110 



THE OOLOGIST 



Collecting In British Columbia 

 J. A. Munro 



(Continued from the June Oologist) 



We stopped to talk with a "Klutch- 

 man" who was making buckskin by 

 the roadside. She posed for lier photo- 

 graph and then told us the story of her 

 life. Her man was "long time mem- 

 loos," her neighbors were "masatche 

 siwash," "ola time chaco, cop-su- 

 walak" all her grub, and so on. 



(Her husband was long time dead, 

 her neighbors were bad Indians, come 

 all the time and steal all her grub). 



Camped in a downpour of rain, in a 

 patch of sage-brush and spent the bal- 

 ance of the afternoon, skinning birds 

 and picking wood-ticks off our necks. 

 This valley is higher than the Okana- 

 gan and the migration is not as far ad- 

 vanced. 



April 26. Broke camp in the morn- 

 ing and went back through the Green 

 Mountain Pass to the Okanagan; 

 turned south on the Fairview Road 

 and camped on a back-water of the 

 Okanagan River, close to Vaseaux 

 Lake. We have a fine level camping- 

 ground, under a clump of huge yellow 

 pines. The ground slopes gently 

 do'w^ to the slough; on the east side 

 is as wide expanse of brown tules,then 

 the ^iver, and far beyond, snow-topped 

 mountains. A few hundred yards 

 south is Vaseaux Lake, the shores tule 

 fringed. It is warmer here and birds 

 are plentiful. Sandhill Cranes (Grus 

 mexicana) were heard flying over. 

 Several mated pairs of Canada Geese 

 were standing motionless on a sand- 

 bar on the shore of the lake and pheas- 

 ants were screeching in the brush. 

 Two Greater Yellowlegs, the first of 

 the season stood thigh deep at the 

 edge of the slough and the first Tur- 

 key Buzzards were seen, soaring 

 specks against the blue sky. April 

 27. Cold north wind and rain. We 

 found a derelict punt; anchored firm- 



ly in the mud, with the seams caulked 

 by a luxuriant growth of grass and 

 weeds. It was an engineering feat to 

 get her in the water, but we managed 

 to do so finally, and pushed across the 

 shallow end of the lake and into the 

 slough, using narrow boards for 

 paddles. Some misguided enthusiast 

 introduced carp into Osooyos Lake, 

 some years ago and now they swarm 

 everywhere. Okanagan Falls stopped 

 their spread to the north for some 

 time, but a few have got over the ob- 

 struction and reached the southern 

 end of Okanagan Lake. The shallows 

 seemed alive with these spawning fish, 

 the surface boiling and broken into 

 hundreds of concentric rings, by their 

 splashing and turning-; one couM foul- 

 hook a fish at nearly every cast with 

 a devon. Large mouth black bass, al- 

 so spawning, had their nests along the 

 edge of the slough; they are in the 

 same category as the carp here, and 

 are not protected. We killed a two 

 and a half pound fish for our supper. 

 Western Tule Wrens, clinging to 

 the tall brown tules, sang in jerky, 

 estatic bursts of melody; Holboell's 

 Grebe, far out in the lake, were call- 

 ing in chorus, and at a distance their 

 combined voices suggested a pack of 

 coyotes. A beautiful adult male 

 Marsh Hawk flying low over the tules, 

 beating up and down the slough, 

 methodically covering his hunting 

 ground came in gunshot and paid the 

 penalty of his rashness. Examination 

 showed a few brown juvenal feathers 

 on the back and flanks and led to 

 speculation as to whether the hawk 

 moults directly from the brown juve- : 

 nal plumage into the fully adult blue l 

 plumage or whether there is an inter- 

 mediate stage. Juvenals taken in 

 March are sometimes paler than are 

 the rich brown young of the year, but 

 this paleness is possibly due to wear. 

 1- Small bands of Coats (Felica ameri- 



