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THI<; CONDOR 
I V<.1. IV 
tain air soon hardens, ami many pieces 
were to be found half hidden among the 
sticks and stones on the hillside. 
An enterprising jay found a particu- 
larly hard piece one day. He flew up 
to a branch of the oak tree, and, putting 
his feet on the bread to hold it quite 
firm, proceeded to hammer it with his 
bill, after the manner of a woodpecker, 
h'or many minutes he wrestled with 
that piece of bread, (he must have been 
in a tenible state of mind) until another 
jay came to see what could be the 
matter. He meant to stick to it, how- 
ever, and didn’t intend to “go shares.’’ 
I haven’t yet made up my mind 
whether he came off conquerer, or 
abandoned the situation. I do know 
that he worked hard for a long time 
then flew away. Occasionally 1 add 
grapes to their menu. That is a surprise 
and much appreciated; vSome were put 
in a bag and fixed in one of the trees, 
and, instantly, their curiosity was 
aroused. 
One came and pecked at the pajjer 
bag, and soon discovered that when he 
tore the paper it made a noise. It was 
not long before the grapes were found, 
and such a hue and cry came from the 
lookers-on in the branches above. 
Down they flew jabbering as they 
came, and it is needless to relate that 
there wasn’t a grape left in the bag in 
a very short time. Since then I’ve 
never doubted the inquisitiveness of 
the bluejays. In addition to the char- 
acteristic scold note the blue-fronted jay 
has many distinctly different notes, 
some of which are soft, whispering 
notes, and very pleasant to hear. 
All of the jays are more or less pug- 
nacious, and few birds come about their 
feeding grounds while they are in pos 
session. The ground squirrel is more 
bold, and one was often seen feeding 
with them. 
Chickadees, mountain bluebirds, fly- 
catchers, and Brewer blackbirds are 
seen every day if one takes the time to 
observe. The bluebirds come for a 
frolic on the tent ropes late every after- 
noon, after all the noisy birds have said 
good-bye for the day. As the shadows 
grow darker, flocks of tiny seed-eating 
birds come to the quiet hillside, and flit 
through the ferns and grasses, where 
they find food to their fancy. Twice a 
hummer came and stuck his long bill 
into a scarlet penstemon flower, but 
was off again before I could note his 
colorings. 
An almost daily visitor is a cunning 
creeper, who comes to the nearest tree, 
and inspects it for food. He has a 
sweet note of inquiry, and appears to 
have little fear. Once he flew to the 
ground to see what the other birds were 
doing, but he seemed to care more for 
the food which he found in the trees. 
This was the slender-billed nuthatch, 
fl'hree times a grosbeak was noticed 
eating at the bird-table, but was not 
clearly identified. 
As the weather becomes colder, the 
hammock studies came to an end, and I 
was f)bliged to go abroad. On one of 
my long excursions, I caught sight of a 
white-headed woodpecker, flying from 
one high point to another. Chickadees 
were seen feeding on the manzanita 
berries. The clear ringing note of the 
red-shafted flicker was heard often, but 
he rarely showed himself. Finding the 
feathers of one near our tent one morn- 
ing I concluded that there had been a 
tragedy during the night. 
A common night sound, coming from 
the distant canyons, is the hootings of 
the owls, which is not especially con- 
ducive to peaceful slumbers, if there is 
onl}^ a piece of striped awning between 
one and the wide-wide world. The 
woodpeckers began putting in their 
supplies for the winter about the first 
week in October; and after that they 
worked every day from early morning 
till sun down, picking the acorns, taking 
oflf the cap, and skillfully packing them 
away in the holes made b}^ them in the 
bark of the pine trees. On every walk 
and ride strange birds were to be seen, 
so that 1 was fully convinced a student 
would find here a good field for birds. 
