Nov., 1908 FROM BIG CREEK TO BIG BASIN ?1 trilled among the orchard trees or HouseFinches (Carpodacus mexicanusfronlalis) made merry along the ridge of the hotel roof, I could faintly hear songs from the realm of the Western Winter Wren and Monterey Hermit Thrush in the dark, wooded canyon below. While returning Ewald rather surprised us by naming forty-five different trees and plants in the canyons and by the erudite way in which he discoursed on the properties of spigmint, yerba santos and other herbs. At noon on June 12, after the meal prepared by Oscar which made up in quantity what it lacked in courses, he escorted us some distance up the road where he took leave after giving some farewell advice on roads and trails. A rocky ridge of shale, sparsely covered with brush, rises above the northern end of the dam. On these rocky ridges birdlife is almost nil and no bird songs are heard except the occasional twittering-ery of some lonely, forlorn Wren-tit. The road, dusty and dazzling white, reflected the light and heat of a torrid sun and caused us to gaze longingly to the north where the timber lands again ap- peared. After several miles we reached a range of moun- tains covered with oak and other timber but with no red- woods or spruce altho we were a thousand feet higher in ele- vation than the Big Creek Summit; but as Joseph Grin- nell has already noted, this condition is not unusual along the coast, where the Upper Sonoran Zone is frequently found above the Transition. Orchards and many farms lie along the summit plateau of the Ben Lomond Mountains [ , and at times the bird-life formed a rather curious corn- NESTING SITE OF WESTERN W'INTER WREN IN RED%VOOD LOG bination of both zones. As a further illustration compare typical species found here at an altitude ranging from 2000 to 2500 feet with those noted at Big Creek Summit among the redwoods, ele- vation 1000 to 1500 feet. BIG CREEK BIRDS: HUMID TRANSITION' ZONE Coast Jay ( Cyanocilla stelleri carbonacea) Santa Cruz Chickadee (Penlhesles rufescens barlowi) Golden Pileotated Warbler ( l?7sonia pusilla chryseola) Western Winter Wren (B?znnus hiemalls pacificus) Brewer Blackbird ( Euphagus cyanocephaltts) Red-shafted Flicker ( Colapies caret collaris) Olive-sided Flycatcher (Conlopus borealis) Western Wood Pewee ( Conlopus richardsoni richardsoni) Vaux Swift (Chcetura z,auxi) California Quail ( Lophortyx californicus californicus) Point Pinos Junco (Junco hyemalis pinosus) Russet-backed Thrush ( tfylocichla uslulala ttsgulala) Monterey Hermit Thrush ( tfyloc[chla gullala slevini)
