pure and penetrating, though not loud. Gradually it softens until it
sounds but as the faintest of tinkling bell-like notes, which die away
leaving one with the assurance that he has been hearing the song
of the chief bird of the fairies, or of birds which accompany the
heavenly lullabies of the mother angels putting their baby angels to
sleep.

Cliff-swallows often nest on the high banks at Tahoe City, and a few
have been seen nesting under the eaves of the store on the wharf. The
nests of barn swallows also have been found under the eaves of the
ice-house.

Nor must the exquisite hummers be overlooked. In Truckee Canyon, and
near Tahoe Tavern they are quite numerous. They sit on the telephone
wires and try to make you listen to their pathetic and scarcely
discernible song, and as you sit on the seats at the Tavern, if you
happen to have some bright colored object about you, especially red,
they will flit to and fro eagerly seeking for the honey-laden flower
that red ought to betoken.

Several times down Truckee Canyon I have seen wild canaries. They are
rather rare, as are also the Louisiana tanager, most gorgeous of all
the Tahoe birds, and the black-headed grosbeak.

Of the wrens, both the rock wren and the canyon wren are occasionally
seen, the peculiar song of the latter bringing a thrill of cheer to
those who are familiar with its falling chromatic scale.

Then there is the merry chick-a-dee-dee, the busy creepers, and the
nut-hatches hunting for insects on the tree trunks.

The harsh note of the blue jay is heard from Tahoe Tavern, all around
the Lake and in almost every wooded slope in the Sierras. He is a
noisy, generally unlovable creature, and the terror of the small birds
in the nesting season, because of his well-known habit of stealing
eggs and young. At Tahoe Tavern, however, I found several of them that
were shamed into friendliness of behavior, and astonishing tameness,
by the chipmunks. They would come and eat nuts from my fingers, and
one of them several times came and perched upon my shoulder. There is
also the grayish solitaire which looks very much like the mockingbird
of less variable climes.

The foregoing account of the birds, which I submitted for revision to
Professor Peter Frandsen, of the University of Nevada, called forth
from him the following:

I have very little to add to this admirable bird account.
Besides the gulls, their black relatives, the swallow-like
ter