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The A, O. U, Trip to California 



Members of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union and their friends, numbering forty 

 odd in all, left Chicago in two special Pull- 

 man cars on the evening of May 3, and 

 reached San Francisco on the afternoon of 

 May 14. 



Thanks to the experience of those in 

 charge of the arrangements, the journey was 

 so admirably planned that the time en route 

 was used to the best possible advantage; 

 while the presence of authorities on the physi- 

 ography, fauna, and fiora of the region 

 traversed added immeasurably to the inter- 

 est as well as to the educational value of the 

 excursion. 



Doubtless no party of excursionists ever 

 crossed the continent who gained so much 

 knowledge of its geography and natural 

 history in an eleven days' outing ; and it is 

 perfectly safe to add that no car-windows 

 were ever looked from so continuously and 

 so eagerly as were those of the ' Fama ' and 

 'Debrosa,' on this memorable transconti- 

 nental journey. 



The rallying point of the tour may be 

 said to have been the residence of Ruthven 

 Deane in Chicago, where, on the evening of 

 May 3, Mr. and Mrs. Deane received the 

 members of the Union, who were about to 

 leave for the west, as well as those less for- 

 tunate ones residing in and about Chicago 

 who were unable to leave home. 



Among the members of the Union who 

 formed the party were C. Hart Merriam, J. 

 A. Allen, B. Bishop, H. C. Bumpus, F. M. 

 Chapman, Mrs. E. B. Davenport, J. 

 Dwight, Jr., J. H. Fleming, L. A. Fuertes, 

 T. S. Palmer and Otto Widmann. 



Traveling over the Santa Fe line, we 

 passed through the fertile bottom-lands of 

 the Missouri and Kansas rivers on Monday, 

 May 5, to emerge, later in the day, on the 

 rolling prairies. 



The next morning we awoke on the Arid 

 Plains to hear the song of the Western 

 Meadowlark. Prairie dogs, an occasional 

 coyote, and, shortly before reaching Trini- 



dad, a Magpie afforded convincing evidence 

 that we were indeed in the west. 



Late in the evening our cars were de- 

 tached from the train at Lamy, N. M., and 

 run up over the short branch road to the 

 old city of Santa Fe, where we remained 

 until the afternoon of the following day. 



This, our first opportunity to take to the 

 field, was improved to the utmost, the mem- 

 bers of the party radiating in every direc- 

 tion, to return later and compare observa- 

 tions — by no means the least pleasurable 

 part of the day's experience. 



At Santa Fe twenty-nine species of birds 

 were recorded, among them being the 

 Mountain Bluebird, House Finch, Say's 

 Flycatcher, Violet-green Swallow, Lewis's 

 Woodpecker, Lozuli Bunting, Audubon's 

 Warbler, and other western birds equally 

 attractive to eastern eyes. 



May 7 our cars were side-tracked at Ada- 

 mana, and the petrified forest, distant six 

 miles, was visited. We were here in the 

 heart of the desert and our start was made 

 too late in the day to see or hear many 

 birds, but a short visit to the cottonwoods 

 bordering the Puerco, in the evening, 

 showed an unexpected number of birds, 

 — Mocking-birds, Bullock's Orioles, Ar- 

 kansas Flycatchers, Black-throated Spar- 

 rows and other species, being common and 

 in song. 



We reached the Grand Caiion on the 

 evening of May 8, early enough to have a 

 glimpse of its marvels before the failing 

 light shrouded its vastnesses in gloom ; and 

 to see the white -throated Swifts dart twitter- 

 ing to and fro over apparently bottomless 

 gorges. 



We remained at the Caiion until the morn- 

 ing of May II, and consequently had two 

 full days in which to learn something of the 

 bird-life of the region. Some of the party 

 entered the cafion and descended to the 

 Colorado river, nearly five thousand feet 

 below, while others explored the pine, 

 piiion and juniper forests of the surround- 

 ing country, where some thirty-eight species 

 of birds were identified. This number in- 



,99, 



