the first year i was in california the thought of the orchards that were to be set out on my ranch appealed to me much less than what the place already possessed. as an inheritance from the stream that came down in spring through the ughland canyon—past the homes of the little lover, the gnatcatchers, the little prisoners, and the lazulis and blue jays—there was a straggling line of old sycamores, full of birds' nests; and a patch of weeds, wild mustard, and willows, which was a capital shelter for wandering warblers; and a bright sunny spot always ringing with songs.
so many houses were being put up without so much as a by-your-leave that it was high time for an ornithological landlady to bestir herself and look to her ornithological squatters; so, day after day i turned my horse toward the ranch and spent the morning getting acquainted with my tenants, riding along the shady line and making friendly calls at each tree.
half of the blackbirds who worked in the vineyard must have been beholden to me for rent, i should judge by the jolly choruses of the sable[124] hordes moving about my treetops. there was a bee's nest in one of the sycamores, and one day the buzzing mob 'took after me' so madly that i had to whip up canello and beat about with my hat to get clear of them.
along the line of sycamores along the line of sycamores
another day, when we stopped under a sycamore, such a loud shrill whistle sounded suddenly overhead that the horse started. a big bird in black sat with feathers bristled up about him like a threatening raven, croaking away sepulchrally directly overhead, bending down gazing at us out of his yellow eyes as if to see how we took it. it was a laughable sight. blackbirds seem such human, humorous birds one can almost fancy them playing such pranks just for the fun of it.
the blackbird colony was a busy one nesting-time. the builders would fly down to the road to get material, stepping along quickly, looking from side to side with an alert, business-like air, as if they knew just what they wanted. some of them used the button-balls to line their nests.
a pair had built in one of the round mats of mistletoe at the end of a branch, and while looking at the nest one day i was amazed to see a butcherbird come flying in a straight line toward it. he did not reach his destination, for while still in air both blackbirds darted down at him and drove him back faster than he had come. the guardian of the nest escorted him almost home, and when the victorious pair were returning[125] they were joined by a noisy band of indignant members of the blackbird clan.
i watched this attack with great interest, not knowing that shrikes were concerned in blackbird matters, and also because it was welcome news that one of these strange characters had rented a lot of me. i made a note of the direction my outlaw tenant took when driven ignominiously home, and at my earliest convenience called. such cruel tales are told of his cold-blooded way of impaling birds and beasts upon thorns and barbed wires that one naturally looks upon him as a monster; but i found that he, like many another villain, turns a gentle face to his nest.
he had pitched his tent on the farthest outpost of my ranch in a little bunch of willows, weeds, and mustard—long since converted into a well-kept prune orchard. the nest, which was a big round mass of sticks, was inside the willows in a clump of dry stalks about six feet from the ground. i had hardly found it before one of the builders swooped down to it right before my eyes, with the hardihood of one who fears no man; though it must be acknowledged that the shrikes, like other birds on the ranch, were so used to grazing horses they quite naturally took me for a cattle herder.
in this case canello did not act as my ally. he had been quiet and docile most of the morning, but now was hungry and saw some grass he was[126] bent on having, so took the bit in his teeth and made such an obstinate fight that, before i had conquered him, the shrikes had left the premises and my call was finished without my hosts.
on my next visit canello behaved in more seemly manner, and permitted me to see something of the ways of the maligned birds. you would not have known them from any one else except for the remarkable stillness of their neighborhood. some finches flew overhead as if meaning to stop, but saw the shrike and went on. i could hear the merry songs of the assembly down in the sycamores, but not a bird lit while we were there—the shrikes certainly have a bad name among their neighbors. they had a proud bearing and an imperative manner, but seemed so gentle and human in their domestic life that my prejudices were softened, as one's generally are by near acquaintance, and i became really very fond of my handsome tenants.
it looked as if the shrike fed his mate. at any rate, they worked together and rested together, perching in lordly fashion high on the willows overlooking their home. they did not object to observers when at work. one day, when canello's nose appeared by the nest, the builder looked at him over her shoulder and then quietly slid off the nest, flying up on her perch to wait till he should leave. it was a temptation to keep her waiting some time, for the shrike's corner was[127] a pleasant place to linger in. the sea-breeze was so strong it turned the willow leaves white side out, and the beautiful glistening mustard grew so high there that when canello walked into it, the golden blossoms waved over our heads. we haunted the premises till the birds had finished their framework, put in a lining of snow-white plant cotton, and had laid four eggs.
