USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 72
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The mountain partridge is found in the higher mountain ranges, and is seldom seen below an elevation of three thousand feet. It is a much larger and finer-looking bird than the California partridge. It is of a dark olive color, except the breast and throat, which are bright chestnut. The breast and belly are also marbled with black and yellowish-white. The throat-
* Mr. Grinnell's grandfather was the first pastor of the Friends or Quaker church in Pasadena [see page 484] ; and the young man is now a student in Throop Polytechnic Institute.
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From " Land of Sunshine," Oct., 1894. CALIFORNIA QUAIL. Photo, life size, from one the prize-winner birds at the World's Fair, Chicago, 1892-93.
patch is bordered by a white band. The plume is black, and composed of two slender feathers from three to four inches long. The two sexes are very similar in coloration. The call of the mountain part- tridge is very loud and resonant, but not as pleas- ing as that of the valley partridge. It is common on Mount Lowe and Wil- son's peak, but is very hard to hunt on account of the high brush. The mountain partridges go in flocks, and their habits are similar to those of the " valley quail," as the California partridge is commonly called.
NOTE .- The quail holds such an important place among our native birds that I quote the follow- ing additional account of
it from Van Dyke's "Southern California."-ED.
"The notes of the valley quail are quite varied; and even the same bird often varies within five minutes both the tone and accent of every note. The most common call of this quail is a clear, far-reaching O-hi-O, repeated four or five times in quick succession. Often the tone is changed so that it sounds more like ka-loi-o. Often the accent is shifted from the middle syllable to the first and last syllables, so that it sounds like tuck-a-hee. Again the stress is laid so heavily upon the second syllable that the other syllables are scarcely heard, and the whole sounds like k-woick-uh; and again the last syllable is omitted entirely, and the whole becomes a low k-woick. This is the call of the different members of the flock to each other when scattered, of the old hen to her chicks, and of the male and female to each other when separated. Should the winter rain-fall be insufficient to make an abundance of grass and seeds, this quail does not pair off and breed, but remains unmated in the large bands in which it has been all winter,-a curious case of instinct, shown also by the hares, squirrels, gophers and bees, all of which decline to increase. But after two or three good seasons in succession, the numbers of the valley quail in many parts of Southern California are incredibly great. When the seed of the alfileria
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and burr-clover is abundant, this bird is a strict vegetarian. It is a great ravager of gardens and vineyards ; it will touch almost nothing but grapes, if it can get them ; and the amount of white grapes a quail can eat in a day is amazing."
PIGEON .- Of the pigeon family we have two species. The mourning dove, or, as it is commonly called, the "turtle dove," is the same as the eastern bird. They are hunted a great deal, and often congregate in flocks in weed-patches and stubble fields, where they obtain their food. The mourning dove breeds from January to September. The eggs are sometimes laid on the ground, but usually the frail nests are built in the bushes and trees.
The band-tailed pigeon, or as here called the "wild pigeon," is a large bird - even larger than a tame pigeon. It is most numerous in the winter, and subsists mainly on acorns, being most abundant where the largest supply of its food is situated. They usually remain in the mountains, but when the snow comes low down, or the acorn crop is short, they come to the oak groves in the valleys. Large numbers are sometimes shot around Santa Anita. The band-tailed pigeon retires to the farther ranges to breed, though a few have been observed to remain in the vicinity of Oak Knoll as late as June.
VULTURE .- The turkey vulture is the same as the eastern "turkey buzzard." It is a notorious scavenger, being most common in cattle-raising regions. About here they are very common, and a landscape is hardly complete without two or three sailing slowly overhead. They breed in the hills to the west of Pasadena, and lay two spotted eggs on the ground under some rock or bush. [See "Buzzard Cliff, " page 374.]
The California vulture [or condor] is one of the rarest birds, as it is seldom seen, and then only in the mountains. It has the general appear- ance of the turkey vulture, but is very much larger, having a stretch of nine feet and even more, and a length of four and one-half feet.' It is thus fully as large as the condor of South America. It is said that fifty years ago the California condor was very common ; but the cattle-men by poison- ing carcasses in order to exterminate wild beasts, also killed great numbers of the vultures, and thus this species became very scarce.
