^°'897^^] Ti AWROi^, Birds of Okanogati Co., Wash. 169 



and Okanogan, all flowing south-east or south into the Columbia, 

 whose high water mark here is only 600 feet above the ocean. 

 Of these rivers, all but the Okanogan occupy narrow mountain 

 valleys unimportant for migration. The Okanogan River, how- 

 ever, coming from far up in British America, and flowing due 

 south, is a very old stream and has worn out a comparatively 

 broad valley, a mile or so in width, along which there is a con- 

 siderable movement of birds. 



Of the lakes, Chelan is the most remarkable, occupying as it 

 does, through a stretch of seventy miles, a narrow mountain fis- 

 sure, varying in width from one-half to three miles. This body 

 of water, together with the short, rapid river which drains it, 

 furnishes a winter retreat for the hardier water-fowls, although 

 its precipitous shores offer small inducement to the Limicolae. 

 Other lakes and water-filled kettle-holes abound, especially in 

 coulees, — narrow, rocky defiles once scored out by glaciers. At 

 the lower level these are often alkaline, and little frequented 

 except by Coots and Grebes ; but the mountain lakes are of the 

 purest, and attract the Loons and Golden-eyes, while even the 

 water-filled cirques in the highest ranges are sometimes tenanted 

 by alpine forms. 



The vegetation of the lower hills and benches, comprises 

 bunch-grass, sage-brush, and scattering pines, while every brook 

 or spring is eagerly surrounded by dense growths of willow, birch, 

 poplar, syringa {Philadelphus gordonianus) , and wild-rose. As one 

 leaves the semi-arid foothills, and goes up Lake Chelan, and 

 climbs the western ranges, the vegetation becomes very luxuriant, 

 partaking largely of the character of the Puget Sound flora, and 

 so on up to the limit of the trees. One might thus divide the 

 county rudely into two avifaunal regions : the semi-arid, or lower 

 levels, and the mountains proper, or higher ranges. The first 

 division would include all well sunned river valleys, benches, 

 rolling hills, and upland prairies, from 600 feet elevation on the 

 Columbia to the 3500 found in some such districts as those which 

 flank the Okanogan and Methow Rivers. The higher rano-es 

 comprise the wilder portions of the west and north, including 

 deep, heavily wooded valleys, whose mean elevation may not 

 really equal certain highland prairies of the semi-arid portion. 



