258 CALIFORNIA BIRD STUDIES 



If the Santa Fe route be selected, the tourist should stop 

 at the Needles on the Colorado Eiver. West of the Needles, 

 one should see the tree yuccas of the Mohave Desert. Our 

 American Ornithologists ' Union party passed the morning 

 of May 12, 1903, among them, at Hesperia. 



Even a few hours amid distinctly novel surroundings is 

 sometimes sufficient to impress one with their salient fea- 

 tures, and the bristling yuccas, often topped by Cactus 

 Wrens, the abundance of flowers and birds, the distant 

 snow-ridged San Bernardino Mountains, still stand clear- 

 cut in my memory. 



Such an experience prepares one to realize the effects of 

 irrigation which are encountered, after journeying through 

 the Cajon Pass, about San Bernadino, Redlands and River- 

 side, with their beautiful gardens, extensive orange groves, 

 eucalyptus and pepper-bordered avenues, vocal with the 

 songs of innumerable birds, chiefly Goldfinches, (Spinus 

 psaltria) and Linnets, (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis). 



The visiting ornithologist now has an inviting field be- 

 fore him. Possibly he could not do better than to settle 

 down for a time in the vicinity of Los Angeles where the 

 proximity of sea and mountain will enable him to cover 

 readily a widely diversified territory. My only field work 

 in this part of the state was pursued somewhat farther 

 north, near Piru. 





