30 THE SEMI-ANNUAL. 



COLLECTING IN THE COLORADO DESERT. 



F. T. PEMBER, GRANVILLE, N. Y. 



The Colorado Desert takes its name from the Colorado River, 

 which bounds it on the east. It includes a vast section. of south- 

 eastern California and extends into Mexico. 



Its central portion is a great basin, or depi'essioh, almost 300 

 feet below the level of the ocean, with extensive beds of salt, 

 hot springs, a blinding reflection of the sun from fields of alkali 

 and a daily mirage. 



Other sections are barren hills of volcanic rock, destitute of 

 water ; mountains and valleys of drifting sand and where the 

 wind blows through the passes in the hills, it fills the air, cutting 

 the face like a knife and making it almost impossible to travel at 

 all. Many sections are entirely destitute of vegitation, while 

 other parts have a scant growth of grease- wood, mesquite, palo 

 verde, cactus and dwarfed bushes. 



To the northeast, rise the mountains of San Bernardino and 

 Grayback, some 13,000 feet high and crowned with perpetual 

 snow, while to the southwest, San Jacinto looms up in the clear 

 air to a height of 11,000 feet and is also enveloped in snowy 

 beauty nearly all the year. 



Cool streams of water from these mountains flow into the 

 desert, soon loosing themselves in the sands. 



Around the mountain bases and among the foothills there is 

 more vegitation, and bird life becomes more abundant than one 

 would suppose. In some of the mountain canons are extensive 

 groves of fan palms, whose smooth symetrical trunks and leafy 

 tops, rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet, making a home for 

 many birds. 



I have crossed this desert six times and made two extra 

 journeys into it, collecting many of its birds, but have not been 

 there enough to find them all. 



A characteristic bird of the most barren and desolate part ot 

 the desert, is the American or White-necked Raven, which 

 abounds through the Winter season. They seem to be in pairs, 

 walking about over the alkaline plains, though what they ai-e 

 there for, or what they find to eat, is to me a mystery. 



In the northwestern part of this region, where the Winter rains 



