lU'LLHTiN Xo. :\:v 7 



iiace, for a strong wind blew off the Needles, which l(X)ked in 

 the offing like glowing coals. This wind, together with the 

 dripping water, produced a curious effect on the rousing con- 

 sciousness. Several times did I start up from a doze, pos- 

 sessed with the idea that I was in a burning building. The 

 hot air was realistic enough, and the dripping of the water on 

 the pebbles beneath did duty for crackling flames. 



In .spite of the almost intolerable heat we shall hold 

 Mellen in grateful remembrance as being the place where the 

 "life horizons" grew at the most rapid pace we had ever 

 known. An introduction to thirteen new .species inside of six 

 hours is granted only to the tyro, who doesn't know how to 

 count his mercies, or to the traveler in foreign ports. To my 

 mind there is nothing else in ornithological experience quite 

 equal to the joy of making new^ acquaintances in a new field. 

 The fresh po.s.sibilities of note and action possess an irre.sistible 

 fascination for an "old hand." 



After leaving Mellen our editor took a side trip in South- 

 ern California, of which a separate account appears in this 

 number; while I proceeded to Blaine, in Washington, where I 

 fitted out for the mountains. Mr. Jones rejoined me at Ever- 

 ett, ten days later, and we headed toward the Chelan country 

 via Wenatchee and the Columbia River route. 



If bird-gazing from a railroad train be an absorbing pas- 

 time, birding from the deck of a river steamboat is the very 

 embodiment of luxury. A Columbia River steamboat is a 

 thing S2ii ge)ie?'is, a creature of tough sinews and stubborn 

 w'ill. Our attention on the trip up the river was about equalh' 

 divided between the droves of magpies which swarm on the 

 rugged sides of the canon and the plucky steamer as she 

 .steadily fought her way up the rapids. 



The trip up Lake Chelan was less exciting as an athletic 

 feat, but the scener}' disclosed as you ascend is second to none 

 in America. Birds w^ere for the moment forgotten as we gazed 

 upon those stupendous piles of granite and porphyry amongst 

 which w^e were to spend a month. Upon landing at the head 

 of the lake we lost no time in putting the vStehekin River 

 between us and the last vestige of civilization, a trim little 

 mountain hotel called "Field's." Then we surrendered to 

 nature and her vocal interpreters. 



