Bobby and I yielded, rather weakly, to the lure of this little-known moun- 

 tain body, and spent three days, with knapsacks, ascending the nearest summit, 

 say 10,500 feet high, by way of Silver Creek. We found a rather desolate stretch 

 of mere "climb it," crowned, especially on the eastern slopes, with open groves of 

 pine timber, chiefly Pinus contorta, alternating with sage {Artemisia tridentata). 

 We had to skirmish sharply for water, and the mosquitoes appeared to have a 

 kindred thirst; but the curious mixture of Upper Sonoran and Boreal faunas 

 interested and rewarded us; and it is always a diverting task to follow in the wake 

 of Grinnell's sub-species grinder. For example, we saw the White Mountain 

 Hermit Thrush ( Hylocichla guttata polionota) and the Inyo Nuthatch (Sitta caro- 

 linensis tenuissima Grinnell). The Nuthatch rather dominated the local scene 

 and intrigued our attention to the extent of 3n/6, all hard set. 



Upon our return, May 29th, we relieved William at his mosquito watch, 

 blew eggs, checked over horizons, and prepared to move to higher ground. The 

 following is the nine-day horizon, May 22-30, inclusive, for the exact section of 

 srwamp land lying between Bishop and Laws and the desert rim to northward, 

 all at an altitude of about 4,000 feet: Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon 

 Teal, Shoveller, Pintail, Ruddy Duck, White-faced Glossy Ibis, Bittern, Black- 

 crowned Night Heron, Virginia Rail, Sora, Coot, Northern Phalarope (stranded?), 

 Wilson Phalarope, Black-necked Stilt, Wilson Snipe, Spotted Sandpiper, Hud- 

 sonian Curlew (migrant), Killdeer, Valley Quail, Ring-necked Pheasant (intro- 

 duced), Western Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, Marsh Hawk, Red-shafted 

 Flicker, Pacific Nighthawk (arrived May 24), Black Swift (passing), Black- 

 chinned Hummer, Western Kingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, 

 Traill Flycatcher, Black-billed Magpie, Nevada Cowbird, Yellow-headed Black- 

 bird, Nevada Redwing, Western Meadowlark, Bullock Oriole, Brewer Blackbird, 

 English Sparrow, Modoc Song Sparrow, Nevada Spotted Towhee, Rocky Moun- 

 tain Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Western Tanager (migrant). Cliff Swallow, 

 Barn Swallow, White-rumped Shrike, California Yellow Warbler, Western Yel- 

 lowthroat, Western Chat, Olive-backed Thrush (passing?), Western Robin. 

 55 species, of which two introduced. 



From Bishop we climbed up into, or rather upon, Long Valley, a well 

 watered plateau of 7,000 feet elevation, which skirts the Sierras for twenty 

 miles, and fades into the jumble of low pine-clad foothills which flank the pas- 

 sage to Mono Lake. We paused only long enough, en route, to sample the 

 Mountain Chickadees (Parus gambeli), Brewer Sparrows {Spizella breweri) and 



A GLIMPSE OF THE SIERRAS FROM CAMP NEAR LAWS 



51 



