8 



THE OOLOGIST 



Flicker and Pigny Nuthatch were 

 found with young. In the afternoon 

 we blew eggs. In the evening I visit- 

 ed the warbler's nest found yesterday, 

 and found that the eggs were destroy- 

 ed, the work of Chipmunks, I think. 



Having made arrangements to 

 spend a few days around Pyramid 

 Peak we got away at 6 this morning 

 and were driven ten miles out to the 

 foot of the hills; it was very cold 

 and we did not object to the chance 

 to walk. A walk of one hour brought 

 us to the summit, 7200 feet altitude, 

 and though we had gone up over 1000 

 feet the grade is so gradual that one 

 does not notice the climb. As we 

 sat down to rest a Sooty Grouse flew 

 across the road and I thus made the 

 acquaintance of a bird heretofore un- 

 known to me. Working along the road 

 slowly and looking into all likely 

 places we discovered several nests 

 of the Robin and Chippy, and Ray 

 found a nest of the Sierra Hermit 

 Thrush with three fresh eggs. By 

 12:15 we were at Echo, where we had 

 lunch and were shown a trail over 

 the hills which would save us some 

 fifteen miles walking to reach our des- 

 tination. 



This trail led up to the steep hills 

 and as the day was very warm I here 

 had one of the hardest trips that I had 

 to make. The sun beat unmercifully 

 down on us and as there were no trees 

 of any size about, we kept climbing 

 till we reached the top, where a nice 

 strearh of fine clear water was found. 

 After a long rest we resumed our jour- 

 ney and by 5 p. m. we were at Forni's. 

 I might here state that Forni's is a 

 summer ranch of one of the dairies 

 from the valley; they drive the cattle 

 up here about the last of June and 

 make butter, taking the cows back as 

 the snows begin to fall. 



The houses are left with plenty of 

 bedding, etc., and here one finds prac- 



tically all the comforts of home. There 

 is a meadow of about one hundred 

 acres surrounding the dairy and here 

 the cattle find green pasture. The 

 spring mattress that I had here to 

 sleep on certainly seemed good to me 

 and I lost no time in falling asleep. 



Around the houses we found White- 

 crowned Sparrows rather common, and 

 in the trees about we found Sapsuck- 

 ers. Woodpeckers, Finches, etc. 



Though the altitude was much high- 

 er here than at the Lake the weather 

 did not seem nearly as cold and at 7 a. 

 m., the theremometer registered but 

 4.5 degrees. 



The top of Pyramid peak was our 

 objective point this morning, and leav- 

 ing the cabin early we were on our 

 way. We spent some time after a nest 

 of the Audubons Warbler which was 

 20 feet up in the outer limbs of a 

 large tree and had two fresh eggs. 

 Further up the hillside I saw a Mt. 

 Bluebird fly from a hole in a dead stub 

 and as it was impossible to get it with- 

 out some sort Of a ladder, we spent 

 some time trying to find a dead stub 

 that would answer, but none were to 

 be had; however, a small pine stood 

 near, and though it was ten inches in 

 diameter. I wanted that nest and chop- 

 ped it down with a hatchet, trimming 

 it up we had some trouble to take it 

 up the hill, for one soon tires in this 

 altitude, about 8000 feet. 



We got the nest and a set of five 

 eggs incubated one half. A little fur- 

 ther up the snow began to appear in 

 large patches and as we got higher 

 Clark's Nutcrackers were common. 

 Here in some patches of vines I saw a 

 pair of Green-tailed Towhees, but birds 

 were not common. The climb to the 

 ])eak from this side is not hard and 

 we were on top about 10 a. m. 



After looking over the records of 

 the Sierra club we ate our lunch and 

 began looking about for the Gray- 



