we may say that we care naught for the world and its ways, but most of us are more or less tricked by the high-sounding titles of the mighty. even plain-thinking observers come under the same curse of adam, and, like the snobs who turn scornfully from mr. jones to hang upon the words of lord higginbottom, will pass by a plain brown chippie to study with enthusiasm the ways of a phainopepla! sometimes, however, in ornithology as in the world, a name does cover more than its letters, and we are duped into making some interesting discoveries as well as learning some of the important lessons in life. in the case of the phainopepla, no hopes that could be raised by his cognomen would equal the rare pleasure afforded by a study of his unusual ways.
the phainopeplas on the pepper-tree the phainopeplas on the pepper-tree
on my first visit to twin oaks i caught but brief glimpses of this distinguished bird. sometimes for a moment he lit on a bare limb and i had a chance to admire his high black crest and glossy blue-black coat, which with one more touch of color would become iridescent. he was so slenderly formed, and his shining coat was so[195] smooth and trim, he made me think of a bird of glass perched on a tree. but while i gazed at him he would launch into the air and wing his way high over the valley to the hillsides beyond, leaving me to marvel at the white disks on his wings, hidden when perching, but in air making him suggest a black ship with white sails.
his appearance was so elegant and his ways so unusual that i went back east regretting i had not given more time to a bird who was so individual, and resolved that if i ever returned to california my first pleasure should be to study him. when the time finally came, an ornithologist friend who knew my plans wrote, exclaiming, "do study the phainopeplas!" and added that she felt like making a journey to california to see that one bird.
from the middle of march till the middle of may i watched and waited for the phainopeplas. there had been only a few of the birds before, and i began to fear they had left the valley. when despairing of them, suddenly one day i saw a black speck cross over to the hills. i wanted to drop my work and follow, but went on with my rounds, and one bright morning on my way home after a discouraging hunt for nests, a pair of phainopeplas flew up right before my eyes almost within sight of the house. i dropped down behind a bush, and in a moment more the birds flew to a little oak by the road—a tree i had[196] been sitting under that very morning! the female seated herself on top of the oak, watching me with raised crest, while her mate disappeared in a dark mat of leaves, probably mistletoe, where he stayed so long that the possibility of a nest waxed to a probability, and i made a rapid but ecstatic ascent to the observer's seventh heaven. a phainopepla's nest right on my own doorsill! i could hardly restrain my impatience, and was tempted to shoo the birds away so i could go to the nest; when suddenly they opened their wings and, crossing the valley, disappeared up a side canyon! pulling myself together and reflecting that i might have known better than to imagine there would be a nest so near home, i took up my camp-stool and trudged back to the house.
after that came a number of tantalizing hints. when watching the third gnatcatcher's nest i had seen a pair of phainopeplas flying suggestively back and forth from the brush to the various oaks, and thought the handsome lover fed his mate as his relative the gentle high-bred waxwing does. surely the wooing of these beautiful birds should be carried on with no less fine feeling, courtesy, and tenderness; and so it seems to be. the black knight flew low over my head slowly, as if inspecting me, and then came again with his lady, as if having said, "dear one, i would consult you upon this impending danger."
after that, something really delightful came[197] about. day by day, on riding back to our ranch-house, i found phainopeplas there eating the berries of the pepper-trees in our front yard. before long the birds began coming early in the morning; their voices were the first sounds we heard on awakening and almost the last at night, and soon we realized the delightful fact that our trees had become the feeding ground for all the phainopeplas of the valley. altogether there were five or six pairs. it was a pretty sight to see the black satiny birds perched on one of the delicate sprays of the willowy pepper-trees, hanging over the grape-like clusters, to pluck the small pink berries. the birds soon grew very friendly, and, though they gave a cry of warning when the cats appeared, became so tame they would answer my calls and let me watch them from the piazza steps, not a rod away.
