Sep., 1901 
THE CONDOR 
117 
Summer Observations in 
BY F. S. DAGGETT, 
O N June 26 I started on a long 
trip which included a wagon 
drive from Pasadena, Cal., via 
Saugus, Antelope Valley, Ft. Tejon, 
Bakersfield, Visalia and thence up the 
North Fork of the Kaweah where the 
wagon was left. The journey was then 
continued with pack animals to the 
Giant Forest, then along the western 
divide to King’s River canyon, Bubb’s 
Creek and the system of alpine lakes 
near Mt. Brewer and Kearsarge Pass. 
Intense heat was encountered in the 
valleys, the thermometer ranging as 
high as 115° at Rose’s station. At Bull- 
frog Lake at an elevation of 11,000 
feet, the other extreme was met with, 
when ice formed on the meadows at 
night. This wide range of conditions 
included a vast faunal region which at 
best could be examined only in a super- 
ficial way, but over one hundred varie- 
ties of birds were identified, besides 
many doubtful species seen but not re- 
corded. 
In the cultivated section about Pasa- 
dena the common birds include the 
mockers, house finches. Brewers black 
birds, Bullock’s and Arizona hooded 
orioles, etc., but the change is sudden 
when the San Fernando valley is 
reached where the cactus wren, thrash- 
ers, Bells sparrows and birds of the dry 
wash region predominate. 
At the Newliall cut a sprightly pair 
of dotted canvon wrens worked down a 
dry run in the hard pan not ten feet 
from where we toiled up the stiff grade, 
the male stopping the whole expedi- 
tion by running down the scale in clear 
loud notes. To my mind the song of 
this bird is the most captivating of all 
the southern songsters. 
The Antelope Valley presents 
another area entirely different, for it 
has reverted from its former grain 
growing condition to that of an arm of 
the Mohave desert. Thousands of Mex- 
ican horned larks (Otocoris alpestris 
the Southern Sierras. 
PASADENA, CAE. 
chrysolcema) were seen in flocks of 
twenty 'to fifty. There is little protec- 
tion for them from the sun and we 
found them standing in rows in the 
shade of fence posts and milk weed, 
with mouths wide open when the ther- 
mometer marked 108° on June 27. 
Full-fledged young were in the flocks 
on that date. 
At the upper end of the valley sev- 
eral hundred ravens had congregated 
and all were feeding on grasshoppers 
which were constantly flying ahead of 
them whenever the birds moved. Many 
attempted the fl3matcher habit of tak- 
ing them on the wing, but such at- 
tempts, judging from their awkward 
antics must have often failed. Several 
dozen Swainson’s hawks were also en- 
gaged in the same occupation, but 
these made no attempt to catch the 
gra.sshoppers on the wing. 
Unlike the horned larks which were 
very tame, the ravens and hawks kept 
a long rifle shot away. When we re- 
turned through this section July 30, the 
grasshoppers were more than ever in 
evidence, but it being late in the after- 
noon, after feeding time, the ravens 
were having a rollicking time on the 
smooth surface of a large hill on one 
side of the valley. Unlike the crows 
under similar conditions they were 
quite silent. 
Between the head of the Antelope 
and the San Joaquin valleys is a rough 
country, but it contains a stretch of 
valley covered with magnificent oaks, 
one said to be the largest in the state 
being nearly 33 feet in circumference. 
This spot is of particular interest to 
bird students for here is the site of old 
Fort Tejon, the objective point of many 
of the earlier government expeditions 
and from which much exploration was 
done. Here in the ’50’s John Xantus 
made extensive collections, and to this 
locality we first owe such birds as the 
spotted owl, Hammond’s flycatcher. 
