Part 1

Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Books by Florence A. Merriam.

BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. In Riverside Library for Young People. Illustrated. 16mo, 75 cents.

MY SUMMER IN A MORMON VILLAGE. 16mo, $1.00.

A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. Illustrated. 16mo, $1.25.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO

BY FLORENCE A. MERRIAM

I do invite you ... to my house ... after, we'll a-birding together. SHAKESPEARE.

ILLUSTRATED

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1896

Copyright, 1896,

By FLORENCE A. MERRIAM.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.

Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.

PREFATORY NOTE.

THE notes contained in this book were taken from March to May, 1889, and from March to July, 1894, at Twin Oaks in southern California. Twin Oaks is the post-office for the scattered ranch-houses in a small valley at the foot of one of the Coast Ranges, thirty-four miles north of San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific.

As no collecting was done, there is doubt about the identity of a few species; and their names are left blank or questioned in the list of birds referred to in the text. In cases where the plumage of the two sexes is practically identical, and only slight mention is made of the species, the sexes have sometimes been arbitrarily distinguished in the text.

Several of the articles have appeared before, in somewhat different form, in 'The Auk,' 'The Observer,' and 'Our Animal Friends;' all the others are published here for the first time.

The illustrations are from drawings of birds and nests by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and from photographs taken in the valley; together with some of eucalyptus-trees from Los Angeles, for the use of which I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

In the preparation of the book I have been kindly assisted by Miss Isabel Eaton, and have received from my brother, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, untiring criticism and advice.

FLORENCE A. MERRIAM.

LOCUST GROVE, N. Y., July 15, 1896.

CONTENTS.

PAGE I. OUR VALLEY 1 II. THE LITTLE LOVER 20 III. LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT 38 IV. WAS IT A SEQUEL? 48 V. LITTLE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER 65 VI. HINTS BY THE WAY 81 VII. AROUND OUR RANCH-HOUSE 86 VIII. POCKET MAKERS 103 IX. THE BIG SYCAMORE 112 X. AMONG MY TENANTS 123 XI. AN UNNAMED BIRD 140 XII. HUMMERS 147 XIII. IN THE SHADE OF THE OAKS 159 XIV. A MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY 171 XV. HOW I HELPED BUILD A NEST 175 XVI. IN OUR NEIGHBOR'S DOOR-YARD 184 XVII. WHICH WAS THE MOTHER BIRD? 189 XVIII. A RARE BIRD 194 XIX. MY BLUE GUM GROVE 211

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE