THE COAST AT MONTEREY 



A variety of causes has made Monterey famous among 

 students of Pacific Coast bird-life. Monterey Bay, a broad 

 arm of the sea, is at certain seasons frequented by many 

 kinds of water birds, including such pelagic species as the 

 Short-tailed Albatross, Fulmars, and Shearwaters. Pond- 

 dotted marshes with inflowing streams, meadows, deciduous 

 woodlands, suggestive of a more eastern landscape, and a 

 forest of IVIonterey pines, also help to induce the presence of 

 a large and varied avifauna. 



The pine forest is a distinctive feature of the land im- 

 mediately bordering the sea; in places, great dunes of 

 gleaming white sand being blown into the edge of the woods. 



The success of this coniferous growth is due to the low 

 average summer temperature, occasioned by the prevalence 

 of fogs at that season. To the same cause may be attri- 

 buted the nesting here of many species which one would not 

 expect to find breeding at sea-level in this latitude. Among 

 them are forms of Steller's Jay {Cyanocitta stelleri car- 

 honacc(i) ; White-crowned Sparrow {Zonotrichia leucophrys 

 gamheli) ; Thurber's or Sierra Junco, {J unco hy emails 

 pinosus) ; Chestnut-backed Chickadee, {Penthestes rufes- 

 cens barlowi) ; a west coast representative of the Hud- 

 sonian Chickadee; Winter Wren, {Troglodytes hiemalis 

 ^aci'^c^/s); Olive-backed Thrush, {Hylocichla ustulata) and 

 Hermit Thrush, {Hylocichla guttata sleveni.) 



At Pacific Grove, a mile beyond Monterey station, one 

 may hire a tent-house virtually in the pine forest, a large 

 tract of which is preserved by a local land company. The 

 student of birds with a field glass and camera, will therefore 

 find awaiting him an attractively situated camp and excep- 

 tionally favorable conditions under which to pursue his 

 investigations. 



