Mar., 1906 | 
SUMMER NOTES FROM A SANTA BARBARA GARDEN 
49 
that it was impossible to get a photograph of him without a focal plane shutter, 
which I could not find in the town. Well, some other time — perhaps ! 
In contra-distinction to the experiment of changing the watering place of the 
birds was one of educating them up to a better one without changing its location. 
Along a stone wall supporting a road in an unoccupied place adjoining, was a 
hydrant that dripped very, very slightly ; yet it was near the top of a low ridge 
and not much below the tops of some trees where birds could conveniently alight 
to rest from their wanderings. I procured a common shallow kitchen bowl, 
put it on the low wall and had just elevation enough to get water to it from the 
faucet by a piece of bamboo. Birds had long been in the habit of coming to this 
faucet and hanging there long enough to get a sip or two of water before giving 
place to the next comer. There was no shelter for the observer near, but I rigged 
up one by means of a clothes horse covered with some old matting and fastened to 
the iron railing which ran along the wall, and let the birds get used to it. In this 
instance they soon overcame their fear, and as the bowl was in plain sight to all 
CALIFORNIA JAY 
avian passers-by it was not long before it had a host of customers. These were 
principally green-backed goldfinches and house finches tho occasionally some 
other species would drop in. One Anthony tovvhee was a regular patron and 
used to hold possession for ten or fifteen minutes at a time while more timid cus- 
tomers waited patiently around for him to give them a chance. 
A California jay ( Aphelocoma californica) visited the spot once in a while after 
the bowl was established there and I had the good fortune to get a pretty fair snap 
at him one morning, tho he was a little too near the camera to get the best result. 
He was so wary, however, that it was a case of then or never. He came again 
several times while the camera was set and I was ready for him, but the glint of 
the metal parts always seemed to make him suspicious, and never again did he 
stay long enough or get in a sufficiently favorable position for another snap. 
As the iron railing made of 2-inch pipe was very unsightly in a picture it 
seemed feasible to decorate the perpendicular portion in the center of the back- 
ground with sage-brush and get the visitors accustomed to so distinct a change. 
