Vo1 ' iof™ 1 ] Wetmore, Birds of Lake Burford, N. Mex. 223 



may be due in part to the presence of springs in the southern end 

 (though none were located) and in part to the fact that the wind 

 sweeps strongly across the open north end, so that the waves usu- 

 ally run high every afternoon and evening, a condition that would 

 tend to keep the water roily. 



The spring of 1918, had been very dry and the fall of snow dur- 

 ing the previous winter below normal, so that at the time of my 

 work the lake level was two and one half to three feet below that of 

 last year. The water area varies greatly as the seasons change 

 from year to year, and I was told that in the past ten years the 

 water once had been down between 4 and 5 feet below its present 

 level. During the spring months there is said to be a running 

 stream in a small draw that reaches the lake on the northeastern 

 side near the cabin (Plate VIII, fig. 2), but in 1918 this was dry. 

 In some places Mexican sheep herders secured water for drinking 

 from seep holes dug a few feet from the lake shore, but this was 

 found to be too strong to be good, and for our use we carried water 

 from some slightly alkaline pools located below a grove of large 

 cottonwoods in the draw mentioned above. Later this seepage 

 water became too bad, and further search revealed a small spring 

 of good water four hundred yards above the cottonwoods. 



The two small lakes formed by seepage from Lake Burford were 

 about a mile and a half below the main lake. The first of these 

 had an area of about 40 acres and was grown with Scirpus occiden- 

 talis. The second, known to the Mexicans as La Laguna de la 

 Puerta, or La Laguna Thompson (named for Mr. Thompson of 

 Chama, who formerly lived nearby), was a third of a mile long 

 and an eighth of a mile broad. There was also a small lake 500 

 yards long by 100 yards broad situated northeast of the cabin, cut 

 off by low knolls from Lake Burford, that was known as Hayden's 

 or Clear Lake. Water birds of several species flew back and forth 

 to these smaller lakes regularly. 



It was said that Lake Burford was usually frozen over by the 

 first of December, though ice formed along the shores earlier, and 

 that the water was open again by the first of March. It was diffi- 

 cult, however, in the short time spent at Chama, to secure accurate 

 information on this point as the lake has been remote from travel- 

 led paths and few have come here save in summer and fall. With- 



