The San Francisco call., 1897-01-31

@SLIMBING among the hills, this
ASSx morning, l came suddenly, in field
@j skirting an upland orchard, upon
vast flock of goldfnches. AS matter OF
fact, I never before saw quae such an as
semblage OF small birds. There must
have been a thousand of the feathered
morsels, teetering upon tall grassblades,
hanging. head downward from the dried
stalks Of last years thistles, swinging on
the full-fowered mustard, never still any
where-the goldtinch rarely is still.
Upon my approach they arose in the air,
| fairly darkening the sky, and settled upon
the bare branches of the fruit-trees just
| over the fence 1t was as if the orchard
had suddenly burst into a mass of yellow
blossoms. Twittering there on the bare
limbs, the little creatures really looked
| more like flowers than birds.
sank upon the grass and watched them
| in delight. They were in all states OF plum
age, but comparatively few had their full
spring suit of yellow and olive, black and
white, and these shone bravely among
| their soberer-hued fellows.
| As soon as 1 became quiet few ven-
tured down to the thistles again, and
presently the flock was pouring earth
ward, jumping, tum bling, spilling-it
fairly rained goldfinches ali about me.
could almost have put my hands upon
one or two venturesome sprites who
swung close beside me; but l sat motion
! less. knowing that to stir would be to see
tie whole flock speed away.
But what good time they were having !
Every now and then something would
| happen 10 set them off in twitter of fun.
| The thistle stalk where two swung sud-
| denly broke and the whole congreg alton
| burst into a chorus of derisiYe cries that
sounded like per-chickl per-chick-ee! de-
livered upon the wing as they balanced
about, flying with little quick, soaring
motion, in a sort of waved line that is
characteristic of this bird.
1t did not take much to throw them in
to convulsions of glee, any more than it
does crowd of schoolboys or band of
young colts. The Growing of cock in
barnyard below sent the flock into per-
feet shrieks of ornithological laughter,
ana they had any number of jokes among
themselves. They laughed at the blue sky
arching above, at the green biilows rolling
away down the hills, and their golden
mirth filled all the space between. Their
performance was nothing unusual in bird
doings. They were young. and 1 suppose
everything looked funny TO them, just as
| it does to all youth and innocence. Stu
dents of natural history tell US that not
even young hyenas play, and the ant, of
whom the wise man bids the sluggard
learn, has no moments of recreation, but
with these exceptions all the dumb crea-
lures have their ideas of sport, and enter
into it with the zest and abandon of young
children. The birds in particular are full
of play. Thei uncos that come about my
door for their daily bread play game
among the willows that is singularly like
the children's game of tag. They start
with rush from the upper bank of the
canyon, dodging and twisting among the
trees until ene who seems purposely to
have Jagged behind suddenly swoops down
| and overtakes one among the throng. who
in turn falls back while the others get
little start. and then fees in pursuit.
Only day or two ago l came upon a
red-headed woodpecker drilling a hole
in redwood tree. He flew off as l came
near and l stopped to examine his work.
l had never before seen it at Just th at
stage of incompleteness, and the cutting