
THE NATURALIST IN CALIFORNIA. 
BY J. G. COOPER, M. D. 

Los Angelos Plains.—ln December, 1860, I found my- 
self at Los Angelos, under orders to report at Fort Mojave, 
Colorado Valley, as soon as practicable. I therefore started 
on the fourth, in company with a train of wagons going with 
supplies to the Fort, mounted on a mule, and well supplied 
with material for collecting in that little known region. 
The southern part of California, even near the coast, was 
still brown and barren looking from the effects of the long 
dry season, although some rain had fallen for a month past. 
There is very little tree ‘growth except along the streams, 
and most of these sink in the dry season before reaching the 
sea, so that the nearly level plain bordering the coast for à 
width of twenty-five miles has a desolate appearance, though 
it is densely covered with herbage, and in spring puts on à 
garb of the most beautiful green, varied with myriads of 
pretty flowers. Already the lower grounds along the river 
bed are commencing to revive, and flocks of geese (Anser 
hyperboreus and Bernicla Gambelii) begin to enliven the 
scene; the Kill-deer ( ZEgialitis vociferus), a constant resi- 
dent where water is permanent, and occasionally flocks of 
other waders are seen. 
But the route leads away from the haunts of these semi- 
aquatic migrants, over the driest part of the plain towards 
Cajon Pass, and although animals of all kinds are less abun- 
dant there now than in the moist spots, they are more dis- 
tinet from those of the Atlantic States. Ground Squirr rels 
hilus Beecheyi) abound, their villages occupying 
every little elevation, and the squirrels dietis son. which do : 
not hibernate here, may be seen running in all directions or 
sitting erect near their burrows, and allowing a very near ap- 
PME that they can escape under ground from any 



