168 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
years. Among other things suggested was the advisability of seeking some new 
territory in the bird’s range. Grinned in his Check-list of California Birds gives 
this as “the Boreal Zone of the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains from Placer 
County south to Fresno County.” After due consideration, however, we all 
agreed that familiarity with any locality was a decided advantage and the Pyra- 
mid Peak region polled a unanimous vote. 
The second point to be settled was the transporting of sufficient supplies to 
allow for a stay of at least ten days in the region. The High Sierras above 7500 
feet altitude are by no means easy of access, as at these elevations deep snow often 
covers the ground until July or later; it is in fact this inaccessibility of the bird’s 
summer home together with its restricted geographical range, that accounts for 
its eggs being peculiarly difficult to secure. Experience had proven that we 
were unable to carry sufficient supplies afoot and as it would be impracticable 
to use either a horse and wagon or pack-horses, a pack-burro appeared to be the 
only possible solution. This invaluable aid to our quest we arranged to obtain 
at Lake Tahoe. 
In the matter of stores, Heinemann, commissary-in-chief, prepared a list of 
provisions, especially adapted to the trip, which would allow for exactly twenty 
cooked meals, and ten luncheons in the field. Each meal was portioned out and 
labeled and, on our return, the consensus of opinion was that the method was a 
decided improvement over the usual way. Our equipment in other respects was 
equally complete and included, among other things, waterproof covers for all 
members of the party, including the pack-burro, which would enable us to con- 
tinue notwithstanding the rain or snowstorms which are of common occurrence 
at any time in these altitudes, regardless of the calendar, the predictions of the 
weather-bureau, or the pleasant prophecies of the spring-poet. 
In the Pyramid region the pines and firs often spear skyward to such a 
height that a nest, located in some situations, would be inaccessible by ordinary 
methods of fieldwork. Frequently with these giants of the forest it is from 60 
to 90 feet before the first limb branches out, and owing to the hugeness of the 
trunk and the soft condition of the bark, steel climbers are practically useless. 
To overcome this difficulty we carried long coils of rope and sufficient carpenter 
tools to build a rough staging if necessary. Of primary importance, tco, was a 
really wonderful contrivance of Chase Littlejohn’s that would enable us to lift 
eggs from a nest on a branch even fifteen or twenty feet out, and with perfect 
safety. Equally invaluable, too, and also devised by Littlejohn, was a partitioned 
collecting case with removable compartments lined with eider-down cloth. Speci- 
mens placed in this case could be lowered, in offhand fashion, from any height, 
in absolute security. 
But by far the most important point to be settled was the selection of the 
proper time to visit the region. As no actual nest of the bird had ever been 
found, this was purely a matter of individual calculation. To go by the scant 
information obtainable one had two diverse alternatives : on the one hand was 
Price’s statement that the birds were late breeders, as he had seen young birds 
just out of the nest on July 29 (which would make about July 1 a proper time 
for eggs) ; while on the other hand (speaking of another subspecies of the Pine 
Grosbeak found in the Rocky Mountains) was Coues’ statement that near the 
timber line in Colorado he noted young birds fully fledged in June. This latter, 
although an indefinite date, would put the proper time at least a month earlier 
than the date by Price’s reckoning. 
