JAN., x9o2. I THE CONDOR 7 birds that form one of the most characteristic features of this kind of country. A persistent squeaking would bring them from all directions, and out of unthought- of recesses in Kunzia or Ephedra bushes green-tailed towbees and young white- crowned sparrows would come tumbling with much fluttering of tails--and pre- sently the more demure vesper sparrows. But the sage thrashers always con- tented themselves with a distant seat among some golden chrysothamnus blos- soms, and craned their necks inquisitively in my direction. Then a sudden movement would scatter the whole audience from this newly found attraction. The western house-wren is fond of the sage brush and spends much of its time slipping mouse-like among the lower branches of the Kunzia and Ephedra. Other birds that found congenial haunts in the open land were the dove, prairie falcon, Swainson hawk, poor- will, Say phoebe, Arkansas kingbird, California jay, meadow-lark, Brewer black bird, linnet and now and then a stray rock wren or ?nountain quail. [ was told that sage-grouse occur in remote gulches where- the sheep have not been, but I saw none. The pinyon hill had a little set all its own. Clarke crows came in great num- bers to feed upon the pine nuts, and had continual altercations with pinyon jays, sharp-shinned hawks, and likewise among themselves. It seemed strange to see them away from the windy cold altitudes with which cne usually associates them. The pinyon jays appeared continually in large flocks from the north. They usually made a noisy and cursory survey along the hillside and then departed southward with hoarse leave takings. On the tenth of September a large consignment of mountain chickadees arrived and worked among the pines mid much discussion and some singing--that queer ? little song mentioned by Bar- low in the last September CoN- , DOR. Hammond flycatchers were not uncommon on this hill, while mountain quail, Cabanis ? woodpeckers, flickers, California jays, spurred towhees, green- tailed towhees, Audubon warb- , ? .'?. .., lers and rock wrens were almost daily seen. One Louisiana tana- ger was observed and one nerv- ous robin. But the most not- [ ?- able little bird of the whole hill
, --and ot the whole west, to my
notion, was a canyon wren that
sang every morning among the
big boulders till the very rocks ?. rang. Altho the same song was repeated over and over I never tired of it. The big-tree thrush ? among shady solitudes of the , ?.?,,1?,, forest has just claims for being considered the sweetest of all our western songsters, as Mr. e?o? w??, Belding so truly maintains; but for audacity and the wild abandon of its music the canyon wren is certainly with- out a rival. To me he seems the most wonderful and weirdest of all our little birds.
