20 THE CONDOR VoL. XI Water Ouzel's sung in unison with the waterfalls is a blending rare of liquid notes. The ever far-away song of the Magician Thrush, secluded and solitary, rich in tone and clear as a crystal bell, gives an added depth and distance and an air of fascina- ting mystery to these great forest canyons, remembered long after, when much else is forgotten. Our ramble carried us thru the Basin to all four points of the compass, on the north to Sempervirens Camp, east to Pine Mountain, south along the Waddell and west to the head of BERRY CREEK FALLS, BIG BASIN: HOME OF WATER OUZELS? WINTER WRENS AND HERMIT THRUSHES Copyrighted favorite haunt of Water Ouzels. Berry Creek. Nor did we always follow the placarded trails but traveled numberless miles thru the unbroken wild- erness, which was often labor- ious and at times somewhat dangerous. From the top of Pine Mountain, which we ascended on June 15th, we were afforded a view of the entire region. Below the peak, running north and south, lay the great forest lands, the low ranges and valleys extending far north into San Mateo county, while on both sides of the Basin, east and west rose higher but rocky and barren mountain ranges. The trip to Berry Creek and its many waterfalls was taken on June 16th. Altho somewhat difficult, owing to the thick underbrush and pre- cipitous character of the country, we secured success- ful views of both the upper falls, Red Bank and Mossbrae, as well as the better known Berry Creek Falls, which is shown herewith. Here, amid the continuous roar of the foaming falls and the shifting clouds of spray, was ever the Perhaps the most striking feature of the bird life in this region is the great difference between the birds within the Basin and those in the more or less de- timbered country on its eastern edge. A comparison of species in both sections better illustrates this difference. These lists are arranged in order of abundance, the commonest species being number one.
