Mov. 19, 1964. j 
4^6 
turned their horses out to graze in very good feed. Cox 
went apart some distance, and after feasting on the fruit 
that grew here, lay dawn and went to sleep. When he 
awoke the sun was low, and no sound was to be heard. 
His companions had vanished. It afterward appeared 
that they had started in three sections, at a little distance 
from one another, and that each division of the_ com- 
mand supposed Cox to be with one of the other divisions. 
It was not until toward night that his absence was dis- 
covered; and in the meantime he had awakened and set 
off in pursuit of the party, but soon lost the trail. He 
was lightly clad in a shirt and pair of cotton trousers, and 
moccasins. He had no arms; no knife; no means of mak- 
ing a fire. The first night out he plucked a quantity of 
grass, covered himself with that, and slept through the 
night. On the following day he journeyed eastward, and 
late in the evening saw, only a mile from him, two horse- 
men rapidly riding to the east. They were near enough 
sO that he could see that they belonged to his party. He 
raced after them, shouted, waved his shirt, and did every- 
thing possible to attract their attention, but they did not 
see him. By this time his moccasins had absolutely gone 
to pieces, and this night the labor of pulling the grass cut 
his hands. It was two days since he had eaten. Birds 
and deer were numerous, and close to him fish were seen 
in the waters, but he could not catch them. That night, 
however, he found an abundant supply of cherries, which 
gave him a hearty supper.; but the howling of wolves and 
"growling of bears" kept him awake much of the night. 
The following day he looked for horse tracks, and at 
night returned to the place where he had slept before. 
His feet were now so much lacerated by prickly pears and 
the stones over which he had walked, that he was obliged 
to make bandages for them from the legs of his trousers. 
His fear of wolves and bears grew; and perhaps the 
man's weak condition tempted the animals, for he tells us 
that they came quite close to him. As he wandered on 
occasionally he saw horse tracks, but always old ; yet 
showing that there were people in the country. On the 
night of the 25th, he found no water, and as he was about 
to lie down to sleep, he found that he was surrounded by 
snakes of every kind. "It was a peculiar soul-trying 
moment," he tells us. "I had tasted no fruit since the 
morning before, and after a painful day's march under a 
burning sun, could not procure a drop of water to allay 
my feverish thirst. I was surrounded by a murderous 
brood of serpents, and ferocious beasts of prey; and with- 
out even- the consolation of knowing when such misery 
might have a probable termination. I might truly say 
with the royal psalmist that 'the snares of death com- 
passed me round about.' " But he lived through it. All 
the next day he traveled without water, and when at night 
he came to a stream, he was so weak that he fell into it, 
and was almost carried away, but caught himself by an 
overhanging bough and regained the shore. Here he 
found food and ate it eagerly. "On looking about for 
a place to' sleep, I observed lying on the ground the hol- 
low trunk of a large pine, which had been destroyed by 
lightning. I retreated into the cavity; and having covered 
myself completely with large pieces of loose bark, quickly 
fell asleep. My repose was not of long duration; for at 
the end of about two hours I was awakened by the growl- 
ing of a bear, which had removed part of the bark cover- 
ing and was leaning over me with his snout, hesitating as 
to the means he should adopt to dislodge me ; the narrow 
limits of the trunk which confined my body prevented 
him from making the attack with advantage. I instantly 
sprang up, seized my stick, and uttered a loud cry, which 
startled him, and caused him to recede a few steps ; when 
he stopped and turned about apparently doubtful whether 
he would commence an attack. He determined on an 
assault; but feeling I had not sufficient strength to meet 
such an unequal enemy, I thought it prudent to retreat, 
and accordingly scrambled up an adjoining tree. My 
flight gave fresh impulse to his courage, and he com- 
menced ascending after me. I succeeded, however, in 
gaining a branch, which gave me a decided advantage 
over him ; and from which I was enabled to annoy his 
muzzle and claws in such a manner with my stick as 
effectually to check his progress. After scraping the bark 
some time with rage and disappointment, he gave up the 
task, and retired to my late dormitory, of which he took 
possession. The fear of falling off, in case I was over- 
come by sleep, induced me to make several attempts to 
descend; but each attempt aroused my ursine sentinel; 
and, after many ineffectual efforts, I was obliged to re- 
main there during the rest of the night. I fixed myself 
in that part of the trunk from which the principal grand 
branches forked, and which prevented me from falling 
during my fitful slumbers. A little after sunrise, the 
bear quitted the trunk, shook himself, 'cast a longing, 
lingering look' toward me, and slowly disappeared in 
search of his morning repast. After waiting some time, 
apprehensive of his return, I descended and resumed my 
journey through the woods." 
A few hours later Cox came upon a well-beaten horse- 
trail, with fresh tracks both of hoofs and human feet. 
