12 THE CONDOR Vox.. IX 



birds in flight is, "What large phainopeplas!" Their coloring from a distance 

 appears alike, and their method of slow, dignified flight is quite similar. I speak 

 of black and white plumage, but the black of Pica pica hudsonica is much mixed 

 with a bronze green. 



As far as I am able to judge by observ^ation, the birds are beneficial, not only 

 destroying injurious insects but acting as scavengers as well. Last summer the 

 "grasshopper became a burden" and it was gratifying to see fifteen or twenty 

 large families of magpies and as many Brewer blackbirds in the alfalfa fields all 

 catching the hoppers. 



Brccn^ La Plata Con )ity\ Colorado. 



AMONG THE GULLS ON KLAMATH LAKE 



BY WILIvIAM L. FINLEY 



WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY HRRMAN T. BOHLMAN 



THE lake region of southern Oregon is perhaps the most extensive breeding 

 ground in the West for all kinds of inland water birds. The country is 

 overspread with great lakes, several of them from twentj^ to thirty miles 

 across; and reaching" out on all sides of these are vast marsh areas and tule fields 

 extending for miles and miles. 



The latter part of May, 1905, we set out to study and photograph the bird life 

 of this region. For several days we packed thru the mountains with our hea\'y 

 camera equipment, and then across a rolling, sage-brush country till we reached Lost 

 River, which empties into Tule or Rhett Lake. Here we abandoned our horses 

 for a stout rowboat, and then for over a month we cruised about Tule Lake, 

 crossed over to White Lake and out into the Lower Klamath. 



Tule Lake is a body of water about twenty-five miles long and fifteen to twenty 

 miles wide, cut thru the northern half by the Oregon and California boundary line. 

 A few miles to the northwest is Lower Klamath Lake, about the same size. Be- 

 tween these two larger lakes is a smaller body of water called White Lake, separated 

 from the Lower Klamath by a broad strip of tule land. 



The border of these lakes is a veritable jungle. The tules grow in an impene- 

 trable mass from ten to fifteen feet high, and one can never get to a point where 

 he can look out above the tops of the reeds and see where he is going. Then the 

 foundation below is made of decayed vegetation and is treacherous to tread upon. 

 One may wade along in two feet of water a short distance and sink over his head at 

 the next step. We found a few places where the solid roots had formed a sort of 

 a floor at the surface of the water, which was buoyant enough to support us. 

 These precarious footholds were the only camping spots we had for two weeks. 



In Lower Klamath Lake stretching for miles and miles to the west is a seem- 

 ingly endless area of floating tule "islands," between which flow a network of 

 narrow channels. These so-called islands are composed of the decayed growth of 

 generations of tules. Most of them are soft and springy, and sink under the 

 weight of a person. 



Gulls love society. They always nest in colonies and live together the entire 

 year. They are most useful birds about the water-fronts of our cities. These 

 gulls have developed certain traits that mark them as land birds rather than birds 

 of the sea. In southern California and Oregon I have watched flocks of them 

 leave the ocean and rivers at daybreak every morning and sail inland for miles, 



