. 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 California Linnet accommodation to varied conditions. The bird does nest about houses and outbuildings, multitudinously; but the very name House Finch is so often challenged by experiences afield, that one is sooner inclined to call it devil finch or spook finch. Does one penetrate the fastnesses of the cattle country, where the Dalton gang and the James boys used to hold forth, it is to study the mighty Eagle, or to trace the "bullet hawk
. 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 California Linnet accommodation to varied conditions. The bird does nest about houses and outbuildings, multitudinously; but the very name House Finch is so often challenged by experiences afield, that one is sooner inclined to call it devil finch or spook finch. Does one penetrate the fastnesses of the cattle country, where the Dalton gang and the James boys used to hold forth, it is to study the mighty Eagle, or to trace the "bullet hawk" (Falco mexicanus) to its ledge. But lo, the "House" Finch has set its little tepee in a cranny beside the noble falcon; and while the falcon hurls its thunders from the blue, this tedious chit simpers and chirps as though its tiny affairs were nature's chief concern. Does one visit the cliffs at Pizmo to get the salty sting of the gales, or "to hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn," lo! the House Finch has come before. Here upon these storied cliffs, where birds of high and rare degree, Peregrines, Surf-birds, Royal Terns, pause, in passing, to _____ greet the shore, these irrever- ent commoners gossip and flutter, or gather straws. Not even the occasional presence of the White- throated Swift, the speed demon of the upper air, daunts these hardy sans- culottes. They, too, dis- port themselves aloft, or wing placidly across some yawning chasm which the sea has cleft, heedless alike of the buffeting wind and of the fretful sea mews. House Finch, indeed! Why, there is no juniper tree where a man may be alone with his Maker, but this bird hops in its branches and twangs his little lute! The House Finches nest almost anywhere. If you want a playmate to engage in a state-wide game of hunt-the-thimble, confer with this bird before issuing the challenge. Nests are caught in vines, or placed on tim- bers, under cornices, in bird-boxes, mail-boxes, or in any
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