but when getting to feel like an old friend of the family, on riding down one day i found the nest lying in the dust of the road broken and despoiled. it made me as unhappy as if the outlaws had been unimpeachable bird citizens—which comes of knowing both sides of a person's character! do birds hand down traditions of ill luck? however it may be, five years later i found the nest of a pair in a dark mat of mistletoe at the end of a high oak branch, which was a much safer place than the low willow.
while i was watching the first shrike family, canello had two scares. once when we were standing still by the willow we heard what sounded like a rattlesnake springing its rattle. the nervous horse pricked up his ears, raised his head, and looked in the grass as if he saw snakes, and though i succeeded in quieting him, when we went home he started at every stick and was ready to shy at every shadow. another morning he saw a mexican riding along by the vineyard, a man with a very dark face and a red shirt.[128] canello acted much as he had when hearing the rattlesnake, and did not quiet down till horse and rider were out of sight. the ranchman told me he had been cruelly treated by the mexican who broke him, so perhaps it was another case of association of ideas.
east of the willows, and separated from them by the dark green mallows and bright yellow california forget-me-nots, was the sycamore where the shrike was driven off by the blackbirds. here a little brown wren had taken up her abode. the nest was in a dead limb with a lengthwise slit, and a scoop at the end like an apple-corer, so when one of the wrens flew down its hole with a stick, the twig stuck out of the crack as she ran along with it. she quite won my heart by her frank way of meeting her landlady. instead of flying off, she looked me over and then quietly sat down in her doorway to wait for her mate.
on the road to my sycamores was a deserted whitewashed adobe. the place had become overgrown with weeds, vines, and bushes, and was taken possession of by squirrels and birds. nature had reclaimed it, covering its ugly scars with garlands, and making it bloom under her tender touch. one morning, as i rode by, a black ph?be was perched on the old adobe chimney of the little house, while his mate sat on the board that covered the well, in a way that made it easy to jump to a conclusion. when she flew[129] up to the acacia beside the well and looked down anxiously, i put the pair on my calling list. it did not take many visits to prove my conclusion—there was a nest down in the well with white eggs in it. the ph?bes were most trustful birds, and not only let canello tramp around their yard, but when a pump was put down the well, and water pumped up day by day, the brave parents, instead of deserting their eggs, went on brooding as if nothing had happened.
black ph?be. (one half natural size.) black ph?be.
(one half natural size.)
eastern ph?be. (one half natural size.) eastern ph?be.
(one half natural size.)
five years later, on going back to the ranch, i found the ph?bes around the old place, but hunted in vain for the nest. a schoolhouse had been built in the interval, near the old adobe, and the birds perched on its gables, on the hitching posts in front of it, and on my prune-trees, that had taken the place of the willows, across the road. they even came up to my small ranch-house and filled me with delightful anticipations by inspecting the beams of the piazza; but they could not find what they wanted and flew off to build elsewhere.[130] later in the season, a neighbor whose ranch was opposite mine showed me a ph?be's nest inside his whitewashed chicken house. it was a mud pocket like a swallow's, made of large pellets of mud plastered against a board in the peak of the house. of course i could never prove that these birds were my old friends, but it seemed very probable.
the smallest of my tenants was a hummingbird. i saw it fly into a low spray, and it stayed there so long that when it left i rode up to look, and found that it was building on the tip of a twig under a sycamore leaf umbrella, one whose veining showed against the light. by rising in the saddle i could just reach the twig and pull it down to look inside the nest; but afterwards i found so many other hummers who could be watched with fewer gymnastics, i rested content with knowing that this little friend was there.
one morning, when on the way to the sycamores, i found an oriole's nest high in a tree. canello was hungry, but when permitted to eat barley under the branches kept reasonably quiet. there were two species of orioles in the valley; and not knowing to which the nest belonged, i prepared to wait for the return of the owner. the heat was so oppressive that i took off my hat, and a bird flew into the tree with bill open, gasping. after my hot ride down the valley the shade of the big tree was very grateful; and[131] the cool trade wind coming through a gap in the hills most refreshing.
suddenly there was a flash—we all waked up—was that the house owner? what a remarkable bird! and what a display of color!—it had a red head, fiery in the sun; a black back, and a vivid yellow breast. on looking it up in ridgway the stranger proved to be the louisiana tanager, a high mountain bird. that was a red letter day for me. no one can know, without experiencing it, the delight of such discoveries. the pleasure is as genuine as if the world were made anew for you. in the excitement the oriole's nest was neglected; but ordinarily the rare unknown birds did not detract from the enjoyment of the old, more familiar ones.
