RIDGWAY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 3^ 



to an altitude of over 9,000 feet. At the summit of this peak snow 

 may be found all the year, while at the warm springs, less than ten 

 miles away, snow is hardly seen once in a century. In fact, I know 

 of no place where strong-er climatic contrasts occur. The altitude 

 of the springs is about 100 feet, but a considerable portion of the 

 valley is below the sea-level. 



From April 20th to 23d I collected near Banning, a town near 

 the upper part of San Gorgonio Pass. It is on the eastern edge of 

 a grain-growing country and its altitude is about 2,500 feet. To 

 the North and South the hills are covered with a thick growth of 

 low bushes, leaving between them a plain, or valley, some two 

 miles wide. The road between Banning and San Bernardino passes 

 through grain fields to the top of the Pass, (Here is the town of 

 San Gorgonio, altitude 2,900 feet), thence through the San Mateo 

 canon. 



I expected to do a month's work near Yuma, Arizona, but, 

 owing to a freshet in the Colorado River, which overflowed the 

 bottom lands, I had to be content with half that time, being there. 

 from May 3d to 15th only. 



Yuma is on the Colorado River and is in the midst of a desert 

 country, barring, of course, the ever present cacti. The mesquite in 

 this country is but a scraggy tree, willows are plenty along the 

 river, but are mostly small saplings growing very thickly. There 

 are also a few cottonwoods. 



From Yuma I went to the mountains about ten miles north of 

 the Southern Pacific R. R. station of San Gorgonio and at an alti- 

 tude of 4,500 feet; here I stayed from May 25th to 31st. 



The immediate vicinity is well timbered with sycamores and 

 live oaks, with here and there a fir, while only a little higher up 

 the mountain sides is the pine belt. About a mile away and at an 

 altitude of not more than 6,500 feet, snow was seen in a few places 

 in the deep gulches (May 28th). 



From San Bernardino to Bear Valley, where I collected from 

 June 7th to 28th, the road passes through the Cajon Pass, thence 

 across the Mojave Desert to Rabbit Springs, while a little further 

 along you strike into the mountains. At Cajon Pass I stopped 

 three days (June 3rd and 4th and July 1st). 



Bear Valley is an elevated plateau two or three miles wide by 

 fifteen long and is at an altitude of from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. It is 

 surrounded by mountains from 500 to 1,000 feet higher, and is well 

 timbered with pine except through the center, which is more or 



