sees B.OV Ny eBSUeL is Bale toN 
on 
are joined by small flocks advancing from different directions. All day long 
these blackbirds have been gleaning insects and weed seeds (for they are 
omnivorous) from alfalfa and other fields. They and the meadowlarks are 
found in the same fields, assisting the farmer while they help themselves. 
We have three species of goldfinches now in Banning. The willow 
goldfinch, also known as the common goldfinch, is sometimes incorrectly 
called the wild canary. In winter it is a dull little bird with two white bars 
on its black wings and without a cap, but with the spring molt it puts on 
its nuptial plumage. The male becomes bright yellow with black wings 
crossed by white bars and is resplendent in a black cap. The female is still 
an inconspicuous bird. The green-backed goldfinch also remains in Banning 
all winter. The male of this species retains its black cap throughout the 
year. In a strong light one may see that the bird’s back is dull olive-green, 
wing-bars rather indistinct. Early in April Lawrence’s goldfinch returned 
from the south to our locality. It is more gray than the other goldfinches 
mentioned, but easy to identify. A patch of black extends from the forehead 
of the male through the chin to the throat, giving the bird a black face. 
Again, the female is not distinctly marked. Goldfinches are great weed seed 
eaters, being especially fond of the seeds of the thistle and the dandelion. 
The California shrike is the very interesting gray bird with a black 
line through the eye that you often see sitting on the telephone or fence 
wires. It is often mistaken for the mockingbird. The name shrike, or 
butcher bird, well fits its larger relative, the northern shrike, which really 
does kill and eat small birds and hangs any not immediately needed on 
thorns. But our California shrike is a beneficial bird, feeding almost 
entirely upon grasshoppers and other insects. 
Wrens seem to be scarce in Banning. Although I have looked carefully 
around brush piles and roots of trees, where wrens delight to hunt for 
insects, I have discovered but one individual of each of two species— 
Bewick’s and the western house wren. Bewick’s is the more beautiful. 
The house wren is a very plain little brown bird, but very active. As you 
likely know, most birds mate for the breeding season only and raise one, 
or at most two, broods a year. From records compiled by Mr. Baldwin, of 
Gates Mills, Ohio, it was learned that the house wren raises two to three 
breods a year and generally has a different mate for each brood. In contrast 
are the mating habits of the Canada goose. It mates for life. 
During the last week in January this year, looking north I saw a 
wedge of geese directly in front of the mountains, flying west. I could not 
distinguish color or identification marks through my binoculars, but felt 
sure from their manner of flight that some at least were Canada geese. 
Mr. Hendrick, upon looking at the flock through the glasses, said that he 
caught a glimpse of white on the last two. That would indicate that those 
were snow geese. Since the Canada geese and the snow geese often travel 
together, both species may have been in the wedge we saw. When at 
Elsinore two weeks previously I saw a number of lesser Canada geese. 
On the top of a high hill on Indian School Road are many eucalyptus 
trees which appear to be dead. On February 16 I was surprised to see on 
the slender bare trees pigeons sitting so close together that they appeared 
