VOl 'l906 :i11 ] Ray ' A'Birdiny ™ an Auto - 401 



treeless except along the river banks. The portion which sur- 

 rounds this and lies adjacent to the foothills takes in nearly all the 

 settled and cultivated districts and can boast of some fine oak and 

 other timber. 



May 10. — To Merced (and 10 miles beyond), 75 miles. Spe- 

 cies and subspecies observed, 30. 



Knowing (or at least hoping) our tour would be an extended one, 

 we decided to list the species of birds found on the trip. Daylight 

 broke a few miles from Stockton and as the river boat steamed up 

 the slough, fourteen forms were counted, including the Western 

 Martin, which we found in the town proper. In the time it usually 

 took to harness the horses our motor-vehicle had carried us far 

 outside the town limits. It was very pleasant travelling, for so 

 swiftly and noiselessly did we glide along that the whole landscape, 

 like a moving picture on a curtain, seemed rushing toward us. 

 The recent rains had left but little trace on the well packed roads 

 and with the exception of a hard pull through the famous sand 

 bed near Livingston, which has caused many a chauffeur to borrow 

 a team of horses, we had little to complain of. We called it a day's 

 run to a point ten miles west of Merced, where, in a pleasant grove 

 of trees along an irrigation ditch, we encamped for the night. Im- 

 mense flocks of various blackbirds and finches were swinging over 

 the miles of pasture lands, head-high with the rank growth of wild 

 hay, weeds and mustard. A Black Phoebe had the honor of being 

 the owner of the first nest we officially inspected. It was placed 

 underneath a bridge over the ditch and was waiting for eggs. 



May 11. — To Firebaugh, 58 miles. Additional species ob- 

 served, 11. 



Instead of continuing southward we decided to cross the valley 

 to Los Bafios, situated about thirty miles due west, across a broad 

 stretch of marshy waste-land; as it promised to greatly increase 

 the list with its wealth of water bird life, we did not heed the re- 

 peated warnings regarding the bad condition of the road. While 

 for the first few miles the road was all that could be desired, it 

 then so gradually and continuously passed from bad to worse 

 that we were only deterred from turning back by the memory of 

 the part we had passed. Sloughs crossed the road at will, and 

 in the endless succession of hollows, ponds with sticky mud bottoms 