NOTE .- This monarch of American birds is so rare a creature as to be worthy of some further notice. In 1888 there was an organization called the " Pasadena Academy of Sciences," of which Wm. L. Vail was secre- tary ; and in reply to some inquiries by him, Prof. C. F. Holder wrote :
" The bird you kindly allowed me to see is a rarity in this section, and is the largest North American bird. It is known commonly as the California vulture or condor, and to science as " Pseudogryphus Californianus." The bird takes the place in this country of the great condor of the Andes, and probably rivals it in size, attaining a breadth of wing of ten feet. It was unknown until the settlement of California, and is now known to range
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from the Colorado river to the Columbia west of the Rocky Mountains, and curiously enough, does not, as far as known, enter Mexico. The strength and power of the bird is almost beyond belief. Four adults have been seen to drag the body of a grizzly weighing over a thousand pounds, two hundred yards. The California condor possesses many of the characteristics of its ally of the Andes. It sights its prey from a vast height, and soars, especially before storms, to great altitudes. Its flight is regular and beauti- ful, the bird presenting a magnificent appearance when on the wing. The nest is composed of a few sticks thrown together carelessly. It rarely if ever attacks living animals. The bird is rare in the San Gabriel valley, and the present specimen is an unusually fine one, a young male in complete plumage, and perhaps three or four years old."
In 1878 E. W. Giddings shot one of these birds, and it measured ten feet three inches from tip to tip of the wings. [See footnote, page 129.] It is almost identical with the lammergeyer of the Alps, in Europe.
HAWKS .-- We have seven species of hawks and probably more. All the larger species are commonly called chicken hawks, and are needlessly shot as enemies of the poultry yard, while in reality they do a vast amount of good in destroying mice and squirrels, and should be protected. The smallest and commonest one is the sparrow hawk. It is abundant every- where except in town, and breeds in the arroyos. It subsists mainly on insects and mice, and is consequently very useful.
EAGLE .- The golden eagle is the only eagle found here; but down along the coast the bald eagle is sometimes seen. The golden eagle is com- mon in the Pasadena mountains, and often comes down to the highlands and along the foot-hills.
OWL .- The owl family is represented by eight species. The best known of these is the barn owl, golden owl, or "monkey-faced owl," as it is variously termed. Its natural home is in the woods, where it lives in hollow trees; but in many instances it has taken up its abode in steeples and towers. Last year [1893] a pair raised a brood in the belfry of the Uni- versalist church, and another pair took possession of the Wilson school tower. The barn owl is a very odd-appearing bird. It has a peculiar habit of wagging its head from side to side when closely watched. It is often caged, and makes a curious pet .* Our largest owl is the western horned owl. They do not stay in holes in trees, but roost in thick foliage or on the ground in shady places, coming out towards evening. The burrowing owl is a queer little bird which lives out in the open fields, and which makesits home in holes in the ground. The dry, level poppy fields above Altadena are favorite resorts of this owl. There they may be seen standing at the en- trances to their burrows, or flying low over the ground. If disturbed, they usually run down the holes, and may then be dug out. They lay their eggs
* Mrs. A. P. Janney on East Union street kept a pet owl for four years. It was so tame that it stood on a perch in the open room, like a parrot, and would make responsive motions and noises when she talked to it. When the Woman's Relief Corps held a Fair in Williams hall, in 1892, this pet owl was among the curiosities on exhibition.
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in a chamber hollowed at the end of their burrows. This chamber is usually close to the surface of the ground, or, anyway, higher than the gal- lery which leads to it. This is probably to protect it from being flooded during rain storms. The burrowing owl generally fits up a squirrel's hole for its use, but never lives "in the same hole with the squirrels or snakes," as is commonly believed ; for, on the contrary, it is a great enemy of the squirrels, often following down their burrows and killing their young. It also eats Jerusalem crickets and small birds. The color of this owl as seen at a distance is a light brownish gray. The smallest and rarest of our owls is the California pygmy owl. [W. H. Wakeley says it is the smallest owl in the world.] Its home is in the higher mountains, but it is not uncom- monly seen in winter lower down in the near canyons. The food of this owl appears to be entirely grasshoppers. The spotted owl is another rare bird occasionally found in the mountains.
THE ROAD RUNNER is a bird peculiar to the southwest. It is very common here, where it haunts the dry mesas and Arroyo beds. It belongs to the cuckoo family, though it is a very much modified branch. On its foot two toes point forward and two backward; hence its tracks can easily be recognized from those of any other of our birds. The length of the road-runner is about two feet, of which the tail occupies nearly a foot. With the exception of a steel-blue crest which ornaments the head, the feathers on most of the body are bright green, bordered with white. This bird is noted for its swift running, as it is said to be able to baffle a hound. It eats snakes and lizards. In the stomach of one road-runner I found four lizards, each eight inches long. The bird batters the heads of its victims on the ground, and then swallows them whole.
NOTE .- Of this rare creature, Van Dyke says ;
" About the only bird having no representative on the Atlantic coast is the " chapparal-cock," "road-runner," or paisano, as the native Califor- nians call it. It looks much like a cross between a hawk and a hernshaw ; long-geared, long-tailed, and swift of foot, white, gray, and blue, with a bluish top knot, and a long bill. Though generally deemed unfit to eat, it is really one of the fattest and finest-flavored birds we have, in spite of its diet of centipedes, lizards, and scorpions. It is an interesting bird, easily tamed, and may be made a great pet. It is quite harmless, and is rarely shot, except by fool tourists who think it the proper thing to murder every- thing they see."
Mr. Will H. Wakeley, Pasadena's pioneer taxidermist, relates that once while driving up North Lake Avenue he saw a road-runner scamper- ing up the street dragging a long gopher snake in its bill. After keeping ahead of him for a while, it turned off into an apricot orchard and com- menced making violent and rapid up-and-down motions. He went to see what the creature was doing, and found it had threshed the snake upon the ground and beaten the life out of it. Mr. Road-runner was preparing his
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dinner of "jerked meat"-that was all. Prof. Holder in his volume en- titled " All About Pasadena," page 124, says :
"It is of this bird that the rattlesnake corral story is told; the bird, it is said, building a corral of cactus leaves about the rattler, then awakening him to destruction on the spines. The story is generally considered a "fable "; though I have been told it by men who had watched the bird build the corral ; and a well-known surveyor in this county states that he has found the corrals, with the skeleton of the snake in the center. There is possibly some mistake in the observations, though the story is not more wonderful than that of the gardener bird, and others, known to be true."
THE WOODPECKERS are well represented, there being seven species in this vicinity. The California woodpecker is a black-and-white variety, with a red head and yellow throat. It has a peculiar habit of digging small holes in the bark of oaks. These holes are exactly the size of an acorn. Into each hole the bird forces an acorn, leaving the acute end of the nut protruding. In course of time a small grub finds its way into each acorn, grows and fattens. Then the woodpecker revisits his hoard, pecks into the acorns and extracts the luscious grubs, leaving the empty shells of the nuts still sticking in the holes. The woodpecker often makes use of natural cavities in trees, and in these stuffs great quantities of acorns for the same purpose.
A little sap-sucker which is often seen in our pepper trees is in the habit of perforating the bark in circles around the tree, thus producing an odd appearance. This is probably for the purpose of extracting the sap on which it feeds.
NIGHTBIRDS .- The Texas nighthawk is common in suitable localities about here. During the day they doze on the hot sand in the dry arroyos and " washes," but in the evening they may be seen seeking their insect food in the manner of bats and swallows. They have a peculiar trill or thwirr-r-r which is kept up a long time. The eggs are laid on the warm ground without any kind of a nest, and if the eggs are disturbed the birds carry them to another place in their mouths. The young are covered with a grayish-yellow down, which harmonizes well with the color of the sur- rounding earth. If they are endangered by any foe, human or otherwise, the mother tumbles all over herself in her endeavors to attract one's atten- tion from her dear hawklets. The poor-wills are birds peculiar to the west. They are similar to the whip-poor-will of the east in a good many respects, but in a few details of external structure they are distinct. Their call con- sists of two syllables, "poor-will, poor-will, poor-will." The. California poor-will frequents the foot-hills and canyon-sides. It is quite common in the hills back of Linda Vista, where they are often observed flitting along in the road or trail in the evening. It is also found on our highest moun- tains.
HUMMINGBIRDS .- They are abundant all the year, about every flower-
.
