I^O Dawson, Birds of Okanogan Co., Wash. \_knx\ 



but whose faunal character is strictly determined by the enclosing 

 mountains. Thus, Meadowlarks, in a semi-arid district of 

 scattering pines in the center of the county, reach an elevation 

 of 3500 feet, whereas they are not to be found in the Stehekin 

 Valley which opens westward from the head of Lake Chelan at 

 an altitude of only 970 feet. Again Deudroica audtiboni and 

 Sitfa aT!iade?isis, which are strictly subalpine forms, range down 

 to the water's edge at Graham Harbor — midway on Lake 

 Chelan — whereas we should look for them in vain at twice the 

 elevation on the hills at the foot of the lake. 



A residence of fourteen months in this county, June, 1895 to 

 August, 1896, with headquarters at Chelan, a small town at the 

 foot of Lake Chelan, gave me a fair opportunity to study the bird 

 life of the region, and especially since my business required me 

 to travel over 2000 miles on horse back, to all parts except the 

 extensive Indian reservation on the east side of the Okanogan 

 River. In the summer of 1895 and again in 1896, trips were 

 made to the high ranges west of Lake Chelan, Wright's Peak (alt. 

 9310 feet) being the objective point on both occasions, so that 

 the list of mountain birds is fairly inclusive. 



Gulls sometimes visit the lake, but the species were not learned. 

 It is almost certain that many stragglers and rarer residents, not- 

 ably Buteos and Limicolae, are unrecorded. Okanogan County 

 is important as representing practically the northern limit of 

 Upper Sonoran forms, and as being the southernmost debatable 

 ground between Pacific Slope and Rocky Mountain trinomials. 

 How much it is affected by Puget Sound ' saturated ' forms, it is 

 at present impossible to determine, but there is here a large 

 field for the study of transition forms. 



Even such a brief survey would be incomplete without mention 

 of the characteristically mild winter climate of this region. This 

 is, of course, effected by the influence of the Japan Stream, so 

 that the temperature seldom falls to zero in the lower valleys. 

 The warm winds are, moreover, deprived of their superabundant 

 moisture by the western mountains, so that they pass eastward 

 warm and dry. This fact tempts many birds to winter about 

 Chelan, who in any other longitude of their range would have to 

 pass hundreds of miles further south to find as mild a tempera- 



