42 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 4 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



—AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDT OF 



BIRDS, 



THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOB THE INTERCHANGE OF NOTES 

 AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTUCKET, E. I. 



The Tribulations of a Persistent 

 Collector. 



Accompanied by my friend, Mr. Emer- 

 son, I left San Francisco on the morning 

 of January 10th last, on the steamship 

 " Orizaba," intending to spend a time col- 

 lecting in Southern California, my object- 

 ive point being San Diego. Before sailing, 

 we congratulated ourselves that we had 

 designated a day for our departure, that 

 brought with it every indication that the 

 three days' voyage before us would be 

 pleasant and the sea smooth ; but at the 

 end of the first hour out, we felt like the 

 Apache soldier who wanted to ''go home." 

 The angry waves showed us no mercy, 

 and the fish reaped a harvest sufficient to 

 comfortably maintain themselves until our 

 return. On the morning of the third day 

 San Diego was reached and without mak- 

 ing any stop we proceeded to Poway Val- 

 ley, twenty-three miles distant. Here we 

 tarried one week and accomplished good 

 work on the field, taking a large number 

 and a satisfactory variety of birds, includ- 

 ing Bell's Sparrow {Arriphlsplza JBetti,) 

 Western Grass Finch (P. gj-amineus con- 

 Unis,) "Western Savannah Sparrow (P. 

 sandwichensis alaudinus,) Bock Wren 

 (Salpinctes obsoletus,) Chapparral Cock 

 {Geococcyx calif ornianus,) etc. We care- 



fully placed away the result of our labor, 

 but upon examining the specimens as we 

 were about to leave the valley, we were 

 surprised to discover that they had been 

 visited by mice and that many had been 

 destroyed. Profanity is unknown to my 

 companion — he said simply " Gosh," and 

 we determined to make up the loss, if 

 possible, by more active work. We then 

 departed for the mountains, about fifty 

 miles distant, depending upon California 

 mustangs for locomotion. On the night 

 of the second day we reached our destina- 

 tion, and again tarried and have tarried 

 since and are likely to stay for some time 

 to come. We had two beautiful days next 

 after locating here, and then a terrible rain 

 and wind storm commenced which contin- 

 ued with unabated fury for five days ; then 

 followed a lovely day and signs of contin 

 uing pleasant weather appeared on every 

 hand, but the storm again set in that night 

 with increased violence and it has rained 

 incessantly since. The fog has been so 

 dense that we could not prudently ven- ■ 

 ture 300 yards from the camp. We are 

 in an altitude of about 6,000 feet, living 

 in an old adobe hut; no other " house" in 

 the mountains ; nearest neighbor seven 

 miles distant, down the mountains ; 

 stormed in and " dieting " on fresh pork 

 and honey. It is impossible at any time 

 to ascend the mountains with a team, and 

 the trail is so steep that descent on horse- 

 back is also impossible. We spend most 

 of our time in unsuccessful efforts to keep 

 dry — our "bunk" is in the dryest spot in 

 the house, but it is the receptacle of four 

 streams of water leaking through the roof 

 and night before last our underclothes 

 were well washed, because of our failure 

 to place them under the bed blankets, as 

 usual, before retiring. Yesterday morn- 

 ing, upon getting up, the writer found 

 one of his boots half full of water. Such 

 are some of the experiences of an unfor- 

 tunate collector. We are seventy-three 

 miles from the nearest railroad or tele- 



