Nov., 1907 173 



FROM BOUIvDKR TO THE SEA 

 By MILTON S. RAY 



With Photos By Or,UF J. HEINEMANN 



I HAVE traveled with pack, afoot and on horses, with team and wagon and 

 even in an automobile; but the most care-free trip I have ever taken was in 



May of the present year (1907) when Heinemann and I set forth from Boulder 

 Creek carrying practically nothing except a film-pack camera and some tools of 

 taxidermy. For board and lodging we trusted to the usual hospitality of Cali- 

 fornians, altho we had for emergency a few Italian biscuits called "galletta" which 

 while little known are a positive boon to the camper. 



What impressed us most as we walked along that grand mountain road, built 

 by the State, which leads to the Big Basin, was the devastation of the timber, 

 lyumber mills were cutting everything in the tree line, "as long," as one of the 

 hands stated, "as would make a three by four," while the shingle makers bringing 

 up in the rear and utilizing the stumps, left only a brush-covered waste in their 

 wake. Boulder itself no longer possesses any of the magnificent groves it did in 

 the past and in time it seems the Big Basin Reserve will be all of the great woods 

 that will remain. 



On starting, in a weed patch, on the ground, we came upon a nest of a typical 

 bird of the region, the Point Pinos Junco ijunco hyemalis piuosus), with four 

 large young. But this find was soon forgotten when we discovered on the head- 

 waters of Boulder Creek the most beautiful nest of the American Water Ouzel 

 ( Cinclus mexicanus) that it has ever been my good fortune to locate. A great 

 ball of rich green moss placed against a mossy bank, overhung with leaves and just 

 above a miniature waterfall, it made so perfect a picture that it seemed unreal. 

 The stream is not deep, the water cold, nor the current swift, when one has a 

 nest like this to photograph. After the tripod was placed in two positions in the 

 water and the views were taken, the nest was reached and found to be just com- 

 pleted. The owners who flew back and forth lit so close at times that we were 

 almost tempted to try a film or so on them. On returning to the road and meeting 

 a band of bare-footed urchins I feared for the safety of the pretty little nest by the 

 waterway for there are many still who disregard the ukase of Vogelsang. 



Altho we rambled along with a lazy, careless stride and stopped and inspected 

 everything worthy of notice we finally crossed, however, the ridge which walls the 

 California State Redwood Park, better known as the Big Basin, on the east. The 

 recent forest fire while it swept over a large area luckily did not destroy much 

 State timber. On the edge of this burnt section I saw about fifty yards away two 

 birds running thru the brush that appeared very much like grouse. I ran forward, 

 but with a sudden whir of wings, also grouse-like, the birds took flight and dis- 

 appeared in the thick forest. I have seen grouse in the high Sierras and in Men- 

 docino County, which is a type of country very similar to this; still I hesitate to 

 record the bird for Santa Cruz County on this evidence alone, but feel confident 

 future workers will verify it. 



At the Governor's Camp, as the settlement is called, in the heart of the Park, 

 we spent the close of day, the night and some hours in the morning. This point 

 lies twelve miles from Boulder Creek at an elevation of 1002 feet. Here in the 

 clearings we met with bands of Santa Cruz Chickadees {Panis rufescens haj'lowi) , 

 a few California Quail {Lophortyx californicus calif orniais) , and Western Blue- 



