THE CONDOR [ Vol. II naming them,--quite as much as against it.
The pleasantest days I have spent
since ?876 have been in the mountains of Central California. Since that time I have been in these mountain? the most of each summer. I couple deer, grouse and quail hunting with bird study. At first I tried to connect botany with ornithology, but I could not look on the ground for plants and in the trees for birds at the same time. The ornithologist should, however, know the prominent plants at least. During my rambles I have noticed the hardiness of some of our mountain annual plants. I have seen the mercury down to 22 degrees on two successive mornings and no trace of frost afterward, except that a few of the tenderest ferns were killed. I suppose this may be owing to dry air and cool nights, the latter preventing the rapid growth and consequent ten- derness of kindred plants grown where both days and nights are warm. The first eggs I collected were about on a par with my first bird skins. I picked a hole in each end with a pin, never having seen or heard of egg drills and blow-pipes. Eggs of Town- send's Solitaire and others quite as choice were thus punctured. I believe I took the first eggs of the Solitaire, which were sent to the National Mu- seum. The nest is composed almost wholly of pine needles and can readily be distinguished from any other nest of the Sierras. It is usually on the ground, but I have seen one in a hole in a stump about a foot from the ground.
Perhaps there is no part of the world
more interesting than the high Sierras of Central California. Neither Heer- mann, Gambel or Xantus explored them. Mr. Bell got the Round-headed Woodpecker in Calaveras or Tuolumne county, but this he could have done at an altitude of 250o feet or less in win- ter. Prior to ?876 these mountains had hardly been touched by the ornitholo- gist, the route immediately along the Central Pacific Railroad and about Lake Tahoe being the only parts that had been visited. Considerable work had been! done south of Tehachapi; Newberry had followed the Sacramento river to the Klamath Lakes and north- ward and Capt. Feilner had collected at Fort Crook and about Mt. Shasta, but the mountains in the central part of the state had been neglected. If any of the young ornithologists of this state have not visited these moun- tains in summer they should miss no op- portunity to do so. My most interest- ing observations have been those of evenings and moonlight nights in some secluded part of the forest where large game was abundant. I have often heard the Pygmy Owl, which Mr. Ridg- way correctly says is diurnal and crep- uscular and have quite as often heard the Flammulated Owl, which is strictly nocturnal and hard to get. I have only taken one specimen. The Western Barred Owl has never ceased to inter- est me, for it is quite familiar and seems to have a fondness for lalkin? back/ By imitating its shrieks and dog-like barkings, I seldom fail to get a re- sponse. I have severaltimes been near panthers when they screamed and [ can say positively that the Sierra pan- ther does scream, although the panther o'f. the Adirondacks is said to be a silent animal, while that of the Cape region also screams. One screamed near our camp one night and our pack mule was so badly frightened that it rushed hur- riedly to the camp-fire for protection. One night at the Calaveras Big Trees a panther gave several loud screams which were followed by low chest growls. Immediately every animal about the place was silent, although previously about two dozen bells on sheep and cattle in 'the corral had been tinkling, and a dozen ormore horses on a
board floor had been continually stamp-
ing. But the panther silenced every bell and hoof, and the silence continued several minutes. I have seen a year- ling deer crouch motionless fully half an hour after a panther screamed about one hundred yards away. I was sitting in the bushes near a deer lick and the deer was about twenty-five feet from me. The panther probably catches fawns and young deer by terrifying them. I have caught fawns by yelling at them. The high Sierras have been explored but little in winter. I have been in the lower edge of the fir or pine belt
