Now and again one will see a flock of English sparrows, and the
sweet-voiced song-sparrow endeavors to make up for the vulgarity of
its English cousin by the delicate softness of its peculiar song.

Others of the family are the two purple finches (reddish birds), the
pine-finch, very plain and streaked, the green-tailed towhee, with its
cat-like call, and the white-crowned sparrow,--its sweetly melancholy
song, "Oh, dear me," in falling cadence, is heard in every Sierran
meadow.

The mountain song-sparrow, western lark, western chipping-fox,
gold-finch, and house- and cassin-finches are seen. The fly-catchers
are omnipresent in August, though their shy disposition makes them
hard to identify. Hammond, olive-sided and western pewee are often
seen, and at times the tall tree-tops are alive with kinglets.

Some visitors complain that they do not often see or hear the
warblers, but in 1905, one bird-lover reported seven common
representatives. She says:

The yellow bird was often heard and seen in the willows along
the Lake. Late in August the shrubs on the shore were alive
with the Audubon group, which is so abundant in the vicinity
of Los Angeles all winter. Pileolated warblers, with rich
yellow suits and black caps, hovered like hummers among the
low shrubs in the woods. Now and then a Pacific yellow-throat
sang his bewitching "wichity wichity, wichity, wee." Hermit
and black-throated gray warblers were also recorded. The
third week in August there was an extensive immigration of
Macgillivray warblers. Their delicate gray heads,
yellow underparts, and the bobbing movement of the tail,
distinguished them from the others.

The water ouzel finds congenial habitat in the canyons of the Tahoe
region, and the careful observer may see scores of them as he walks
along the streams and by the cascades and waterfalls during a summer's
season. At one place they are so numerous as to have led to the naming
of a beautiful waterfall, Ouzel Falls, after them. Another bird is
much sought after and can be seen and heard here, perhaps as often
as any other place in the country. That is the hermit thrush, small,
delicate, grayish, with spotted breast. The shyness of the bird is
proverbial, and it frequents the deepest willow and aspen thickets.
Once heard, its sweet song can never be forgotten, and happy is he who
can get near enough to hear it undisturbed. Far off, it is flute-like,