™NI 
Jan., 1920 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
Mt. Graham, Arizona, 1875 ; Chamaea fasciata henshawi, Walker’s Basin, Califor- 
nia, 1875; Hylocichla ustulata oedica, Santa Barbara, California, 1875; Aphelo. 
coma insularis, Santa Cruz Island, California, 1875. 
FIELD SEASON OF 1875 
In 1875 the operations of the Survey extended to California, which I had 
long desired to visit. Field work began June 1, when Dr. Rothrock, Dr. Loew, 
and myself visited Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, then al-. 
most wholly given up to sheep raising, for the purpose not only of making nat- 
ural history collections but of participating in the investigations of Paul Schu- 
macher, who was then engaged in archaeological researches in behalf of the 
Smithsonian Institution. Though only a few days were spent on the islands a 
number of interesting birds were collected there, including the types of the 
Island Jay (Aphelocoma insularis Henshaw). Here also, were obtained the 
first specimens of the Island Shore Lark, subsequently named by Townsend, 
Otocoris alpestris insularis. Mr. Ridgway and myself both believed this insu- 
lar form to be distinct, but as the specimens I secured were in extremely worn 
plumage, I decided to wait the reception of better specimens before describing 
it as new. 
Santa Cruz Island, and probably also the other islands of the group, was 
then inhabited by a small race of the gray fox (Vulpes littoralis) which not 
only existed in incredible numbers, but was so tame as to permit its habits to 
be studied at close range. Having apparently no enemies the foxes had not con- 
tracted the fear habit, and, indeed, exhibited more curiosity than fear. 
June 15 we joined the main party at Los Angeles, then only a small hamlet 
with a population containing a large admixture of Mexicans and with little 
about it to suggest the metropolis of later years. The pasture.in which we 
camped and made ready for the field is now in the heart of a populous and ever 
growing city. | 
At Los Angeles the original plan of field work was changed so as to per- 
mit a small party to return to Santa Barbara with a pack outfit, and prosecute 
archaeological researches in that neighborhood under the direction of Dr. H. C. 
Yarrow. We reached Santa Barbara June 24, and I was greatly impressed 
with the beauty of the place. The town was then in very primitive condition, 
a quaint old-fashioned Spanish settlement, with no connection with the outside 
world by railroad and with only two steamers weekly. Almost entirely hemmed 
in on three sides by lofty and picturesque mountains and sea girt on the fourth 
side, it possesses a climate of its own, and I afterwards came to consider it the 
most inviting place on the Pacific to live in, an opinion evidently shared by 
thousands of others who have made the place their permanent home. 
Having obtained permission from the Moore Brothers we made Moore’s 
Island our base camp, this being ten or more miles from the town. Here we 
were engaged till July 13 exeavating the Indian burial places which abounded 
in the vicinity, and also in making natural history collections. 
The Santa Barbara Islands and adjacent mainland were apparently thick- 
ly populated till well within historic times by kindred tribes whose chief sub- 
sistence was gained from the sea, which teemed with fish and mollusks and, 
in those days, with seals and sea-otters. The old cemeteries were easily found. 
as the natives apparently always marked their site by placing above the dead 
the bones of whales; and tons of Indian belongings, mostly of steatite, inelud- 
