. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Phainopepla psychology not quite understandable, and his manners hopelessly alien. Having said so much, we have per- haps said too much. Any prisoner at the bar is entitled to the services of an attor- ney, and any bird sitting at the bar of our poor human judgment is entitled to sympathetic consideration. He is en- titled, moreover, to be judged by a jury of his peers; and if we would deal exact justice, or even approximate justice, to the Pha
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Phainopepla psychology not quite understandable, and his manners hopelessly alien. Having said so much, we have per- haps said too much. Any prisoner at the bar is entitled to the services of an attor- ney, and any bird sitting at the bar of our poor human judgment is entitled to sympathetic consideration. He is en- titled, moreover, to be judged by a jury of his peers; and if we would deal exact justice, or even approximate justice, to the Phainopepla, we must doubtless be- come birds ourselves for the nonce. Here is a motion, then, for a new trial. Pep pep—it is a musical, half-plain- tive, haunting note which first apprises us of the arrival of the "shining flycatch- ers" from their winter home in the desert. The males arrive first, but are followed in four or five days by the modest gray females, who, likewise, call pep pep, or perp perp, in solicitude, or resentment of human attention. The male is discreet, but a well-screened observer may some- times catch one in a transport of ecstacy. He leaps into the air, turns a somersault, returns to the perch with quivering wings, swaps ends violently, displays the crest to the utmost, and produces all the while a flood of jumbled, weak notes intended for song. In soberer moments one catches constricted phrases of a yodeling character: ahcuhcheziweerp, cleerp, zweep, and, most characteristically, "wheedle ah" (Mrs. Bailey). These vocal efforts are casual and disconnected, and they never by any possibility attain the dignity "of a superb song, powerful and finely modulated," as alleged by Coues in his single encounter with the bird in Arizona. Besides the song and call notes, one hears a scrat or kuteerp, which betoken appre- hension, or distress, or at least disagreement of opinion at home. All these vocal expressions are subdued, as thoug
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
