314 Botany of Mariposa. [zoe 



ground, from four to even fifty feet. The materials used are prickly or 

 viscid. The fruit and leaves of some of the members of the Borage 

 family have the preference, together with the leaves and down of 

 species of Gnaphalium, all being bound together by spiders' web; 

 the interior of the nest is thinly lined with bits of wool, hair, and 

 down. When completed the nest is fragile, and not sufificient to sup- 

 port the rapidly growing young, and if not placed on a good sup- 

 port, is very liable to give way, and endanger its inmates to the per- 

 ils of a fall. 



The eggs are two (trequently), three (usually), or four (rarely), 

 in number. The mates take turns in the act of incubation. The 

 young are abundantly fed on the berries of Rha^nnus crocea, Rhus 

 laurma, and near to and within the coniferous belt upon the fruit of 

 Rkammis Calif ornica. When disturbed the young birds disgorge 

 the ingesta. The food of the adults consists of berries and insects, 

 and they are beneficial rather than injurious about orchards. 



MARIPOSA COUNTY AS A BOTANICAL DISTRICT. 



IV. 



BY J. W. CONGDOM. 

 THE SUBALPIN~E REGION. 



We have now reached that portion of our county which forms in 

 summer by far its most pleasant and beautiful region. It consists of 

 several uneven plateaus lying between the higher ridges of the 

 mountains and also includes the tops of the lower ridges. While 

 the sides of the mountains up to the limit of tree growth and much 

 of the more level ground are covered with heavy timber, there are, 

 along the water courses, many large open natural meadows where 

 the luxuriant grass, mingled with numberless flowers of varied and 

 beautiful hues, form in this State almost our only representatives of 

 the luxuriant meadows of the east. 



The altitude of this region varies from 4,000 to 8,500 feet, thus 

 including all the lower and wooded mountains, and it extends up the 

 higher ones to the upper limit of trees, which is usually about 8,000 

 feet or a little more. 



