Mar., 1915 
BIRDS OF A BERKELEY HILLSIDE 
79 
pus, where no shooting is allowed at any season. On the hill-slope above us, to 
the south, are only a few scattering oak trees, but there is an almost impene- 
trable thicket of spiraea and hazel brush, protected by a high bank formed by 
the cut for the road, which makes an ideal nesting site for the birds. 
The hill as it slopes to the west, outside the canyon, is covered by an old 
orchard and some garden shrubs, with one date-palm and a group of pine and 
cypress trees on the terrace which overlooks the city and the Golden Gate. 
From the whole of the region described the English Sparrows are absent 
except as fall gormandizers. During September, October and November, 
thousands of them come up from the town below into the old orchard, where 
they feed on weed seeds and remnants of the scant crop of the diseased trees. 
Occasional reconnoitering parties have appeared in the spring-time about our 
house, but they have not met with a hospitable reception. 
The birds of this hillside region fall naturally into two groups: (1) those 
found more commonly in the orchard and on the more or less open slope to 
Fig. 30. Gollen-crowned Sparrows. At the left is siiowx one on the 
railing; at the right three Golden-crowns and one Song Sparrow 
(above on twig) 
Photo at left by Amelia S. Allen; at right by T. I. Storer. 
the west; and (2) those which show a decided preference for the closely for- 
ested and brush-covered area of the north-facing slope immediately about the 
house. A small number seem equally at home in both sections, as, for example, 
the Red-shafted Flicker, California Blue Jay, California Towhee and Hermit 
Thrush. 
The raptorial birds of the western group include the Sparrow Hawk 
( Falco sparverius sparverius) , which is almost always to be found in the winter 
season surveying the field from the top of one of two telephone poles, upon 
which it elects to perch. Western Red-tailed Hawks ( Buteo borealis calurus) 
soar above in the illimitable blue on wings of strength. While at night the three 
owls ( Aluco pratincola, Otus asio bendirei, Bubo virginianus pacificus) make 
the darkness visible by their cries. 
The Anna Hummingbird ( Calyptc anna) knows everything that happens in 
the whole area the year around, and every summer the Allen Hummingbird 
( Selasphorus alleni ) guards its nest from the same lookout on the same electric- 
