DESOllIPTION OF CAMPS. 353 



and grease-wood than that elsewhere upon the plain, only the following 

 species of birds were observed : Oreoscoptes niontanus, SpizeUa breweri, and 

 Speotyto hypogeea. 



20. Humboldt Matshes, near.the " Sink" {Altitude, 3,893 feet; August 26- 

 October 31, 1867). — Although a week was spent at this camp, the state 

 of our health permitted the use of but one day for collecting, which is much 

 to be regretted, since we have never seen another locality where water-fowl 

 so abounded. The writer was a victim of malarial fever, which was only 

 aggravated by the nature of the sm-roundings. The marshes were miles in 

 extent and almost entirely covered by a dense gi-owth of tide, except where 

 the river meandered tlu'ough, now and then expanding into a small lake. 

 These marshes were surrounded by a bare plain, consisting in the winter 

 season of mud, but at this time baked perfectly dry and hard by the heat 

 of the sun, except in the more depressed portions, which were covered by a 

 deep deposit of snow-white "alkali." From these extensive flats, desert plains 

 lead away to the barren mountains on either side, whose summits are bare 

 and rugged eruptive rocks, of weird forms and strange colors. Upon the 

 whole, the entire region was one of the most desolate and forbidding that 

 could be imagined, and in these respects is probably not surpassed by any 

 other portion of the land of "alkali" and the "everlasting sage-brush." The 

 effluvium from the putrid water and decaying vegetation of the marshes 

 was at times sickening, while at night the torments of millions of the most 

 voracious mosquitoes added to the horrors of the place.' The land-birds of 

 this desolate locality were very few, a solitary raven, hoarsely croaking, 

 being now and then seen winging his way to or from the distant mountains, 

 an occasional Desert Lark [Eremophila chrijsdmma) in the scanty sage-brush 

 or on the bare plain, or a few Savanna Sparrows in the salt-grass of the 

 meadows, comprising all that were seen. The water-fowl, however, were 

 extremely numerous, and consisted of many species, of which the following 

 wei-e identified: Tringa bairdi, T. minutilla, Ereunetes pusiUns, Symphemia 

 semipalmata, Recurvirostra americana, Himantopus mexicanus, FaldneUus 



' Tlie reader may be surprised, if not iiicredulons, wlieii toltl tliat the inosqiiitoes 

 and otIuT insects sometimes came in such swarms about the caudles in the canii» as to 

 extiuguish the lights in a few niomentsl 

 23 p R 