Following this he came that evening to a spot where the 
party had camped the preceding night; and about a large 
fire which was still burning found the half-picked bones 
of grouse and ducks, on which he made a hearty meal, 
the first flesh he had tasted in a long time. For two 
days more he followed the trail; on the second day find- 
ing fruit. The tracks grew constantly fresher, but the 
bandages of his feet were constantly wearing out, and, 
with the exception of his shirt, he was almost naked. At 
evemrtg he came to a fork in the trail, with fresh tracks 
on both branches. One led up a hill, the other into a 
valley. Cox took the upper one, but as it was growing 
dark feared that he might not find water at night, and 
turned back and followed the trail into the valley. Be- 
fore he had gone far he thought he heard the neighing of 
a horse, and hurrying onward before long he saw several 
horses feeding in a meadow on the other side of a 
stream. He crossed, and one of the horses approached 
him, and to the weak and starving man the good beast 
looked like a real friend. A little further on he saw 
smoke, and then two women appeared, who at sight of 
him fled to a shelter at the further end of the meadow. 
From this at once emerged two men, who came running 
toward him in the most friendly manner. They carried 
him in their arms to their home ; washed and dressed his 
wounds, roasted some roots and boiled salmon for him. In 
fact, they treated him as if he had been a relation rather 
than a stranger. The men talked with him in signs, and 
gave him to understand that they knew who he was, and 
that he had been lost and that they with other Indians 
and white men had been searching for him. To a man 
who had been wandering in the desert for fourteen days, 
the sight of these Indians, and the harsh, gutteral sounds 
by which they expressed their thoughts, were perfectly 
delightful. Full, warm, and clad, for the first time in two 
weeks, he slept that night as he had never slept before. 
The next day the men took him in a canoe across the 
Coeur DAlene River, and having given him deerskin 
clothing, they set off on horseback to the eastward. 
After seven hours they came to where some of the 
Canadians were at work getting wood. Francois Garde- 
pie joined them just before they reached the tents, and 
taking Cox for an Indian, spoke to him. It was not until 
he replied in French that he recognized him, and there 
was much rejoicing in all the camp when he joined his 
people. The party had supposed that he had long per- 
ished ; for considering his youth and his inexperience in 
the Indian country, the oldest voyageurs had given him 
up after the sixth day. 
George Bird Grinnell. 
[to be continued.] 
California, Bird Life* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
. Having spent August, September and part of October 
in California, I have a mind to submit a few jottings of 
my observations while in that country and traveling 
across the intervening territory. 
The journey was made via St. Louis, St. Paul, Butte, 
Montana, Seattle, Portland, and thence by Shasta 
Mountain and the Sacramento Valley, to San Francisco. 
Being on a strictly business mission with important 
.engagements to meet, there was no time to linger by 
;the way, nor make any diversions for the purpose of 
.sight-seeing. A couple of hours were spent in St. 
Paul, where dwells Mr. Charles Cristadoro, one of 
jF orest - and Stream's valued contributors; but there, 
■was no time to meet him on his own "dung hill," and 
.renew the fight over the duck and Limburger propo- 
sition. The interval between trains was fully occu- 
pied in negotiating fO'r' an upper berth in the sleeper 
•for Portland, along with a crowd of other unfortunate 
(applicants. A berth had been secured (?) in St. Louis 
:two days before, and paid for, but the Burlington 
; agent had failed to provide for it by wiring ahead. 
:Shasta Mountains was passed a little more than arm's 
length distant, apparently, in whose environs the 
genial Ransacker abides on his coon-haunted "ranch," 
and makes and bakes bricks for his needs by a recipe 
from the encyclopedia. 
In traversing' the extensive plains east of the moun- 
tains, a most notable feature was the absence of forest 
growth and the paucity of bird life, tkese doubtless 
being directly related. Sparrow hawks were more in 
evidence than any other bird as seen from the train. 
These, with a few blackbirds, made up nearly the whole 
of visible bird life in a day's journey. 
While in California my movements were restricted 
to making a number of excursions from San Francisco 
to all parts of the Sacramento valley, below the moun- 
tain region, and less extensively into the San Joaquin 
valley. Through this "great central valley" of Cali- 
fornia, bounded on the east by the "High Sierra" and on 
the west by the Coast Range, the Sacramento River 
courses southward from the northern extremity, and the 
San Joaquin northward from the southern end. They 
meet opposite San Francisco and flow together into 
the ocean through Suisun, San Pablo and San Fran- 
cisco Bays, the Coast Range barrier having been 
broken here in a former geological age. All of this 
region is also characterized by the lacking of forest 
growth and paucity of bird life. There was a total 
-absence of the numerous varieties of song birds that 
so enliven the woods and groves of the east and south. 
Only one variety of blackbird was observed, which is 
identical with one of our southern varieties, somewhat 
smaller than the common crow blackbird, with con- 
spicuous yellow eyes, and a few with red shoulders. 
These birds were more numerous than any other 
• species. 
The bluejay of this region was encountered infre- 
quently. It differs widely from the southern jay in 
many particulars. It is a secretive bird and not easily 
descried in the thickets. Its single, unmusical and 
disagreeable note was heard on a number of occasions 
beioie the bird could be seen and identified. It ap- 
peared to be a dark blue all over, without any display 
of white in its flights. The multi-colored magpie made 
a striking appearance, with its rounded wings and ex- 
tremely long and narrow tail. A single flock of a 
hundred or more was seen near the Feather River, 
whirling along the fence row and across the field with 
a great show of animation. 
