Jan., 1908 NOTES FROM THE DIARV OP A NATURALIST IN NORTHERN CALIF. 33 



were quite common, and for that spot we made preparations to start. A large pan- 

 ther skin nailed to a pine tree, recorded the capture of its owner two nights before 

 and gave us an authentic record of this animal's presence in this locality. It was 

 shot within the very camp and when it was stealthily watching the four-year-old 

 boy of one of the herders. At this point it might be wise to add that the Yallo 

 Bally Mountains are inhabited almost solely in the summer time by sheep and goat 

 herders with their flocks. The effects of these close-cropping animals are all too 

 noticeable. First come the sheep, the closely-massed herds moving up the moun- 

 tain sides, and destroying every blade and leaf as a blight. Following in their wake, 

 the goats with their browsing habit consume the foliage of the shrubbery as high as 

 they can reach. Thus the region of their operations is devastated almost asthoroly 

 as fire could accomplish the same result. The effect upon ground and shrubbery 

 frequenting species of birds cannot help but be harmful to some degree. We could 

 not otherwise explain the absence of Dusky Grouse and Mountain Quail from 

 regions thus effected, while they were commonly met with in others. 



Our start on the second of August was delayed by the escape of one of the 

 mules the night before, the animal only being captured after a five-mile tramp to a 

 neighboring herd of horses. With a half-day thus lost, we resumed our prepara- 

 tions, and were just on the point of putting the pack-saddle on the other mule, 

 when in some unaccountable spirit of perversity it suddenly lurched backwards 

 breaking its tether rope, and with a snort and the clattering of hoofs was off down 

 the mountain in just the opposite direction from which the other had taken. By 

 an act of stupidity as sudden and as unaccountable as its previous one had been 

 cunning, one of us was able to walk up to its side and pick up its lead rope. After 

 a long trudge up the mountain we gained camp, and quickly completing our pack- 

 ing got under way at five o'clock, approximately just a day behind. Traveling till 

 dark we luckily came upon a small brook and there camped for the night. Next 

 morning an hour's traveling along the timbered ridge, upon whose upper extremity 

 we had camped, brought us to a turn in the trail that led downward, and soon after 

 we came out into a fenced-in clearing and in sight of the deserted ranch houses for 

 which we were seeking. This spot, Barney's ranch, could not help but appeal to 

 the lover of the romantic and picturesque. Nature in a relenting mood had per- 

 mitted a broad level meadow to rest in the steep mountain side where rugged cliffs 

 and heavy forests prevailed elsewhere. An old rail fence was at the very edge of a 

 steep precipice at whose base dashed the turbulent waters of Eel River: a frowning 

 cliff was in the rear; and on either side the forests reached to the stockade-like 

 fence, now crumbling with age. The houses, tho long deserted, were still well- 

 preserved and showed the thrift and intelligence of their former owners. They 

 stood in the shade of wide branching trees and were guarded by a number of lofty 

 spruces. Hereon the wide veranda the dwellers could hear the pleasant purl of a 

 close-by brook, or the deeper roar of the river below. Rows of fruit trees and a 

 patch of berry bushes stood in the rear of the house, and close to the mountain 

 side was the spacious barn. In a word every sign indicated a prosperous and well- 

 ordered establishment, and one could scarce understand why a place of such natural 

 beauty, and so highly improved by the art of man should have ever been deserted. 

 But two graves on a nearby knoll probably told the story. Here lay the parents, and 

 the children longing for greater activity and a larger world had become city dwel- 

 lers, and their picturesque home was now a forgotten thing. 



In the tranquil and impressive beauty of this spot, Bunnell and I got a pleas- 

 ure entirely separate from that of our natural history work. Here small mammals 

 and birds were quite abundant, but not a "varmint" did we see. We had a de- 



