47 
Mar. 1903 I THE CONDOR 
A List of Water Birds of Lake Valley, Central Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. 
BY MIBTON .S. ray. 
W HILE the land birds of this region have been fully treated by Chester 
Barlow in The Condor fVol. Ill, No 6) and by Wilfred Osgood and 
other writers in various magazines, little or nothing has been written re- 
garding the water birds. I have spent two seasons in the valley, from June 4 to 
June 20, 1901, and from June 16 to Jul}^ 3, 1902. My brother, William R. Ray, 
has accompanied me and in 1902 Olof Heinemann joined us. 
The principal resort of the water birds is the marsh extending along the shore 
of Lake Tahoe between Rowdands and Tallac for about three miles and from one 
to three miles inland. They are also found sparingly, however, on Lake Tahoe 
and other adjacent lakes, and in the various meadows and along the numerous 
streams of Lake Valley. Most collectors have been prevented from working the 
marsh at Rowlands thoroughly owing to deep water, impenetrable tule-thickets 
and impassable patches of pond lilies. While inaccessible to a row-boat, we over- 
came these difficulties with a light portable canvas canoe which we used both 
years. This enabled us to go over the shallowest w'ater or lily-beds with ease and 
thru the thick tules with some little difficulty. 
Thanks are due Mr. Leverett M. Loomis for identifying a number of skins 
taken. Starred (*) species were collected. 
Colymbus californicus. American Eared Grebe.* The grebe is a very rare 
bird about Lake Tahoe. None were observed in 1901, although many days were 
spent in the marsh at Rowlands. On June 29, 1902, a nest was found in the 
above marsh in about six feet of water among a sparse patch of tules. It was a 
floating mass of decayed vegetation and fastened to the reeds, and contained four 
well stained and almost fresh eggs. 
Larus californicus. California Gull. This gull in all states of plumage is 
abundant on the lake about Rowlands but does not breed. On every visit im- 
mense flocks would lazily raise from the sand bar at the mouth of the river as we 
entered. 
Sterna forsteri. Forster Tern.* Very common about Rowlands marsh where it 
nests in colonies of a dozen pairs or more. When the nesting grounds were ap- 
proached the terns would fly up and hover about us, uttering their discordant 
cries, and some would dart uncomfortably close to our heads. The nests were 
built in various situations. The majority were built up of dry tules where the 
water is about five feet deep. When freshly built of green tules the nest formed 
a pretty picture. They were placed among tall thick tules or marsh grass and 
pond-lilies at their edge. Great difference existed in the nests, some being elabor- 
ate structures, while others were scantily made and placed on soggy masses of 
dead tules or floating logs. Numerous eggs were observed floating in the water 
about the nesti ng grounds and in a large number of sets taken the eggs were 
addled. A little before the first of June these terns start nest building, and fresh 
and partly incubated eggs were found all through the month. Even on my latest 
trip to the marsh, June 29, 1902, I did not observe any young of forsteri. The 
nests contained either one, two or three eggs and in about one hundred nests ex- 
amined in 1901 and 1902, only one contained more, namely, five eggs. While the 
style of marking varies greatly, the ground color of brownish-drab and the blotches 
of brown, umber and lilac remain about the same. A single exception w'as a set 