One strange variety of bird was seen in the upper 
Sacramento and. Feather River country, whose popu- 
lar name even could not be learned from the citizens 
encountered. This bird flew along the road side from 
one post to another, is slate-colored all over, and 
somewhat resembles in size and flight our southern 
"bee-martin" (Audubon's "kingbird"). A small bird 
resembling the field sparrows, was called by the people 
the "chippy" bird. One only mockingbird was ob- 
served in the upper San Joaquin, and a few robins were 
visible. There were some doves, and a few "valley 
quail," but neither were numerous, though -the country 
abounds in small grain. 
Along the water courses were many blue herons 
and a smaller bird supposed to be a bittern, or "fly 
up the creek." Also many hawks were seen along the 
Sacramento in some localities, and a species of owl, 
that exhibited so much daytime alertness and quick- 
ness of motion as to suggest that it might be a "hawk- 
owl." These birds presumably live on the "gophers," 
a small burrowing rodent that infests the alfalfa fields 
and destroys much of the crop by feeding on the roots 
of the plant. These burrowers invade the levees along 
the river bank, in places honeycombing the embank- 
ments, and are a principal source of dagger in flood 
times, their burrows sometimes causing crevasses in 
the levees. In some localities men are employed to 
patrol the levees, with "trap and guns," for the des- 
truction of these little creatures, that are about the 
size of a small rat. 
It is a curious sight to see the large gray squirrels, 
in a treeless country, racing across the dusty roads 
and desiccated plains and disappearing in burrows in 
the ground. These squirrels much resemble our com- 
mon grays, but are somewhat larger. They are not 
esteemed as game animals, and are not protected by 
the game law, while the "tree squirrels" are. What 
they live on, the Lord only knows. 
The open season on ducks began on Oct. 15. Some 
complaint was heard that the date was fixed in the 
middle instead of the first of the month, as it was 
said that the home-reared birds were fully grown by 
the earlier date. In the Tulare Lake country, upper 
San Joaquin valley, sprig-tails were shot in September, 
in the wheat fields, under the plea of depredation on 
the grain. This seems to have been accepted as justi- 
fication by the game law authorities. There were many 
ducks in evidence on the marsh lands about the bays. 
mjallards, teal, and sprig-tails, and the duck crop 
promised to be abundant. These marsh lands have all 
been appropriated by the numerous hunting clubs. 
In one case, known to me, four cents an acre was paid 
to the owner for the season's shooting privilege. 
I have reserved for the last my observations on the 
meadow lark, having something particular to say about 
this bird. In controversy with several of your western 
contributors over the question of this bird's claim to 
being considered a "song bird," I believe the expres- 
sion was used that those gentlemen and myself were 
looking at the opposite sides of the same shield. 
This expression is specialized and emphasized in 
its application to the California meadow lark. This 
bird has a strong family resemblance to the southern 
meadow lark, but there are some very marked and 
particular differences. In coloration, the California 
lark lacks the vividness of contrast between the bright 
yellow "vest" and glossy black "cravat" that is con- 
spicuous in the southern variety. But in voice and 
utterance the difference is most striking. While again 
there is strong family resemblance between the vocal 
expressions of the two, those of the California bird 
are much superior in volume and richness and in 
variety of notes. There is a distinct difference also 
in the notes uttered and in their arrangement. More- 
over, the California lark is quite voluble, his song 
being frequently heard, while that of the southern 
lark is infrequently, as well as feeble and monotonous. 
The California meadow larks are rather numerous, and 
are widely distributed throughout the Sacramento 
valley. 
These observations were made in the late summer 
and autumn, when the cheerful songs of the meadow 
larks were the only bird voices to relieve the stillness 
of nature. It may be presumed that his voice is much 
more in evidence in the spring time; and the California 
meadow lark is certainly entitled to all the honors of 
a "song bird," in an otherwise songless region. 
Whether the alliance is closer between the California 
larks and those of the middle west, or between the 
latter and those of the south, I am not informed, but 
suspect this to be true, judging from the claims ad- 
vanced in favor of the northern lark as a songster. 
There were but a few turkey buzzards and carrion 
vultures, and some common crows, observed in Cali- 
fornia, mention of which was omitted above, and I be- 
lieve that completes the list of birds seen in that 
country. 
Several "jack rabbits" were seen in the Tulare Lake 
country. These differ much in size and appearance, 
and in manner of running, from our "cottontails" and 
"cane cutters." The latter run with ears laid back flat 
and the little "cotton" tail erect, and proceed in bounds 
with legs extended fore and aft. The "jacks" run with 
their rather long tails closely tucked down, like a 
wounded deer. In their mode of progressing, there is 
an appearance of stiff verticality of the legs, the body 
being high up from the ground. They run on a level 
for half-dozen yards or so, and then make a little up-. 
