Jan., 1908 NOTES FROM THE DIARY OF A NATURALIST IN NORTHERN CALIF. 35 



near the river is reported as 2700 feet; but high timbered ridges rise on every side, 

 some of them with an altitude of 6000 feet and of course between these altitudes there 

 are varying conditions of animal and plant life. 



After a few days at Beswick camp was made on a high ridge at whose base was 

 Shovel Creek, a beautiful trout stream flowing towards the Klamath River in a gen- 

 eral northwesterly direction. This camp was well within the Canadian Zone, and 

 in a remote spot where wild creatures were abundant. Coyotes howled every 

 night and their tracks led to and from the spring in all directions. Wild cats were 

 also about and one night about a quarter of a mile from camp I was astonished to 

 find a bear track. 



The pleasantest memory of this camp was my meeting with the Townsend 

 Solitaire. I^ate in the afternoon as I worked putting up specimens, and was be- 

 ginning to feel a sense of loneliness, one of these gentle creatures would perch on 

 the topmost branch of a dead juniper and there till nightfall pour forth its 

 exquisitely beautiful strains. Unconsciously there grew up an almost human at- 

 tachment for the soft-hued minstrel and the listener no longer felt himself alone. 



A short distance above camp there lay an extensive table-land covered with a 

 fine forest of yellow pine, incense cedar and spruces or firs. Here in the early 

 morning there was a fascinating experience to be had as one visited his traps. 

 The tops only of the tall trees were reached by the sun's rays, and from thence 

 floating softly down would come the faint notes of kinglets, chickadees and 

 brown creepers, while the birds themselves looked like tiny insects. As the sun 

 rose and its rays gradually penetrated the depths of the forest, the birds would as 

 gradually descend until the lower branches, hitherto deserted, would seem alive 

 with them. 



On the 18th of September I left my solitary camp and returned to the camp 

 where I found James H. Gaut, who from now on took general charge of the work. 

 Together we started on the 20th for the Spanish Springs Camp, situated on a 

 range of 6000 feet altitude and about six miles southwest of Beswick. Here we 

 got typical Canadian Zone species, our entrance into the fir belt being curiously 

 enough almost immediately heralded by a flock of six Canada Jays. Shortly after 

 we saw numerous Red-breasted Nuthatches and one White-headed Woodpecker. 

 A majestic sugar pine stood sentinel over our camp and others towered in the dis- 

 tance. The place was curiously lacking in small mammals and we soon left. Our 

 journey homeward on the 23rd afforded an interesting study in the changes en- 

 countered between the Canadian and Transition Zones. 



On September 25 Gaut and I started for Picard, a small hamlet in Butte Valley, 

 a half-day's stage journey from Beswick. We were provided with a spring wagon 

 and two horses, which was our means of travel for the next week, and proved ex- 

 cellent for our purpose for we could collect as we went along. 



The road from Beswick works gradually up the gorge of the Klamath River 

 until Topsey, a small stage station is reached. It is situated upon an extensive 

 tableland bearing a fine forest of yellow pine, with a generous sprinkling of incense 

 cedar. The altitude of this tableland is 4100 feet and its soil is a curious dark red. 



We camped at the edge of a clearing near the stage station, and in the morn- 

 ing resumed our journey thru the yellow pine forest eastward until we reached 

 Butte Valley. An obliging rancher allowed us to occupy an abandoned house sit- 

 uated at the very border of the timber and here w^e found some good trapping. 

 Butte Valley is an extensive sage-brush plain into which project ridges and spurs 

 from the surrounding high lands. These ridges are sometimes barren, sometimes 

 more or less covered with timber which is mostlj'^ juniper; but oaks and yellow pine 



