Chapter I: Front Matter

Books by Florence A. Merriam.

BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. In Riverside Library
for Young People. Illustrated. 16mo, 75 cents.

MY SUMMER IN A MORMON VILLAGE. 16mo, $1.00.

A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. Illustrated. 16mo, $1.25.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO

BY FLORENCE A. MERRIAM

I do invite you ... to my house ...
after, we'll a-birding together.
SHAKESPEARE.

_ILLUSTRATED_

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1896

Copyright, 1896,

By FLORENCE A. MERRIAM.

_All rights reserved._

_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._

Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.

PREFATORY NOTE.

THE notes contained in this book were taken from March to May, 1889, and from March to July, 1894, at Twin Oaks in southern California. Twin Oaks is the post-office for the scattered ranch-houses in a small valley at the foot of one of the Coast Ranges, thirty-four miles north of San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific.

As no collecting was done, there is doubt about the identity of a few species; and their names are left blank or questioned in the list of birds referred to in the text. In cases where the plumage of the two sexes is practically identical, and only slight mention is made of the species, the sexes have sometimes been arbitrarily distinguished in the text.

Several of the articles have appeared before, in somewhat different form, in 'The Auk,' 'The Observer,' and 'Our Animal Friends;' all the others are published here for the first time.

The illustrations are from drawings of birds and nests by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and from photographs taken in the valley; together with some of eucalyptus-trees from Los Angeles, for the use of which I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

In the preparation of the book I have been kindly assisted by Miss Isabel Eaton, and have received from my brother, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, untiring criticism and advice.

FLORENCE A. MERRIAM.

LOCUST GROVE, N. Y.,
July 15, 1896.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
I. OUR VALLEY 1
II. THE LITTLE LOVER 20
III. LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT 38
IV. WAS IT A SEQUEL? 48
V. LITTLE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER 65
VI. HINTS BY THE WAY 81
VII. AROUND OUR RANCH-HOUSE 86
VIII. POCKET MAKERS 103
IX. THE BIG SYCAMORE 112
X. AMONG MY TENANTS 123
XI. AN UNNAMED BIRD 140
XII. HUMMERS 147
XIII. IN THE SHADE OF THE OAKS 159
XIV. A MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY 171
XV. HOW I HELPED BUILD A NEST 175
XVI. IN OUR NEIGHBOR'S DOOR-YARD 184
XVII. WHICH WAS THE MOTHER BIRD? 189
XVIII. A RARE BIRD 194
XIX. MY BLUE GUM GROVE 211

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Mountain Billy under the Gnatcatcher's Oak. _Frontispiece_
Our Valley 4
Head of Black-headed Grosbeak 8
Head of Rose-breasted Grosbeak 8
In Hot Pursuit (Brewer's Blackbird and Bee-birds) 13
The Little Lover (Western House Wren) 20
A Trying Moment (Western House Wren) 32
Nest of Western Gnatcatcher 39
Head of California Woodpecker 66
Head of Red-headed Woodpecker (Eastern) 66
Jacob and Bairdi visiting the Old Nest Tree 78
Head of Arizona Hooded Oriole 89
Head of Baltimore Oriole (Eastern) 89
Head of California Chewink 93
Head of Eastern Chewink 93
Valley Quail and Road-runner 99
Nest of the Bush-tit 104
Pocket Nest in an Oak 108
The Big Sycamore 114
Along the Line of Sycamores 124
Head of Black Ph[oe]be 129
Head of Eastern Ph[oe]be 129
The Little Hummer on her Bow-knot Nest 148
The Swing Nest of the Hummer 157
A Shady Bower 160
Head of Green-tailed Chewink 163
The Nosebag Nest (Vigors's Wren) 173
The Plain Titmouse in her Doorway 176
Which was the Mother Bird? (Wren-tit and Lazuli Buntings) 189
The Phainopeplas on the Pepper-tree 194
The Phainopepla's Nest in the Oak Brush Island 198
Eucalyptus Avenue, showing Pollarded Trees on the Right 212
Eucalyptus Wood stored for Market in a Eucalyptus Grove 214
Mountain Billy Deserted 220

BIRDS REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT.[1]

White Egret. _Ardea egretta._
Green Heron. _Ardea virescens anthonyi._
Spotted Sandpiper. _Actitis macularia._
Valley Quail. _Callipepla californica vallicola._
Mourning Dove. _Zenaidura macroura._
Turkey Vulture. _Cathartes aura._
Hawk. _Buteo ----._
Sparrow Hawk. _Falco sparverius deserticolus._
American Barn Owl. _Strix pratincola._
Western Horned Owl. _Bubo virginianus subarcticus._
Burrowing Owl. _Speotyta cunicularia hypogæa._
Road-runner. _Geococcyx californianus._
California Woodpecker. _Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi._
Red shafted Flicker. _Colaptes cafer._
Dusky Poor-will. _Phalænoptilus nuttalli californicus._
Black-chinned Hummingbird. _Trochilus alexandri._
Rufous Hummingbird. _Selasphorus rufus._
Arkansas Kingbird. _Tyrannus verticalis._
Cassin's Kingbird. _Tyrannus vociferans._
Black Ph[oe]be. _Sayornis nigrescens._
Western Wood Pewee. _Contopus richardsonii._
Flycatcher. _Empidonax ----._
Horned Lark. _Otocoris alpestris chrysolæma._
California Jay. _Aphelocoma californica._
American Crow. _Corvus americanus._
Yellow-headed Blackbird. _Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus._
Red-winged Blackbird. _Agelaius ph[oe]nicius ----._
Arizona Hooded Oriole. _Icterus cucullatus nelsoni._
Bullock's Oriole. _Icterus bullocki._
Brewer's Blackbird. _Scholocophagus cyanocephalus._
Western House Finch. _Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis._
Goldfinch. _Spinus ----._
White-crowned Sparrow. _Zonotrichia leucophrys gambeli (?)._
Golden-crowned Sparrow. _Zonotrichia coronata._
Heerman's Song Sparrow. _Melospiza fasciata heermanni (?)._
Spurred Towhee or Chewink. _Pipilo maculatus megalonyx._
Green-tailed Towhee. _Pipilo chlorurus._
California Towhee. _Pipilo fuscus crissalis._
Black-headed Grosbeak. _Habia melanocephala._
Western Blue Grosbeak. _Guiraca cærulea eurhyncha._
Lazuli Bunting. _Passerina am[oe]na._
Louisiana Tanager. _Piranga ludoviciana._
Cliff Swallow. _Petrochelidon lunifrons._
Phainopepla. _Phainopepla nitens._
White-rumped Shrike. _Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides._
Warbling Vireo. _Vireo gilvus (?)._
Hutton's Vireo. _Vireo huttoni (?)._
Least Vireo. _Vireo bellii pusillus (?)._
Long-tailed Chat. _Icteria virens longicauda._
American Pipit. _Anthus pensilvanicus._
California Thrasher. _Harporhynchus redivivus._
Vigors's Wren. _Thryothorus bewickii spilurus._
Western House Wren. _Troglodytes ædon aztecus._
Plain Titmouse. _Parus inornatus._
Wren-tit. _Chamæa fasciata._
California Bush-tit. _Psaltriparus minimus californicus._
Western Gnatcatcher. _Polioptila cærulea obscura._
Varied Thrush or Oregon Robin. _Hesperocichla nævia._
Western Bluebird. _Sialia mexicana occidentalis._

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In classification and nomenclature this list conforms to the American Ornithologists' Union 'Check-List of North American Birds,' Second Edition, 1895. L. S. Foster, New York.

A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO.