222 THE CONDOR Vol. X 



BIRDS ON THE PLATEAU, BEN LOMOND: UPPER SONORAN ZONE 



California Thrasher {Toxostoma 7'edivivtim redivivuvi) 



San Francisco Tovfh.&e{PipiIo maailalus falcifer) 



Vaux Swift {Chivtura vauxi) 



Tree Swallow ( Tachycineta bicolor) 



Intermediate Wren-tit i^Chanicca fasciata interinedia) 



California Purple Finch ( Carpodaciis fiurpiireus caUforuiais) 



Green-backed Goldfinch {Astrag-alinjis psaltria hesperophilus) 



Bush-tit {Psaltripanis minimus minimus) 



California Jay {Aphelocoma californica calif ornica) 



California Woodpecker {Mclancrpes formicivo7'HS bairdi) 



Willow Woodpecker {,Dryohates puhescens tiwati) 



Perhaps nowdiere in the county can a more magnificent view be had than from 

 the heights west of Eagle Rock where looking over the precipitous mountain sides 

 the whole eastern section of Santa Cruz County lies before one, stretching out can- 

 yon after canyon eastward to that giant peak, I^oma Prieta, and with peaks and peaks 

 still further east fading away into dim blues and grays. Scenery such as this 

 always made me fear for our supply of film packs, for Heinemann, would give a 

 subject like this a dozen exposures and simply wear a guilty smile when 

 I remonstrated. 



On the summit we could find no one who could speak English and the Italian 

 farmers could only direct us on two roads. "This wa}^ Santa Cruz; that way, 

 Boulder Creek," was the limit of their road knowledge and almost of their vocabu- 

 lary. At last wearying of trying to find the Big Basin Road we took the Jamison 

 Creek Road, altho it took us at least fifteen miles out of our w^ay, in the direction 

 of Boulder Creek. This road meets the one from Boulder Creek about five miles 

 from the latter towm and it was at these cross roads, in a deserted cabin that we 

 spent the night. 



Resuming our tramp in the morning we repassed over the same ground we 

 had before the previous year. The site of the water-ouzel's nest* was visited, 

 but no sign of it remained. We left the route of last year at the head of the grade, 

 however, and took a short cut, which wnth devious windings went thru a stumpy 

 country shorn of its timber, to Blume's Old Mill on the very edge of the Big Basin 

 forest wall. Here we paused for lunch. Built under the eaves of one of the 

 deserted buildings I noticed a nest of the Black Phoebe {Sayo7'nis nigricans nigi'i- 

 cans) with large young and on Blume's Creek close by, an arm's length in a sand 

 bank, I pulled forth three young Belted Kingfishers {Ce?yle alcyon) who posed for 

 us on a log. The juveniles amused themselves in the interim by locking bills and 

 paddling across the log in an awkward, flat-footed fashion, and I noticed it was 

 always a backward movement. Might not this be a provision of nature to prevent 

 young birds leaving the nest? 



A short walk from here thru the thick woods brought us to the main road in 

 the Basin and another along it equally short, to the Governor's Camp in the very 

 heart of this, the great Santa Cruzan forest, where we had arranged to spend some 

 time, and a paper treating of which, if the editor be in a lenient mood, may be laid 

 before Condor readers at a future date. 



San Francisco , California. 



*CONDOR IX, 1907, p 175. 



