THE CONDOR 
I Vol. Ill 
ii8 
Cassin’s Vireo and others. 
A magnificent specimen of the Cali- 
fornia vulture was seen at the outlet of 
this canyon where it broadens into the 
head of the San Joaquin valley. He 
came down the canyon some 600 feet 
in the air, the white of his outstretched 
wings shining like silver. Making a 
couple of circles for our benefit he 
rounded the eastern spur and disap- 
peared. The vaqueros on this ranch of 
forty miles square say that at times they 
see numbers of them about dead cattle. 
With food plentiful and shooting abso- 
lutely prohibited, as it is on this ranch, 
it is hoped that this may prove to be a 
vast preserve for the perpetuation of 
this our grandest species. 
We encountered Mexican horned 
larks again in numbers about the head 
of the San Joaquin valley, but they 
disappeared as we entered the irriga- 
tion district about Bakersfield, where 
for twenty-five to forty miles the semi- 
desert country has been made to bloom. 
This transformation has, of course, 
changed the whole fauna as well. 
Noisy x\rkansas king-birds are on every 
fence and cottonwood, song sparrows 
and valley partridges about every 
clump. 
In driving at night to avoid the heat, 
we were often greeted with strange 
voices and notes. Killdeer would fly 
from roadside puddles, barn owls from 
the fences, and herons flash in the 
moonlight as we rumbled across bridges 
over the irrigation ditches. We are 
fairly familiar with the day habits of 
our common birds but how little we 
know of the interesting period between 
sunset and sunrise. 
Leaving the valley beyond Visalia 
we strike right up the North Fork of 
the Kaweah river, crossing the Marble 
Fork of that stream and enter the Giant 
Forest in the Sequoia National Park. 
One could hardly imagine a greater 
change in flora and fauna than here 
exists. 
Guns are not allowed in the park, 
but the military officers in charge ex- 
tend every courtesy to bonafide stu- 
dents and scientists. We were given a 
letter by the commanding officer to all 
guards and patrols to extend to us 
every po.ssible courtesy, and permission 
to carry our guns unsealed through the 
parks, but not to be used for game 
shooting. Our whole stay was marked 
by extreme courtesy and helpfulness 
on the part of officers and patrols. 
Many of the sequoia are perforated 
for woodpecker’s nests, the holes how- 
ever not reaching through the bark, 
and in nearly every instance being 
located on the north or shady side of 
the tree. Along the ridges on the 
slopes of the western divide we met 
with half grown sooty grouse, the old 
birds flying into the trees, followed by 
the young. At about the same eleva- 
tion, 8000 to 9000 feet, I saw broods in 
the canyons along the edges of mead- 
ows. They were ver}^ tame allowing me 
to stand under the tree when they were 
standing rigidly upon a limb fifteen feet 
above. 
On Bubb’s Creek an old hen and 
half a dozen one-third grown chicks 
hung about the meadow all one Sun- 
day and we took much interest in her 
motherly solicitude. That evening a 
couple of young fellows out of supplies 
came down the canyon and we gave 
them of our store and they left. A few 
minutes later we heard the report of a 
gun and one of them returned and of- 
fered us the mother bird, in gratitude 
for our treatment, but none of us had 
the heart to accept it. What became 
of the brood of chicks I know not for 
we broke camp next morning at day- 
light. Incidents of this kind show that 
much damage is done by thoughtless 
persons. 
At Lake Reflection and Bullfrog- 
Lake Clarke’s nutcrackers, in pairs, 
showed much distress, although we 
could find no nests or young about. 
The gray-crowned leucostictes were 
common in both localities and very 
tame, and had the habit noted at Mt. 
Whitney of gleaning numbed insects 
