itrij.ivTix .\(i. :v.i 21 



the distance and the time over the Great Northern, l)oth east 

 and west. As each forward and backward switch brought the 

 summit nearer, the air became sharp and the lights in the 

 valley far below were a cluster of dots about the tunnel's 

 mouth. 



Once out upon the surging, boiling waters of the Colum- 

 bia, swinging from bank to bauk, away from the tortuous 

 currents, birds agaiu became the absorbing interest. The 

 Red-breasted Mergansers were unwilling to leave the water, but 

 literally flew through it in their haste to get away. Perhaps 

 it would be nearer fact if I .should say that they ran on all 

 fours over the water. One got the impression that they used 

 their wings alternately instead of .simultaneou.sly, but that 

 may have been an optical illusion. In either ca.se they were 

 making no effort to rise above the water, for they ran across 

 the whole width of the river in this way. 



It would, perhaps, have been fairer to separate the Co- 

 lumbia River horizon from the Lake Chelan hori/.on, since we 

 spent one afternoon on the shore of this beautiful lake, and 

 one morning with a whole day between ; but the physical con- 

 ditions were so similar that the horizons would have been 

 materiall}- the same. Indeed, Lake Chelan owes its existence 

 to the terrace of the Columbia which chokes the mouth of the 

 great gorge in which the lake lies. The larger and older river 

 has scoured out a valley upon which the debris of the tow-er- 

 ing mountains finds a resting place, but along the course of 

 the lake the only habitable .spots have been built up by the 

 detritus at the mouths of the side canons. But for these side 

 canons with their streams of ice water, it would be a perfectly 

 walled lake on each side, with walls towering to thousands of 

 feet above water level and with their foundations 2(>()() feet 

 below. Birds were not numerous here, yet they were in evi- 

 dence ever}' where. 



Columbia River and Lake Chelan, Wash., July 1'^, !!•. -!<>. 



Loon. Say's Plutbe. 



Bonaparte's Ciiill. American ]\Iaj<pie. 



Red-breasted Merijanser. American Crow. 



Great Blue Heron. Bullock's (Oriole. 



Spotted Sandpiper. Western Meadowlark. 



K'illdeer. Brewer's Blackbird. 