when they first began to linger about the house we thought they were building near, and when one flew into an oak across the road, almost gave me palpitation of the heart by the suggestion. but no nest was there, and when the bird flew away it rose obliquely into the air perhaps a hundred feet, and then flew on evenly straight across to the small oaks on the farther side of a patch of brush that remained in the centre of the valley, known to the ranchmen as the 'island.' the flight looked so premeditated that the first thing the next morning, although the phainopeplas[198] were at the peppers, i rode on ahead to wait for them at their nest. we had not been there long before hearing the familiar warning call. turning billy in the direction of the sound, i threw his reins on his neck to induce him to graze along the way and give our presence a more casual air, while i looked up indifferently as if to survey the landscape. to my delight the phainopepla did not seem greatly alarmed, and, throwing off the assumed indifference that always makes an observer feel like a wretched hypocrite, i called and whistled to him as i had done at the house, to let him know that it was a familiar friend and he had nothing to fear. the beautiful bird started toward me, but on second thought retreated. i turned my back, but, to my chagrin, after giving a few low warning calls, my bird vanished. alas, for the generations of murderers that have made birds distrust their best friends—that make honest observers tremble for what may befall the birds if they put trust in but one of the human species!
the phainopepla's nest in the oak brush island the phainopepla's nest in the oak brush island
it was plain that if i would get a study of these rare birds i must make a business of it. slipping from the saddle, i sat down behind a bush and waited. when the bird came back and found the place apparently deserted, to my relief he seated himself on a twig and sang away as if nothing had disturbed his serenity of spirit. but presently the warning call sounded again. this[199] time it was for a schoolgirl who had staked out her horse on the edge of the island and was crossing over to the schoolhouse. a few moments later the bell rang out so loudly that billy stepped around his oak with animation, but the phainopeplas were used to it and showed no uneasiness.
before long a flash of white announced a second bird, and then, after a long interval in which nothing happened, the male pitched into a bush with beak bristling with building material! my delight knew no bounds. instead of nesting in the top of an oak in a remote canyon, as i had been assured the shy birds would do, here they were building in a low oak not more than an eighth of a mile from the house, and in plain sight. moreover, they were birds who knew me at home, and so would really be much less afraid than strangers, whatever airs they assumed. in the photograph, the bare twigs of the perch tree show above the line of the horizon; the nest tree is the low oak beside it on the right. one thing puzzled me from the outset. while the male worked on the nest, the female sat on the outside circle of brush as if having nothing to do, in spite of the fact that her gray dress toned in so well with the brush that she was quite inconspicuous, while his shining black coat made him a clear mark from a distance. what did it mean? i invented all sorts of fancies to account for it.[200] had she been to the pepper-trees so much less than he that she was over-troubled by my presence, and therefore the gallant black knight who sang to her so sweetly and was so tender of her, seeing her fears, took the work upon himself? perchance he had said, "if you are timid, my love, i will build for you while she is by, for i would not have you come near if it would disquiet you."
in any event, he built away quite unconcernedly not three rods from where i sat on the ground staring at him. he would fly to the earth for material, but return to the nest from above, pitching down to it as if having nothing to hide. once, when resting, he perched on the tree, and i talked to him quite freely. that noon the phainopeplas were at the house before me, and i went out to talk to them while they lunched to let them know it was only i who had visited their nest, so they would have new confidence on the morrow.
but on the morrow they flew to another part of the island, and when we followed, although i hitched billy farther away from the nest tree and sat quietly behind a brush screen, they did not come back. a brown chippie plumed his feathers unrebuked in their oak, making the place seem more deserted than before. a lizard ran out from the grape cuttings at my feet, and a little black and white mephitis cantered along over[201] the ground with his back arched and his head down. he nosed around under the bushes, showing the white v on his back, exactly like that of our eastern species. as i rode home, five turkey buzzards were flying low over the edge of the island, and one vulture rose from a meal of one of the little black and white animal's relatives, but i saw nothing more of my birds that day.
the next day the phainopeplas came again to the pepper-trees and ate their fill while i sat on the steps watching. the male was quite unconcerned, but when his mate flew near me, he called out sharply; he could risk his own life, but not that of his love. again the pair flew back to the high oaks on the far side of the island. all my hopes of the first low inaccessible nest vanished. i had driven the birds away. my intrusiveness had made me lose the best chance of the whole nesting season. but i would try to follow them. it did not seem necessary to take billy. there were only a few trees on that side of the island, and it would be a simple matter to locate the birds. i would walk over, find in which tree they were building, and spend the morning with them. i went. each oak was encircled by a thick wall of brush, over which it was almost impossible to see more than a fraction of the tree, and the high oak tops were impenetrable to eye and glass. after chasing phantoms all the afternoon i went home with renewed respect for billy[202] as an adjunct to field work. in order to locate anything in chaparral, one must be high enough to overlook the mass.
that afternoon i saw a pair of phainopeplas fly up a canyon on the east, and another pair fly up another on the west. if i were to know anything of these birds, i must not be balked by faulty observing; i must at least do intelligent work. riding in from the back and tying billy out of sight away from the old nest, i swung myself up into a crotch of a low oak from which i could overlook the whole island. the phainopeplas soon flew in, but to the opposite side, and i was condemning myself for having driven them away when, to my amazement, the male flew over and shot down into the little oak where he had been building before! my self-reproach took a different form—i had not been patient enough. surely if i could wait an hour for an ordinary hummingbird, i could wait a morning for an absent phainopepla.
from the nest the beautiful bird flew to the bare oak top behind it which he used for a perch, and—alas! gave his warning call. i was discovered. he dashed his tail, turned his head to look at me first from one side and then from the other, and then flew to the top of the highest tree in sight to verify his observations. whether he recognized the object as his pepper-tree acquaintance, i do not know; but to my great[203] relief he went back to his work. by this time the little tree which had seemed such a comfortable chair had undergone a change—i felt as if stretched upon the gridiron of st. anthony. climbing down stiffly, i kneeled behind the brush and practiced focusing my glass on the nest so that it would not catch the light and frighten the bird, when out he flew from the nest and sat down facing me in broad daylight! he did not say a word, but looked around abstractedly, as if hunting for material.
if he were so indifferent, perhaps it would be safe to creep nearer. following the paths trodden by the bare feet of the school children, and spying and skulking, i crept into a good hiding-place about a rod from the nest. the ground was covered with dead leaves, and i saw a suggestive round hole—a very large rattlesnake had been killed a few rods away the week before. i covered the hole with my cloak and then sat down on the lid—nothing could come up while i was there, at all events.
the phainopepla worked busily for some time, flying rapidly back and forth with material. then came the warning cry. i drew in my note-book from the sun so that it should not catch his eye, and waited. the hot air grew hotter, beating down on my head. a big lizard wriggled over the leaves, and i thought of my rattlesnake. then billy sneezed in a forced way, as[204] though to remind me not to go off without him. growing restless, i moved the bushes a little—they were so stiff they made a very good chair-back if one got into the right position—when suddenly, looking up i saw my phainopepla friend vault into the air from a bush behind me, where, apparently, he had been sitting taking notes of his own! what observers birds are, to be sure! the best of us have much to learn from them.
but though the phainopepla was most watchful, he was open to conviction, and he and his mate at last concluded that i meant them no harm. afterwards, when i moved, they both came and looked at me, but went about their business quite unmindful of me.
as i had seen from the outset, the male did almost all the building. when his spouse came in sight he burst out into a tender joyous love song. she went to the nest now and again, but generally when she came it was to sun herself on the bare perch tree, where she dressed her plumes or merely sat with crest raised and her soft gray feathers fluffed about her feet, while waiting for her mate to get leisure to take a run with her.
when he had finished his stint and she was not about, he would take his turn on the perch tree, his handsome glossy black coat shining in the sun. if an unwitting neighbor lit on his tree[205] he would flatten his crest and dash down indignantly, but for the most part he perched quietly except to make short sallies into the air for insects, sometimes singing as he went; or he just warbled to himself contentedly, what sounded like the chattering run of a swallow on the wing. one day we had quite a conversation. his simplest call note was like the call of a young robin, and while i answered him he gave his note seventeen times in one minute, and eleven times in the next half minute.
the birds had a great variety of calls and songs, most of which were vivacious and cheering and seemed attuned to the warmth and brightness of the california sunshine. the quality of the love song was rich and flute-like.
