37$ Grinnell, Summer Birds of Mount Pinos, Cal. \o^ 



flight. Long Island Sound must have been distinctly visible from 

 the greater elevation, and from the lower only the Quinnipiac 

 River and Marshes, and possibly New Haven harbor, and all at 

 the greater height were flying west, and those at the lower, north. 

 Interesting in this connection was the change in direction of flight 

 from south to west observed in the Tree Swallows on Oct. 22, 

 1904, as the reed-beds on the Quinnipiac Marshes, where they 

 had probably spent the previous night, are almost directly north, 

 and the Sound would not have been visible until they reached the 

 height of the hill. 



To my mind the only explanation of the direction of flight so 

 invariably noticed is that the birds flying west were guiding them- 

 selves by the coast line, and that those flying north, which includes 

 most of the smaller species, had been deflected from their course 

 by New Haven harbor. This they must have seen while flying 

 west near the coast at a low elevation, turned north to avoid it, 

 and followed up the valley east of the trap ridge, which led them 

 to my post of observation. 



SUMMER BIRDS OF MOUNT PINOS, CALIFORNIA. 



BY JOSEPH GRINNELL. 



The western portion of Ventura County, southern California, is 

 occupied by an extensive mass of mountains fairly well marked off 

 from other systems by intervening low divides. This mountain 

 mass consists of irregularly arranged peaks and ridges inter- 

 spersed with elevated valleys. Several of the latter are of large 

 enough extent to warrant farming operations in wet years, but the 

 sparse population is mainly centered around the Borax Mines. 

 The highest peak of the group, Mount Pinos, is 8826 feet above 

 sea level, according to the topographic map of the region recently 

 issued by the U. S. Geological Survey. This peak, or rather, 

 ridge, rises from a plateau of surrounding valleys themselves 5000 

 to 6000 feet in elevation, so that from wherever viewed, it does 



