1912] Taylor: Birds and Reptiles of Northern Nevada. 325 



Each one of the three little lakes appears to have been formed 

 through the damming up of canons by morainal material. The 

 best examples of moraines in the mountains are found at the 

 head of Alder Creek. The peculiar shape of Alder Creek Lake 

 (see pi. 10, fig. 2) and the intersection of it by long mounds 

 are with very little doubt to be accounted for in this way. A 

 number of facetted rocks were picked up at Alder Creek Ranch. 

 Certain ridges in the mountains resemble the ''sheep-back" type. 



There are several extensive meadows, always grass-covered 

 and usually traversed by at least one creek, in the higher parts 

 of the mountains (see pi. 12, fig. 1). Usually there is a limited 

 area of springy ground, surrounded by thickets and grown over 

 with rank grass. Along the creeks or on the borders of the 

 meadow quaking aspens and a few willows may be found. On 

 the mountain slopes rising up from it extensive chinquapin 

 thickets and locally individual limber pines are often noted. 

 Snow banks persist until late in the summer on the highest 

 meadows (see pi. 9, fig. 1), and Iris missouriensis and Ve7^atrum 

 calif or nicum are common plants on the moister ones (see pi. 11, 

 fig. 2). 



Big Creek Eanck (4350 feet; Biological Cross-section Camp 

 no. 1; see pi. 8, fig. 1). — This station is located three-fourths of a 

 mile from the mouth of Big Creek Canon, and ten or twelve 

 miles in a northwesterly direction from Quinn River Crossing. 



The ranch is on a broad alluvial fan. During the summer 

 season all the water of Big Creek is used for purposes of irriga- 

 tion. 



The Pine Forest Mountains rise up immediately to the west, 

 appearing as a series of foothills resembling badlands. Their 

 very sparse covering of xerophilous plants is at once noticeable. 



The vegetation of the flat in the neighborhood of the ranch 

 was more scattering even than at Quinn River Crossing, being 

 made up largely of Chrysothamnus and Grayia, with some Arte- 

 misia tridentata. About the ranch buildings was a windbreak 

 of poplars. These trees, together with the willows and alders 

 along the stream, were the only ones in the vicinity. The quak- 

 ing aspens (Populus tremuloides) followed the creek down to 

 within a half-mile of the ranch. 



