— 4— 



North of the lake, rising quite abruptly from the water's 

 edge, lies the first of a series of ridges which culminate in 

 Sin-yale-a-min Mountain, whose bald head and snow-clad shoul- 

 ders can be seen very clearly from the outlet of the lake. 

 Between the lake and the summit of Sin-yale-a-min 

 Peak, whose altitude is approximately 9200 feet, there 

 rises nearly three miles of wooded mountain-side, the 

 home of Clarke's nutcracker and Richardson's grouse, 

 with other birds of Alpine habitat. As on the north, the 

 southern shore of the lake is the foot of a high, wooded ridge, 

 where the Rocky Mountain jay and black-headed jay flit among 

 the trees, and the ruffed grouse hides in the fir thickets. 



Following an easy trail leading somewhat southeast from 

 the lake, the collector passes through a wide ravine for about 

 a mile, and reaches a small lake or pond a few acres in extent, 

 surrounded by a woodland free from undergrowth. Here tall 

 handsome yellow pines (pinus ponderosa) abound, in whose tops 

 are seen occasional flocks of chirping crossbills, lisping cedar 

 waxwings, and other inhabitants of the woods. 



West of the lake there lies an extensive region of lower 

 primeval woodland alternating with bushy hillside, through 

 which the outlet of the lake dashes on its course to the prairie 

 region of the Flathead Jndian Reservation, all forming an 

 ideal collecting ground, certain to repay the careful attention 

 of the ornithologist. 



Mcdonald lake. 



McDonald Lake is at somewhat lower elevation than Sin- 

 yale-a-min Lake, being about 3,300 feet altitude. In area 

 it is not nearly so large, as its length measures only rather 

 more than half that of Sin-yale-a-min, and its width about 

 the same ratio in measurement. In our estimates we placed 

 the length of Sin-yale-a-min at 7,000 feet, and its width at 

 2,200 feet. Neither is McDonald Lake as deep as Sin-yale-a-min 

 Lake, the general depth of the former being about 70 feet 

 while the deepest place in the latter is 250 feet. 



McDonald Lake is evidently the bed of an ancient glacier, 

 whose resistless action can be traced by fine chisellings on 

 the sides of the jutting rocks along the lake shore. The lake 

 is fed by a small stream which hurries down between Mt. Mc- 

 Donald and an adjacent mountain. Along its eastern shore the 

 lake is overhung by a rugged, picturesque cliff, rising sheer 



