Vol. XXII 

 i<5°5 



Grinnell, Summer Birds of Mount Pt'tios, Cal. 379 



not distinguish itself by conspicuous height. Mount Pinos is 

 nearest the northern edge of this mountain system ; in fact, the 

 boundary line between Ventura and Kern Counties passes east 

 and west over the summit. 



From the summit an impressive view is obtainable interruptedly 

 between the uneven saw-teeth of surrounding mountains : — to the 

 north the southern San Joaquin Valley, with the Sierra Nevada 

 range beyond ; to the northeast the Tehachapi Mountains rising 

 beyond Tejon Pass ; to the eastward broad sand wastes of the 

 Mojave Desert ; on the southeast and south, a sea of mountains, 

 the furthermost on the horizon being the Sierra San Gabriel ; an 

 extremely precipitous tumble of mountains almost hides the ocean 

 to the southwestward, but here and there bits of silver show its 

 location 35 miles away; and to the west and northwest the low 

 coast ranges fade away in the hazy distance. 



On account of the comparative isolation, and especially the 

 position of Mount Pinos in relation to the other mountain systems 

 of California, I had long planned to visit it. For Mount Pinos 

 lies at the convergence of three distinct lines of mountains, the 

 coast range of central California, the Sierra Nevadas, which swing 

 to the westward around the southern end of the San Joaquin 

 Valley, and the Southern Sierras (San Gabriel and San Bernardino 

 ranges). Yet it is constricted from the latter two, which are much 

 higher than the coast range to the northward, by low divides. 

 Faunally, as the material beyond enumerated demonstrates, the 

 affinities of Mount Pinos and vicinity are with the Southern 

 Sierras and San Diegan District, it thus marking the extreme 

 northwestward extension of those faunal areas as far as now 

 known to me. 



On June 17, 1904, I left Pasadena by wagon to work over the 

 Mount Pinos region for mammals, birds, and reptiles. Mr. 

 Joseph Dixon, Assistant in Zoology at Throop Polytechnic Insti- 

 tute, accompanied me as field assistant. After a few days' loiter- 

 ing in the tree-yucca belt of Antelope Valley (the westward arm of 

 the Mojave Desert), we entered the objective region from the east 

 by the way of Tejon Pass and Cuddy Canon, following the well- 

 travelled road to the Borax Mines at the east' base of Mount 

 Pinos proper. We pulled up as high as we could, making perma- 



