26 THE CONDOR VoL. XII Moffat, greasewood or chico (Sarcobalus) began to appear; below Moffat it in many places entirely replaced the other shrub. At Moffat we came to the artesian well belt, where every ranch boasts its own artesian well. I cannot say I cared much for the water at most of these wells, for it was usually strongly charged with sulphur, smelling strongly of H2S. However, even sulphur water beats going without, and has the reputation of being healthy. But the mules turned up their noses at it, and would hardly taste it. At Moffat the wind was blowing a gale, and there were but few birds about, and especially few, as immediately about the town, near which we camped so as to have the benefit of one of the aforesaid'wells, there was but little brush, it being mostly grass land. At Moffat I took my first specimen of the San Luis Pocket Gopher, Thornornys talpoides agreslis, recently described by Merriam from a type taken by Merritt Gary at the Medano ranch; and on the way to Hooper the next day the first Gary's Chipmunks were seen, also described by Merriam from type taken at the same lo- cality as the gopher. But of these I secured no specimens that day; they were the liveliest things of the sort I ever ran across, and almost invariably took to their heels as soon as the wagon hove in sight, and disappeared in the brush. Gary had written me that he had instructed his namesakes to keep out of the way of all collectors, and I could well believe it from their actions. From .Moffat to Hooper and Mosca, at which latter place we arrived at noon of the 17th, we had the same sandy soil, and greasewood and rabbit brush, with a cer- tain amount of cultivated land, mostly between Hooper and Mosca. The charac- teristic birds of this region were Sage Thrashers and Brewer's Sparrows, as well as Horned Larks. The morning of the 18th we drove to the lakes, making camp about noon near a small lake a few hundred yards north of the large or San Luis Lake. There was an artesian well here with water which did not have quite as much sulphur as some of them. Here we stayed until the morning of the 21st, and explored the country about the lakes. It is certainly a peculiar place in some ways. There are low sandy hills all about, and among these are the lakes, many of them so hidden that one is not aware of their presence until he comes upon them sudden- ly on going over one of these hills. Even the large lake, a mile or more in length, and half as wide, is thus hidden from most points. Its shores were barren and sandy, and it was not much frequented by 'the water birds, though there were al- ways some there. The small lakes and ponds scattered about here and there were those most frequented by the waterfowl, though I must say that we were rather disappointed on the whole with the number of such birds seen, for we had expected a much greater amount of life of this sort. However; we spent one or two after- noons, or portions thereof, with much interest, watching birds about the water. Some of the small ponds were partly dried up, and showed much alkali about their shores, others had but little. Outsid? of the water birds, not many birds were found here. The morning of the 21st, we moved camp to the Medano Ranch, a few miles away, and still in the lake region, and remained here until July 5. This ranch is owned by a company, and has a very large acreage, several square miles I should think, and is entirely devoted to hay. The meadows, at the time we were there, were mostly being irrigated, and were alive with mosquitos, which were also abundant about the houses and camp; and, to make things a little more interesting, there were swarms of little gn.ats almost too small to see, and horseflies altogether too easy to see, and to feel when they tried to bite a chunk out of one's face or hand. And the sun shining on the light-colored sandy soil made it so hot that our faces burnt and peeled. Verily, the life of a naturalist in the field is not always a happy one !
