. The Oölogist for the student of birds, their nests and eggs . cholla andprickly pear cactii. Bird life is very abundant, consid-ering the scarcity of food and the dryclimate where water is only obtain-able at long distances. I was located on a sheep ranchabout two miles. north of the store. It was about one-half mile to my near-est neighbor, who was an easternerin search of health. He had taken upa mining claim, fenced it, built a com-fortable house upon it, and madeother improvements which made theplace very attractive for that lonely,desolate country. This claim was sit-uated right among t
. The Oölogist for the student of birds, their nests and eggs . cholla andprickly pear cactii. Bird life is very abundant, consid-ering the scarcity of food and the dryclimate where water is only obtain-able at long distances. I was located on a sheep ranchabout two miles. north of the store. It was about one-half mile to my near-est neighbor, who was an easternerin search of health. He had taken upa mining claim, fenced it, built a com-fortable house upon it, and madeother improvements which made theplace very attractive for that lonely,desolate country. This claim was sit-uated right among the scrub oaks,and birds, which were always lookingfor a few crumbs or a drink, wererather abundant. Finding that theywere not molested they soon becamequite tame, and large numbers cameevery morning to drink from a pan ofwater that my friend had placed forthem. This gave him an idea. He cut theside out of a large syrup can, made awooden frame to hold it, and nailed iton top of a fence post about fifty feetfrom the house. This he filled daily THE OOLOGIST 258. House Finches -Photo by Earl R. Forrest with water, and soon great numbersof birds came there to drink. I immediately became interestedand spent much time at my friendshouse, where I identified the follow-ing species which came there to thisfountain: Melanerpes uropygialis. Gila Wood-pecker. Aphelocoma sieberii arizonae. Ari-zona Jay. Carpodacus mexicanus Finch. Mimus polyglottos leucopterus. Wes-tern Mockingbird. Sialia mexicana occidentalis. Wes-tern Bluebird. Sialia arctica. Mountain Bluebird. Other species were observed in thelocality, but they were too shy to ven-ture so near to the house. We watched them closely and theyall seemed to have a certain time forcoming. The bluebirds of both varie-ties generally arrived a little after dawn, and as time passed and thefame of the fountain spread in thebird world their numbers greatly in-creased. They always made such afuss and commotion that it was im-possib
Size: 1586px × 1576px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidologistf, booksubjectbirds
