Mar., 1915 BIRDS OF A BERKELEY HILLSIDE 83 sho?vs no more fear than do the other sparro?vs about coming to the porch railing for food. The habit of scratching for its food seems .to be so firmly fixed that it usually scratches among the crumbs before picking them up. The California Brown Towhee is never missing at meal-time, and is ready with a protest, if meals are not on time. Of the Brown To?vhees there are seldom more than two on the feeding-ground, while of the San Francisco Towhees there are too.re often four. In the late summer, the San Francisco To?vhees brought their young up onto the railing to feed. But they are still the ?vild birds of the ' species, and take alarm at the slightest movement of a ?vindow or curtain. I often see Hutton Vireos (Vireo huttoni huttoni) in the oak trees and occasionally about the drinking fountain, particularly in October and Novem- ber. The Warbling Vireo (Vireosyl.va gil.va swainso,hi) nests down nearer the bottom of the canyon. The Lutescent Warblers (Vermivora celata lutescerts) are very abundant during the summer. There must be from four to six pairs nesting within a hundred yards of the house each year. It ?vould be difficult Fig. 33. THE SA.? FRANCISCO TOWHEE FEEDING ON CA.?'ARY SEED. NOTE THE BLACK CHEST CO.?'TRASTI.?O WITH THE ORAY BREAST. THE LEFT 1IANI) PI?URE SHOWS THE IRIS RING, WHICH WAS BRIGHT ?D I?' COLOB Photos by Amelia S. Allen. to calculate their value. Five cut-xvorms in five minutes was the estimate I made as I xvatched one last summer. A flock of Black-throated Gray Warblers (Dendroica nigrescens) was seen in the fall of 1912 in company with many xvarbling vireos. They remained for several days. The Toxvnsend Warblers (Dendroica townsendi) I see only occasionally from the windows. Just before they migrated last spring, they .were present in numbers in the oaks on the hillside above us, and ?vere in full song. With them ?vere kinglets and juncos. The MacGillivray Warbler (Oporornis tolm;eg) was seen and heard just beyond the end of Mossxvood Road last summer. One pair of Pileolated Warblers (Wilso,nia pusilla pileolata) has nested each season about a hundred yards east of the house. The California Thrasher (Toxostoma redi.v?iv?m redivi.vum) has been one of the most interesting of the birds that have come regularly to the feeding- ground. There is nothing leisurely about him, and he is certainly not a "Fletcheritc". I felt quite triumphant when he, too, came to the railing for