the male phainopepla seemed to enjoy life in general and his work in particular. he frequently sang to himself when going for material; and once, apparently, when on the nest. when he was building i could see his black head move about between the leaves. like the gnatcatchers, he used only fine bits of material, but he did not drill them in as they did. he merely laid them in, or at most wove them in gently. now and then, as the black head moved in front, the black tail would tilt up behind at the back of the nest as if the bird were moulding; but there was comparatively little of that. when completed, the nest was a soft felty structure.[206]
when working, the male would fly back and forth from the ground to the nest, carrying his bits of plant stem, oak blossom, and other fine stuff. he worked so rapidly that it kept me busy recording his visits. he once went to the nest four times in four minutes; at another time, seventeen times in a little over an hour. sometimes he stayed only half a minute; when he stayed three minutes, it was so unusual that i recorded it. he worked spasmodically, however. one day he came seventeen times in one hour, but during the next half hour came only five times. the birds seemed to divide their mornings into quite regular periods. when i awoke at half past five i would hear them at the pepper-trees breakfasting; and some of them were generally there as late as eight o'clock. from eight to ten they worked with a will, though the visits usually fell off after half past nine. it was when working in this more deliberate way that the male would go to his perch on an adjoining tree and preen himself, catch flies, or sing between his visits. once he sat on the limb in front of the nest for nearly ten minutes. by ten o'clock i found that i might as well go to watch other birds, as little would be going on with the phainopeplas; and they often flew off for a lunch of peppers.
just as the island nest was about done—it was destroyed! i found it on the ground under[207] the tree. for a time i felt as if no nests could come to anything; the number that had been destroyed during the season was disheartening. it seemed as though i no sooner got interested in a little family than its home was broken up. sometimes i wondered how a bird ever had courage to start a nest.
but though it was hard to reconcile myself to the destruction of the phainopeplas' nest, i found others later. altogether, i saw three pairs of birds building, and in each case the male was doing most of the work. two of the nests i watched closely, watch and note-book in hand, in order to determine the exact proportion of work done by each bird. one nest was watched two hours and a half, during a period of five days, in which time the male went to the nest twenty-seven times, the female, only three. the other nest was watched seven hours and thirty-five minutes, during a period of ten days, in which time the male was at the nest fifty-seven times; the female, only eight. taking the total for the two nests: in ten hours and five minutes the male went to the nest eighty-four times; the female, eleven. that is to say, the females made only thirteen per cent of the visits. in reality, although they went to the nest eleven times, the ratio of work might safely be reduced still further; for in watching them i was convinced that, as a rule, they came to the nest, not to build, but to inspect the building[208] done by their mates. indeed, at one nest, i saw nothing to make me suspect that the female did any of the work. her coming was usually welcomed by a joyous song, but once the evidence seemed to prove that she was driven away; perhaps she was too free with her criticisms! in another case the work was sadly interrupted by the presence of the visitor, for while she sat in the nest her excited mate flew back and forth as if he had quite forgotten the business in hand. perhaps he was nervous, and wanted to make sure what she was doing in the new house!
in several instances i found that while the males were at work building, the females went off by themselves. once i saw madame phainopepla bring her friend home with her. no sooner had the visitor lit than—shocking to relate—the lord of the house left his work and drove her off with bill and claw—a polite way to treat his lady's friends, surely! on one occasion, when i looked up i saw a procession passing overhead—two females followed by a male. the male flew hesitatingly, as if troubled by his conscience, and then, deciding that if the nest was ever going to be built he had better keep at it, turned around and came back to work. one day when i rode over to the chaparral island, i found two of the males sitting around in the brush. they played tag until tired, and then perched on a branch in the sun, side by side, evidently enjoying themselves[209] like light-hearted, care-free bachelors. their mates were not in sight. but suddenly i glanced up and saw two females flying in to the island high overhead, as if coming from a distance. instantly the indifferent holiday air of their mates vanished. they gave their low warning calls, for i was on the ground and they must not show me their nests. in answer to the warning the females wavered, and then, when their mates joined them, all four flew away together.
at other times when i rode in the males would make large circles, seventy-five feet above me, as if to get a clear understanding of the impending danger. this was when small nest hunters were about, and the birds were some whose nests i did not find, and who had no opportunity to become convinced of my good intentions.
after finding that the males did most of the building, i was anxious to see how it would be when the brooding began. three of my nests were broken up beforehand, however, and the fourth was despoiled after i had watched the birds on the nest one day. nevertheless, the evidence of that day was most interesting as far as it went. it proved that while the female lacked the architect's instinct, she was not without the maternal instinct. there were two eggs in the nest, and in the one hour that i watched, each bird brooded the eggs six times. before this, the female had[210] been to the nest so much less than the male that now she was much shyer; but although billy frightened her by tramping down the brush near by, it was she who first overcame her fears and went to cover the eggs.
