THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS AT PIRU 



Piru is situated in the eastern part of Ventura County, 

 somewhat over fifty miles by air-line from Santa Barbara. 

 I visited this region from June 14 to 20, 1906, to examine 

 the site of a California Condor 's nest from which, two years 

 before, a young bird had been taken for the zoological 

 garden at Washington. The bird had been secured by a 

 ranchman named Whittaker, a man of varied interests. In 

 the Piru Valley he raised oranges and apricots ; sixteen 

 miles up Piru Creek at its junction with the Agua Blanca, 

 he had a bee ranch, where the occupants of hundreds of 

 hives were daily adding 700 pounds of honey to his and 

 their resources ; six or eight miles further up the Agua 

 Blanca, at an altitude of about 1500 feet, in the Devil's 

 Potrero, he had established a thrifty looking apple orchard 

 which had yielded prize fruit. 



Whittaker gracefully accepted the office of guide which 

 our unexpected appearance imposed upon him. He sup- 

 plied a team, assisted in the selection of provisions, added a 

 liberal supply of oranges, which we picked off his trees, and 

 drove us up the Piru to the bee ranch, crossing and recross- 

 ing the flood-swept creek bottom, and winding through the 

 scrub-covered grazing land, where an occasional Eoad Run- 

 ner was seen. 



Late in the afternoon, we reached a picturesque little cab- 

 in, almost hidden in the great live oaks ; as charming a home 

 as though it had been prepared for our coming. The Agua 

 Blanca, clear as its name implies, flowed rapidly past our 

 door to join the more turbid Piru a hundred yards beyond. 

 All about were the rounded mountain tops. The place was 

 alive with birds. One pair of Linnets had a nest in the 

 house and another had built on a canteen hanging beneath 