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garden in town and country. There are six species here, each distinct from any other. It is useless to try to describe their varied tints and metallic colors. A person must see them to appreciate and understand. Humming- bird's nests are wonderful examples of bird architecture,-so small, and yet so perfect in adaptation for their use. There is a general instinct that the nests must agree in color and shape with their surroundings. One that I found in an oak was placed on a horizontal branch to imitate a knot, and covered with green lichens to correspond with the color of the bark and leaves. A nest built on an orange twig was composed of brownish sub- stances and covered on the outside with black scale. Another situated on a cactus stem was made up of grayish vegetable down and small leaves of the wild sage. And yet another built in a sycamore, was attached at the base of a leaf, and made entirely of the yellow sycamore down found on the under side of the leaves. This provision is for protection against various marauders, especially blue jays, (both human and avain). Our six species of hummers are not all found here at the same season or in the same locali- ties. The Anna hummingbird is the only resident species, being common
all the year. They are quite hardy, usually being able to withstand the "Santa Ana " winds and the December frosts. This hummingbird breeds the earliest of any of our birds, the nest with eggs having been found in Pasadena as early as January 22. The Costa's hummingbird only stays here through the summer, and its nests are to be found on grease-wood, weeds, thistles and cactus, in the dry, open parts of the arroyos. The male Costa's hummer has a habit during the mating season of mounting high up in the air above the female, then descending like a shot down past her, then again mounting upwards to repeat this performance, till the female goes off to another perch. During each descending flight the male utters a shrill, swelling squeak, which is loudest as he passes the female. The black- chinned hummingbird is also a summer resident, building its nests on the sycamores and alders which line the streams in the canyons. The males are not often seen down in the canyons but remain high up on the mountain sides where the wild honeysuckle blooms. The males of none of the hum- mingbirds assist in nest-building or incubating. The Calliope, Allen's and Rufus hummers are spring and fall visitors, their summer homes being north of here. The two latter species are exceedingly abundant around the orange trees in March and April.
THE FLYCATCHERS are an interesting family of birds, and we have a good representation here. The black phoebe, or pewee, is common in town. It is usually seen on top of a hydrant or hitching-post in a garden. From this perch it makes sallies into the surrounding atmosphere, snapping up any insects which happen to pass that way. The black phoebe is of a slaty- black color, except the lower belly, which is white. It has a pleasing note and a graceful bearing. The pewee builds a cup-shaped nest, made of mud,
38
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and lined with grasses and feathers. It is stuck on the side of a barn or house under the eaves, like a swallow's nest, or it may be attached to rocks, or tree-trunks, or in tunnels, or under bridges. One of the rarer flycatchers is not uncommon in our mountains, especially in the Arroyo Seco canyon. It is a large, dark-looking bird called the olive-sided flycatcher. This bird is quite shy and hard to see, as it is usually perched on the tops of the naked dead pines high up on the mountain-side. It can easily be located, how- ever, by the loud resonant call which it constantly utters during the early morning and in the evening.
THE KINGBIRDS are familiar to the bee-ranches, as their food consists chiefly of bees. They have a very harsh note and the birds seem to be constantly quarreling with each other.
OUR ORIOLES have about the same habits as the Baltimore oriole of the East ; they are just as highly colored, and sing fully as well. The orioles here often take possession of the banana trees and palms, in which they build their nests, the palm fibres forming favorite nesting material.
THE BUTCHER-BIRD [Shrike] is more ferocious and cruel in proportion to size than any other bird. It has the well-known habit of capturing and impaling small animals or insects on sharp thorns. A few of the animals which I have found thus sticking on thorns are, wild canary (Arkansas goldfinch), western chipping sparrow, Gambel's sparrow, linnet (house finch), young chickens, mice, horned toads and other lizards, besides a large variety of insects. The butcher-bird seldom sneaks on its prey like a cat, but catches it in an open race. I have seen a butchie chase a goldfinch for fully two minutes. The goldfinch escaped through its superior ability to dodge, though the shrike could fly very much faster. I have seen a California shrike catch and carry off a Gambel's sparrow, which is a bird about seven inches long, the shrike being only eight and one-half inches in length. The butchie swooped down on the bird which was feeding in the grass, and pro- ceeded to inflict a quick succession of blows with its beak on the back of the sparrow's head. This probably stunned the sparrow, and the butchie grasped it with its claws and flew laboriously off with it. I ran after him and succeeded in frightening him into dropping his victim. On examining the sparrow I found that it was not badly hurt, but nearly scared to death. Jerusalem crickets form the bread-of-life for the butchie, though he often indulges in linnets. On the whole, this shrike does a great deal of good in killing insects.
NOTE .- For some reason Mr. Grinnell overlooked the mocking-bird, but it is too distinctive and characteristic a feature of Pasadena scenery to be left out of our bird sketch ; and here is what Van Dyke says of it :
" The sweetest of all the song-birds is the mocking-bird. In size he is about the same as the Virginia mocking-bird, a little more trimly built, and with similar colors but a little differently arranged. The tone of his voice
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is about the same, but his repertoire is much more limited. Indeed, he scarcely deserves the name of mocking-bird because he mocks nothing that is found here. His song consists of only seven or eight changes, which are always the same. But he is pretty, graceful and harmless."
