398 



RECREATION 



from the Eastern kingbirds and are not the 

 fighters that the Eastern species has the 

 reputation of being. The)- defend their 

 nests, which they delight to build about 

 telephone poles, but otherwise are at peace 

 with all birdkind. 



"Skee-e-e! Skee-ee!" trills a bird from 

 the depth of a live oak tree, and you know, 

 before he lias been good enough to come out 

 and show his pretty self, that it is a spurred 

 towhee, a bird which is similar to the East- 

 ern chiwink. He is so beautiful and so 

 ( )riental, with his black head, back and 

 wings with white markings, rufous sides, 

 white breast and red eyes, that you see no 

 resemblance to his cousin — the California 

 towhee — until he flies, and then you see 

 that he goes with the same bobbing, jerky 

 motion that the commoner bird has. These 

 California towhees are plain brown birds 

 whose friendly way of staying about the 

 dooryard has caused them to sometimes be 

 called "brown robins." Their habit of 

 always saying, "Chip! chip!" has given 

 them the cognomen of " chippies." Though 

 this thin note is about the only one they 

 use throughout the greater part of the 

 year, in the spring and early summer they 

 have a song which, if not beautiful, is better 

 than the monotonous chipping. 



A flash of most brilliant blue, relieved by 

 bars of white on wings, dashes by you, and 

 you involuntarily exclaim: "The lazuli 

 bunting — how beautiful!" This brilliant 

 bird replaces the indigo bunting of the East, 

 and as you watch it dart about you are in- 

 clined to think, it more beautiful than even 

 the orioles. 



There is another beautiful bird which is 

 only a tourist in Los Angeles, stopping (as 

 so many human tourists do) only for a short 

 sojourn on his way farther north. This bird 

 is the Louisiana or Western tanager. His 

 yellow body, black wings and tail and red 

 head make him a fit emblem for the Cali- 

 fornia Audubon Societies, whose button he 

 adorns. 



Beside all these larger birds who are not 

 chary of showing themselves, there are 

 dozens of small warblers, flycatchers and 

 vireos, many of whom, like the tanagers, 

 are only migrants, paying us a passing visit 

 as they work their way into the mountains 

 or some other locality. 



Among these smaller birds the warblers 

 are the handsomest. They are also the 

 most aggravating to study, for they are con- 

 stantly on the move, and delight in the large 

 oak trees, which have such dense foliage that 

 one cannot look into them. 



One of the most attractive of these 

 feathered mites is the black-throated grey 

 warbler. He is a quiet little midget and 

 seems to go about in the trees so intent upon 

 finding small green caterpillars that he has 

 no time to waste in song. As you catch a 

 glimpse of him among the green leaves, he 

 seems an animated bundle of black and 

 white stripes, and you hold your breath lest 

 you scare him away. 



The pileated warbler is a gay little 

 fellow with his yellow robe and black cap, 

 The warbling vireos, though somber little 

 birds, are so trustful, hunting in the trees 

 beside one and singing so cheerfully, that 

 one falls in love with them at once. 



The Western house wren is not the 

 sociable, jolly good fellow that the Eastern 

 house wren is — still he sings and acts 

 enough like his far-away cousin to carry one 

 back to their childhood days, when Cali- 

 fornia was a far-distant paradise to dream 

 about. 



The phainopepla is one of California's 

 most princely birds, and no record of our. 

 Western birds would be complete without 

 him. He does not return north as early as 

 many of our feathered friends, so when we 

 see him winging his way through the air — a 

 pepper tree his objective point — we are sure 

 that spring is fully established. It matters 

 not though a recent snow has made our 

 mountains white and brought a wintry chill 

 to the atmosphere, if this glorious black bird 

 has made you a visit it is surely spring, no 

 matter what the other indications. 



The phainopepla — of the waxwing family 

 — in size and form resembles the mocking 

 bird, and is, indeed, sometimes called the 

 black mocking bird. But in actions he is a 

 decided contrast to the mocker, being a 

 quiet, dignified acting bird, never scolding 

 in the noisy way the mocking bird so often 

 does. The plumage of the male phaino- 

 pepla is a glossy, iridescent black, the only 

 bit of color being the large patches of white 

 on the wings, which show only when the 

 bird flies. But the thing that gives him his 



