Mar., 1915 
BIRDS OF A BERKELEY HILLSIDE 
83 
shows no more fear than do the other sparrows about coining to the porch 
railing for food. The habit of scratching for its food seems to be so firmly 
fixed that it usually scratches among the crumbs before picking them up. The 
California Brown Towhee is never missing at meal-time, and is ready with a 
protest, if meals are not on time. Of the Brown Towhees there are seldom 
more than two on the feeding-ground, while of the San Francisco Towhees there 
are more often four. In the late summer, the San Francisco Towhees brought 
their young up onto the railing to feed. But they are still the wild birds of the 
species, and take alarm at the slightest movement of a window or curtain. 
I often see Hutton Vireos ( Vireo huttoni huttoni ) in the oak trees and 
occasionally about the drinking fountain, particularly in October and Novem- 
ber. The Warbling Vireo ( Vireosylva gilva swainsoni ) nests down nearer the 
bottom of the canyon. The Lutescent Warblers ( V ermivora celata lutescens) 
are very abundant during the summer. There must lie from four to six pairs 
nesting within a hundred yards of the house each year. It would be difficult 
Fig. 33. The San Francisco Towhee feeding on canary seed. Note 
the black chest contrasting with the gray breast. The left 
hand picture shows ti-ie iris ring, which was bright red in color 
Photos by Amelia S. Allen. 
to calculate their value. Five cut-worms in five minutes was the estimate I 
made as I watched one last summer. A flock of Black-throated Gray Warblers 
( Dendroica nigrescens) was seen in the fall of 1912 in company with many 
warbling vireos. They remained for several days. The Townsend Warblers 
( Dendroica townsendi ) I see only occasionally from the windows. Just before 
they migrated last spring, they were present in numbers in the oaks on the 
hillside above us, and were in full song. With them were kinglets and j uncos. 
The MacGillivray Warbler ( Oporornis tolmiei ) was seen and heard just beyond 
the end of Mosswood Road last summer. One pair of Pileolated Warblers 
( Wilsonia pusilla pileolnta) has nested each season about a hundred yards 
east of the house. 
The California Thrasher {T oxostoma redivivum redivivum ) lias been one 
of the most interesting of the birds that have come regularly to the feeding- 
ground. There is nothing leisurely about him, and he is certainly not a 
Fletcherite . I felt quite triumphant when he, too, came to the railing for 
