1913] Grinnell-Swarth : Birds and Mammals of San Jacinto 209 



Vallevista 



Our camp at this point, the one Lower Sonoran station 

 worked on tlic Pacific side of the mountains, was at the base of 

 the hills, and at the edge of the wash extending from Bautiste 

 Creek, about a mile southwest of the little settlement of Valle- 

 vista. Here was an extensive area covered with the Lower Son- 

 oran chaparral once so characteristic of the southern California 

 valleys, and now so nearly disappeared through the clearing and 

 cultivation of the land. The gravelly mesa for an area several 

 miles square was grown up with disconnected but luxuriant 

 patches of brush, composed largely of sumac, white sage, wild 

 buckwheat, elder and cactus, with an occasional Cottonwood tree, 

 and. toward the hills. ;i few live oaks. From the edge of this 

 brush land stubble fields extended for miles, to give place in 

 their turn to the extensive orchards about the towns of Hemet 

 and Vallevista. 



This proved to be an interesting spot in several respects, for 

 besides being the only Lower Sonoran locality that we visited 

 on the west side of the San Jacinto Mountains, and hence supply- 

 ing much needed data regarding the distribution of animal life 

 in the region, we found here certain species of mammals, birds, 

 and reptiles characteristic of the same zone on the desert side. 

 but, except in rare and isolated instances, not known to range 

 west of the mountains. 



We remained here from Augusl 29 to September 5. 



( Jabezon 



At the northern base of the San .Jacinto Mountains lies San 

 Gorgonio Pass, which joins the low coastal valleys with the desert 

 plains to the eastward and separates the San Jacinto and San 

 Bernardino mountain ranges. As it is one of the few low imps 

 pierciim the mountains, it is a great highway for migrating birds 

 passing through the region; and while, from its low elevation, it 

 serves as a point of junction for the widely different Sonoran 

 faunas of the desert and coast regions, it is also an effective 

 barrier between the higher zones of the mountains on either side. 

 These various considerations made it desirable that careful ob- 



