154 
THE CONDOR 
1 Vol. iir 
I would suggest a delightful side-trip and a climb to the summit of Pyramid Peak. 
To accomplish this a side-road is followed at Georgetown Junction (between Slip- 
pery P'ord and Echo) which leads to the summit of Peavine Ridge. This ridge runs 
easterly to the main mountain chain, and supports a fine growth of timber and 
many glacial meadows, in which birds abound. Several mountain dairies, de- 
serted excepting during the summer months, may be relied upon to furnish shel- 
ter as the nights are much too cold for comfortable out-door sleeping. A party of 
four, including m5oself, camped at the western base of Pyramid Peak in 1900 and 
found the country all too interesting for the brief inspection we could give it. 
The ascent of Pj'ramid Peak (altitude 10,020 feet) is well worth the climb, and 
here the Clarke nutcracker (Nitcifraga colicmbiana), the gray-crowned leuccsticte 
( Leucosticte tepJirocotis) and other species of the higher altitudes are met in their 
summer home. A panoramic view from the summit of Pyramid Peak will ever re- 
main fresh in the writer’s memory; far away to the south extended a solidly snow- 
capped ridge as far as the e3’e could .see; close at hand great snow-banks reached 
down the steep eastern .slope of Pyramid a thousand feet in unbroken whiteness, 
while far below beautiful mountain lakes and the dark-green forest combined to 
form a pleasing setting for these lofty mountain peaks. 
GENERAL CONhSI DERATION OE THE REGION AND ITS ZONES. 
In traversing the region from Placerville to the summit one is impressed with 
the abundance of warblers and sparrows, — indeed, in numbers, they seem to out- 
rank all the other species combined. Scarcely a patch of deer-brusli is passed 
that does not re.sound with thelK)Id, liquid song of dozens of thick-billed sparrows, 
while each clearing has its ([uota of warblers. Each species of warbler seems to 
show a preference for some particular type of country, b'or instance, 1 have found 
.\udubon warbler colonizing to (juite an extent in areas ' covered 1 )}’ a dense 
growth of cedar saplings. The Calaveras and Tohnie . warblers seem always to 
prefer the seclusion of brushy hillsides grown up to Ceajidthits vehdinus ox C. 
cordulatiis, while the black-throated gray warbler haunts the open ridges where 
the deer-brush has attained a height of eight or ten feet, atfording a feeding- 
ground and frequently nestingsites. The hermit warbler Shows a decided pre- 
ference for the clear, tall timber, where the males, at least,- usually keep well up 
in the trees. 
The brushy hillsides afford seclusion for the numerous Eringillidm, including, 
Passerella, Pipilo, S|fizella. Zonotrichia and Oreospiza, and the entire regit)n can 
conservatively claim a generous population of birds. In this respect I should 
judge it is more favored than either the country to the north or south, from which 
have come reports of the scarcity of mountain bird-life) Juflging from a casual 
view of the country contiguous to the Central Pacific Railroad I should consider 
the Placerville-Tahoe region more conducive to bird life than the former, but this 
is merely a surmise on my part. ,, 
In so brief a consideration of the life zones of this region it is impossible to 
give more than a mere outline of the general liinitstof each- zoiie' without making 
an extended study of this feature, which the writer has not, thus far done. Gen- 
erallv considered, the I’pper vSonoran zone extends tlirougli the region of the dig- 
ger pine and blue oak up to within a few miles of Placerville, and is marked b\’ 
the presence of such birds as Aphelocoma califoriiica\- Clidnuear fasiiata henshaivi 
and Pica )tijjtalli. x 
Placerville with its altitude of 1,800 feet may be considered the lower limit of 
the Transition zone, which extends up to about 5,000 feet on the stage road to the 
vicinity of Georgetown junction where the black oak gives out. In this belt a 