so when the brilliant stranger flew away and was seen no more i turned with pleasure to the pair of sparrow hawks who had come to live on the ranch. a branch had fallen from one of the trees, and the hawks found its hollow just suited to their needs. it was a good, spacious house, but a pair of their cousins who had built in a tree over the whitewashed hovel had made a sad mistake in choosing their dwelling—for the front door was so small they could hardly enter! i used to stop to watch them, and was very much amused at their efforts to make the best of it.
canello could stand up to his knees in alfilaree[132] clover under their tree, so he allowed me to watch the birds in peace. the first day the male sparrow hawk flew to the tree with what looked like a snake dangling from his bill, and as he alighted screamed kit-kit'ar' r' r' r', spreading his wings and shaking them with emphasis. when this brought no response, he flew from branch to branch, crying out lustily. he revolved around the end of a broken limb in whose small hollow was framed the head of madame falco. from her height she looked like a rag doll at her window. her funny round face, which filled the doorway, had black spots for bill and eyes, and dark lines down the cheeks that might have simulated rag doll tattooing.
evidently there was some reason why she did not want to come to breakfast. once she started to turn back into the nest, but at last laboriously wedged her way out of the hole and flew to a branch. her mate was at her side in an instant, and handed her the snake. she took it greedily and flew off with it, let us hope because she was afraid of me, not because she did not want to divide with him, or thought he would ask her to, after all his devotion and patience!
when the bird went back to her nest, her hesitation about leaving it was explained. for a long time she sat on a limb near by with tail bobbing, apparently trying to make up her mind[133] to go in. when she did fly up at the hole she could not get in, and half fell down. after this failure she sat down on a branch, her tail tilting as violently as a pipit's, and when canello moved around too much, took the excuse and flew off. her mate came back with her, but when he saw us, he screamed and flew away, leaving her to her fate.
she sat looking at her hole a long time before she tried it again, and when she did try, failed. it was not till her fourth attempt that she succeeded. the hole was very much too small for her, and the surface of the branch below it was so smooth and slippery that it gave her nothing to hold to in trying to wedge herself in. she would fly against the hole and attempt to hook her bill over the edge, and so draw herself up, but her shoulders were too big for the space. she tried to make them smaller by drawing down her wings lengthwise. once, in her efforts, she spread her tail like a fan. after her third struggle, she sat for a long time smoothing her ruffled feathers, shaking herself, scratching her face with her foot and trying to get her plumes in order.
while making her toilet she apparently thought of a new plan. she went back to the hole and, raising her claw, fastened it inside the hole and with a spasmodic effort wedged in her body and disappeared down the black hollow.[134] her mate came a moment after, but she did not even appear in the doorway when he called. again he came, crying keek' keek' kick-er' r' r', in tender falsetto; but it was no use. madame falco had had altogether too hard a time getting in, to go out again in a hurry. he held a worm in his bill till he was tired, changed it to his claw, letting it dangle from that for a while; and then, as she would make no sign, finally flew off.
the next day we had another session with the sparrow hawk. she had evidently profited by experience. she did not fly at the hole in the violent way she had done the day before, but ambled along a limb to get as close to it as possible, and then quietly flew up. she made two or three unsuccessful attempts to enter, but kept at the branch,—falling back but once. she got half way in once or twice, but could not force her wings through. she acted as if determined not to give up, and at last, when she found herself falling backwards, with a desperate effort drew herself in.
there was another sparrow hawk family across the road from my ranch. in riding by one day, i saw a youngster looking out from the nest hole with big frightened eyes. was it the only child, or was it monopolizing the fresh air while its brothers were smothering below? another day there were two heads in the window; one was[135] the round domed, top of a fluffy nestling whose eyes expressed only vague fear; but the other was the strongly marked head of an old sparrow hawk, who eyed us with keen intelligence. as i stared up, the young one drew back into the hole behind its parent, probably in obedience to her command; and the old bird bent such an anxious inquiring gaze upon me that i took the hint and rode away to save the poor mother worry.
these were not the only hawks of the valley. once, seeing one of the large buteos winging its way with nesting sticks hanging from its claws, i turned canello into the field after it, following till it lit in the top of a high sycamore. the pair were both gathering material. sometimes they flew with the twigs in their claws; sometimes in their bills; now they would fly directly to the nest, again circle around the tree before alighting. when one was at work, the other sometimes flew up and soared so high in the sky he looked no larger than a sparrow hawk. in swooping to the ground suddenly, the hawks would hollow in their backs, stick up their tails, drop their legs for ballast, and so let themselves come to earth. while one of the birds was peacefully gathering sticks, two blackbirds attacked it, apparently on general grounds, because it belonged to a family that had been traduced since history began. to tell the honest truth, i trembled a little myself at thought of[136] what might happen to some of my small tenants, though i reassured myself by remembering that the facts prove the maligned hawks much more likely to eat gophers than birds.
