THE CONDOR Vol. III Cassin's Vireo and others. A magnificent specimen of the Cali- fornia vulture was seen at the outlet of this canyon where it broadens into the head of the San Joaquin valley. He came down the canyon some 6oo feet in the air, the white of his outstretched wings shining like silver. Making a couple of circles for our benefit he rounded the eastern spur and disap- peared. The vaqueros on this ranch of forty miles square say that at times they see numbers of them about dead cattle. With food plentiful and shooting abso- lutely prohibited, as it is on this ranch, it is hoped that this may prove to be a vast preserve for the perpetuation of this our grandest species. We encountered Mexican horned larks again in numbers about the head of the San Joaquin valley, but they disappeared as we entered the irriga- tion district about Bakersfield, where for twenty-five to forty miles the semi- desert country has been made to bloom. This transformation has, of course, changed the whole fauna as well. Noisy Arkansas king-birds are on every fence and cottonwood, song sparrows and valley partridges about every Clump. In driving at night to avoid the heat, we were often greeted with strange voices and notes. Killdeer would fly from roadside puddles, barn owls from -the fences, and herons flash in the moonlight as we rumbled across bridges over the irrigation ditches. We are fairly familiar with the day habits of our common birds but how little we know of the interesting period between sunset and sunrise. Leaving the ?alley beyond Visalia we strike right up the North Fork of the Kaweah river, crossing the Marble Fork of that stream and enter the Giant Forest in the Sequoia National Park. One could hardly imagine a greater change in flora and fauna than here exists. Guns are not allowed in the park, but the military officers in charge ex- tend every courtesy to bonafide stu- dentsand scientists. We were given a letter by the commanding officer to all guards and patrols to extend to us every possible courtesy, and permission to carry our guns unsealed through the parks, but not to be used for game shooting. Our whole stay was marked by extreme courtesy and helpfulness on the part of officers and patrols. Many of the sequoia are perforated for woodpecker's nests, the holes how- ever not reaching through the bark, and in nearly. every instance being located on the north or shady side of the tree. Along the ridges on the slopes of the western divide we met with half grown sooty grouse, the old birds flying into the trees, followed by the young. At about the same eleva- tion, 8o0o to 9o0o feet, I saw broods in the canyons along the edges of mead- ows. They were very tame allowing me to stand under the tree when they were standing rigidly upon a limb fifteen feet above. On Bubb's Creek an old hen and half a dozen one-third grown chicks hung about the meadow all one Sun- day and we took much interest in her motherly solicitude. That evening a couple of young fellows out of supplies came down the canyon and we gave them of our store and they left. A few nfinutes later we heard the report of a gun and one of them returned and of- fered us the mother bird, in gratitude for our treatment, but none of us had the heart to accept it. What became of the brood of chicks I know not for we broke camp next morning at day- light. Incidents of this kind show that much damage is done by thoughtless persons. At Lake Reflection and Bullfrog Lake Clarke's nutcrackers, in pairs, showed much distress, although we could find no nests or young about. The gray-crowned leucostictes were common in both localities and very tame, and had the habit noted at Mt. Whitney of gleaning humbed insects
