 

 "California partridge" as one travels West- 

 ward, is most abundant. It is a beautiful 

 and intelligent bird, but seems to have 

 more than the ordinary wildness of its 

 species, can not be domesticated, and has 

 the grouse propensity for making itself 

 unseen. One often comes upon a hen 

 and 15 or 16 little ones, never dreaming of 

 their presence until too close proximity 

 sends them whirring through the air; but 

 they soon alight and run to cover. 



There are many wild turkeys in the Mo- 

 gollon range, but they are shy of man. 

 Perhaps this shyness is more traditional 

 than instinctive. Many generations must 

 have passed when man was unknown to 

 them in this lonely mountain range, whose 

 passes, if there are any, are unknown to 

 even the Aoaches,. 



One of the most unpleasant species of 

 bird life in the territory, is the great, ugly, 

 purple and red necked vulture, which may 

 be useful but is certainly not ornamental. 

 He lives almost entirely on carrion. I 

 often saw a row of these silent, ominous 

 looking creatures, sitting on a rock in the 

 distance, waiting for the last breath to 

 leave the body of some unfortunate animal. 

 Often we came across the bones of a horse, 

 and occasionally a human skeleton, bleach- 

 ing on the hillside, and we shuddered as 

 we thought of the claws and beaks that 

 prepared them for this neglected sleep. 



The shyness that I have mentioned as 

 being so characteristic of game birds, is 

 replaced in their unhunted fellows by an 

 overpowering propensity of investigation, 

 and a more curious and impertinent lot of 

 feathered folk it would be hard to find. 

 Since artesian wells have made irrigation 

 possible in the little towns, the growing of 

 fruits such as peaches, cherries, etc., has 

 been undertaken ; but it has been almost 

 impossible for one to get a taste of one's 

 own fruit, so mischievous have become 

 mocking-birds, orioles and others. The 

 trees have to be enveloped in mosquito 

 netting, tent fashion ; a rather expensive 

 and difficult method of protection. This 

 pilfering habit is going to work sad re- 

 sults among the gentle song birds, for al- 

 ready war is being waged on them in the 

 towns, one man recently shooting 120 ori- 

 oles in 2 hours, a wholesale slaughter that 

 will soon depopulate the Western country 

 as it has done the East. 