in the back of the stub occupied by one of the sparrow hawks it was a pleasure to find a flicker excavating its nest. planting its claws firmly in the hole with tail braced against the bark, the bird leaned forward, thrusting its head in, over and again, as if feeding young. it used its feet as a pivot, and swung itself in, farther and farther, as it worked. such gymnastics took strong feet, for the bird raised itself by them each time. it worked like an automatic toy wound up for the performance. when tired, the flicker hopped up on a branch and vented its feelings by shouting if-if-if-if-if-if-if, after which it quietly returned to work. the wood was so soft that the excavating made almost no noise, but it was easy to see what was going on, for the carpenter simply drew back its head and tossed out the glistening chips for all the world to see. at the end of a week the flicker was working so far down in its excavation that only the tip of its tail stuck out of the door.
the nest of another colaptes, i found by accident—a fresh chip dropped from mid-air upon my riding skirt. just then canello gave a stentorian sneeze and the bird came to her window to look down. she did not object to us,[137] and was loath to turn back inside the dark hole—such a close stuffy place—when outside there were the rich green leaves of the tree, the sweet breath of the hayfield and the gentle breeze just springing up; all the warmth and sunshine and fragrance of the fields. how could she ever leave to go below? perhaps she bethought her that soon the dark hole would be a home ringing with the voices of her little ones; at all events, she quickly turned and disappeared in her nest.
at the foot of the ranch i discovered a comical, sleepy little brown owl, dozing in a sycamore window. when we waked it up, it went backing down the hole. i wondered if it kept awake all day without food, for surely owl children do not get many meals by daylight. i spoke to the ranchman's son about it, and he said he thought the old birds fed the young too much, that he had found about a dozen small kangaroo rats and mice in their holes! he told me that he had known old owls to change places in the daytime, and both birds to stay in the hole during the day. down the valley, where an old well was only partly covered over, at different times he had found a number of drowned owls. they seemed to fly into any dark hole that offered. three barn owls had been taken from a windmill tank in the neighborhood in about a month. in a mine at escondido the man had found a[138] number of owls sitting in a crevice where the earth, had caved; and he had seen about a dozen of them fifty to a hundred feet underground, at the bottom of the mine shaft.
i did not wonder the birds wanted to keep out of sight in the daytime, knowing what happened to those that stayed out. a pair nested in the top of a high sycamore on my neighbors' premises, and when one stirred away from home, it did so to its sorrow. one morning there was such a commotion i rode down to see what was the matter. a big dark brown form flew down the avenue of sycamores ahead of us, followed by a mob of all the feathered house owners in the neighborhood. they escorted it home to the top of its own tree, where it seated itself on a limb, its big yellow eyes staring and its long ears dropped down, as if home were not home with a rout of angry bee-birds and blackbirds screeching and diving at you over your own doorsill. two orioles started to fly over from the next tree, but went back, perhaps thinking it wiser not to make open war upon such near neighbors; while a sparrow hawk who came to help in the attack was judged too dangerous an ally and escorted home by a squad of blackbirds dispatched for the purpose. the poor persecuted owl screwed its head around to its back as if hoping to see pleasanter sights on that side; but the uncanny performance did not seem to please its enemies, and a blackbird flew rudely past, close[139] under its bill, as if to warn it of what might happen.
the queerest of all my tenants was an old mother barn owl who lived in the black charred chimney of one of the sycamores. i found a white feather on the black wood one day in riding by, and pulling canello up by the tree, broke off a twig and rapped on the door. she came blundering out and flew to a limb over our heads—such a queer old crone, with her hooked nose and her weazened face surrounded by a circlet of dark feathers. the light blinded her, and with her big round eyes wide open she leaned down staring to make out who we were. then shaking her head reproachfully, she swayed solemnly from side to side. as the wind blew against her ragged feathers she drew her wings over her breast like a cloak, making herself look like a poverty-stricken wiseacre. finding that we did not offer to go, the poor old crone took to her wings; but as she passed down the line of sycamores she roused the blackbird clan, and a pair of angry orioles flew out and attacked her. my conscience smote me for driving her out among her enemies, but on our return to the sycamores all was quiet again, and a lizard was sunning himself on the edge of the old owl's chimney.