It is true that our mocking-bird is not so versatile and voluble a mimic as the eastern variety, yet I am informed of instances where it has distinctly imitated or " mocked " young chickens, and a person whistling, etc. In June, 1888, I examined a nest in which a female mocking-bird was brooding two unfledged young ones: and found that the nest was made almost entirely of bits of old newspaper and writing paper. A State law prohibits the killing of these birds or robbing their nests .- ED.
COMPLETE LIST OF PASADENA NATIVE BIRDS. BY JOSEPH GRINNELL, STUDENT AT THROOP INSTITUTE.
PLUMED PARTRIDGE [mountain quail]-Oreortyx pictus plumiferas.
VALLEY PARTRIDGE [valley quail]-Callipepla californica vallicola. BAND-TAILED PIGEON [wild pigeon]- Columba fasciata.
MOURNING DOVE [turtle dove]- Zenaidura macroura.
CALIFORNIA VULTURE [California condor]- Pseudogryphus califor- nianus.
TURKEY VULTURE [turkey buzzard] Cathartes aura.
WHITE-TAILED KITE-Elanus leucurus.
MARSH HAWK - Circus hudsonius.
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK - Accipeter velox.
COOPER'S HAWK - Accipiter cooperi.
WESTERN RED TAIL [chicken hawk] - Buteo borealis calurus.
RED-BELLIED HAWK -Buteo lineatus elegans.
ZONE-TAILED HAWK - Buteo abreviatus.
SWAINSON'S HAWK [chicken hawk]- Buteo swainsoni.
FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEG - Archibuteo ferrugineus.
GOLDEN EAGLE- Aquila chrysaetos.
BALD EAGLE- Haliaetus leucocephalus.
PIGEON HAWK - Falco columbarius.
DESERT SPARROW HAWK - Falco sparverius deserticolis.
AMERICAN BARN OWL -Strix pratincola.
AMERICAN LONG-EARED OWL - Asio wilsonianus.
SHORT-EARED OWL - Asio accipitrinus.
SPOTTED OWL -Syrnium occidentale.
CALIFORNIA SCREECH OWL - Megascops asio bendirei.
WESTERN HORNED OWL- Bubo virginianus subarcticus.
BURROWING OWL [ground owl]-Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea.
CALIFORNIA PYGMY OWL- Glaucidium gnoma californicum. ROAD RUNNER - Geococcyx californianus.
CALIFORNIA CUCKOO-Coccyzus americanus occidentalis.
BELTED KINGFISHER - Ceryle alcyon.
HARRIS'S WOODPECKER - Dryobates villosus harrisii.
GAIRDNER'S WOODPECKER -Dryobates pubescens gardnerii. NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER - Dryobates nuttallii.
WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER - Xenopicus albolarvatus.
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER -Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis.
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RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER - Sphyrapicus ruber.
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER -Sphyrapicus thyroideus.
CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER - Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi.
LEWIS'S WOODPECKER - Melanerpes torquatus.
RED-SHAFTED FLICKER [yellow-hammer]-Colaptes cafer.
DUSKY POOR-WILL [California whip-poor-will] - Phalaenoptilus nut- talli californicus.
TEXAN NIGHT HAWK -Chordeiles texensis.
BLACK SWIFT-Cypseloides niger.
VAUX'S SWIFT- Chaetura vauxii.
WHITE-THROATED SWIFT- Micropus melanoleucus.
BLACK-CHINNED HUMMING BIRD - Trochilus alexandri.
COSTA'S HUMMING BIRD -Trochilus costae.
ANNA'S HUMMING BIRD-Trochilus anna.
RUFOUS HUMMING BIRD - Trochilus rufus.
ALLEN'S HUMMING BIRD - Trochilus alleni.
CALLIOPE HUMMING BIRD -Trochilus calliope. ARKANSAS KINGBIRD - Tyrannus verticalis.
CASSIN'S KINGBIRD-Tyrannus vociferans.
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER - Myiarchus cinerascens.
SAY'S PHOEBE-Sayornis saya.
BLACK PHOEBE [pewee] Sayornis nigricans.
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER - Contopus borealis.
WESTERN WOOD PEWEE-Contopus richardsonii.
WESTERN FLYCATCHER - Empidonax difficilis.
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