COND01. Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club. A Bt-?IONTHLY EXPONENT OF CALIFORNIAN ORNITHOLOGY. VoL ?. No. 5. Santa Clara, Cal., September-October, 1900. $I.OO a Year. Probable Causes of Bird Scarcity in Parts of the Sierras AN ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHIPMUNK BY JOHN J. V?'ILLIAMS, INDEPENDENCE LAKE, CAL. [Read betbre the Northern Division of the Cooper Orn. Club, Sept. xS. OMPLYING with the request of the Club's secretary, I have gathered into readable shape all of my summer's notes on the existing causes of bird scarcity in the Lake Inde- pendence region of the Sierras, believing that similar causes are probably active in other lecalities, and will yield inter- esting results if studied more in detail. Rough- ly speaking. these causes can be classed under two heads, viz: destruction due to (I) bipeds, and (e) qu-adru- {? peds; the former to include man, the rap- tores and the Blue- fronted Jay; the latter ? to include chiefly the chipmunk. I will turn first to biped destruc- tion and briefly con- sider it, as it is the JOHN J. lesser of the two evils. The small boy with his mania for collecting or harming the nests or young of birds in this and similar sections is a rare article, scarcely to be noticed, but grown people, with the inevitable snmll caliber rifle, have in years past been important factors in bird scarcity here. However, the prac- tice has been discouraged by the man- agement within the last four years, .so that this year very few instances of the useless killing of birds have come to m.y notice, the chief one being the wanton killing of one of six sea-gulls that are found on the lake yearly. This was done by a person who believed that there was a fine for such offenses, but who, on August Ti, willfully shot one for lack of something else to shoot at. The des- truction due to raptores is in no way greater here than it is else- where, and the Blue- fronted Jay, whose bad reputation is known so well, is only infre-
quently met with, so
that he, too, need not be considered. I have no notes on the damage done by quadrupeds,.other than chipmunks, and do not believe it is greater here than in ether localities, but the follow- ing notes on the mischief done by chip- munks, while far from complete, will show in a way how great is the damage done by them yearly. During lny out- ing here in July, August and September of last year, I noticed the scarcity cf WILLIAMS
