r,52 OKNITIIOLOr.Y. 



■\vuter issued from the walls at several places, and upon their borders the 

 vegetation was excessively luxuriant, in consequence of protection from 

 winds by their great distance below the general surface of the desert, .as well 

 as the constant moisture of the spot; this vegetation consisted chiefly of tall 

 title, rank grasses and sedges, and rose-briers. Elsewhere, the entire country 

 was a sandy waste, ^vitIl a scant gnnvtli of the ordinary desert shrubs, 

 which within the walls of the lake were more thrifty than elsewhere. The 

 most abundant bird of this place was a very small, and clamorous, grebe 

 (l)erhaps Podkeps call fo miens), which kept out of gunshot from the shore; 

 next in numl)ers were the Avocets [Recurvirostra amcrlcana), multitudes of 

 which ran along the beach, scooping up the dead insects which blackened 

 the water around the margin of the lake; mixed with these were a few Stilts 

 {Hii»a)itopiis mexicanus). A few pairs of Gulls {Larus cdifornieus), which 

 were nesting on a large rock away out in the lake, completed the list of 

 water-birds of this locality. Among the land-ljinls we noticed only the 

 Oreoscoptes montanus,Amphispiza hilineata, and a remarkable species, probably 

 J'hamopepla nitens, which we tried in vain to secure. 



A few rods distant was another somewhat similar, but smaller and 

 shallower, lake, where large numbers of Avocets and a few Stilts were 

 bi'ceding on the numerous islands of l)orax in the sliallow water. 



17. Sand Springs Station [J \ine 29, 18G8). — This locality is in the midst 

 of the desert, the country being extremely barren, with an immense hill of 

 shifting sand near the station. Only the ordinary desert birds were found 

 here, the following being the species: Amphispiza hilineata, Eremophda 

 a^pestris, Corvus earnivonts, Zencedura earolinensis, and Jthinognjphus aura. 



18. Fairview Fa/% (June 29, 1868). — This locality presented the usual 

 characteristics of a sage-brush valley, with no conspicuous or interesting 

 features. The entire region was so dry that water for the u.se of the station 

 jiail to l>f hauled in wagons the distance of twelve miles. The only birds 

 observed were the folU)wing: Auipldspiza bUineafa, A. ncvadcnsis, Chon- 

 destes grammaca, Eremophila alpestris, and Speotyto hypogcca. 



19. Edwards Creek (June 30, 1868). — At this camp, where there was no 

 shrubbery along the stream other than a more thrifty growth of sage-brush 



