298 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



With these considerations in mind, we, the Directors of the Sierra 

 Club, do commend this matter to yourself as a member or friend of 

 our organization, trusting that you will give it your most careful 

 consideration with a view to contributing toward the amount of this 

 expense, should the enterprise here outlined meet with your approval. 



The matter represents some sacrifice all around: the Sierra Club 

 is assuming a burden in financing the publication, and the officials 

 of the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology are putting aside 

 other interests to take care of this one ; but this is, to our minds, so 

 favorable an opportunity of adding to our knowledge of the Yosemite 

 National Park, that we recommend your financial support of the pro- 

 ject as a well warranted outlay. 



Directors of the Sierra Club 

 Prospectus 



Object. — To find out what species of mammals, birds and reptiles 

 exist in the area explored ; to learn as much as possible concerning the 

 local distribution of each species, and to map out the general life 

 areas within the region; to learn as much as time permits of the habits 

 and ecologic relationships of each of the species, in other words their 

 natural history; to put all this information upon permanent published 

 record, in a form to be attractive to the pubHc, both lay and scien- 

 tific. 



Justiiication. — The Yosemite National Park is visited by thousands 

 of people each year, a certain proportion of whom would find an ac- 

 count of its natural history of immediate service as a source of 

 information concerning the animal life encountered. The natural his- 

 tory of so famous a region as that containing the Hetch Hetchy and 

 Yosemite valleys would doubtless prove of wide acceptance also among 

 people not privileged to visit this National Park but who have a gen- 

 eral interest in the out-of-doors. Only the merest fragments of in- 

 formation have up to the present time appeared in print concerning 

 the birds of the region ; and practically nothing has appeared as re- 

 gards the mammals and reptiles. From a scientific standpoint a de- 

 tailed comparative faunal study of the central Sierra Nevada on 

 both of its slopes would be a highly desirable consummation. This 

 would fill in the gap now existing in our knowledge of the vertebrates 

 of CaHfornia. 



Itinerary. — From a distributional standpoint it is desirable to com- 

 plete a faunal cross-section of the Sierra from one base to the other, 

 say from Merced Falls across the Yosemite National Park to Mono 

 Lake. A feasible route between the points named would lie along the 

 Coulterville and Tioga roads. Twelve or more base stations would 

 be made to adjacent points as seemed necessary, such as Hetch 

 Hetchy and Yosemite valleys. It would thus be possible to study 

 closely every life-zone and association represented in the region trav- 



