I 12 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. IV 
and rather scarce in summer. The number of sunny days each year is remark- 
ably high. The quail, flicker, hairy woodpecker, Steller jay, white-crowned spar 
row, creeper, and chickadee of the Sierra are either paler, or have more white in 
their plumage than their representatives in the coast belt. We might, for illus- 
tration, imagine a desert beset in summer with heavy fogs, but having scarcely 
any rain. Such a region would probably produce rather dark races of birds. On 
the other hand a fogless region of comparatively heavy rainfall of peculiar distri- 
bution, such as the Sierras, produces light races. It is reasonable to suppose — 
and tho we take it readily for granted it is not proved entirely — that the dark 
colors of the northwest coast birds have been assumed in response to protective 
natural selection. In other words a dark bird, or one with little white in its 
plumage is less conspicuous during the critical nesting period under sombre skies, 
or in a gloomy forest than a lighter bird, or a bird with considerable white in its 
plumage. Conversely, in the brilliant sunlight of the Sierra Nevada a lighter 
phase of this same species is less conspicuous than a dark form would be. The 
point to be emphasized of course is that moisture on the whole is only indirectly 
responsible for the dark races — and is indirectly responsible by its peculiar dis- 
tribution in the form of fog and clouds thruout the summer. 
In the follow’ing notes it is my object to record a few observations on the life 
zones and land birds* of the little-worked redwood belt, from Humboldt Bay to 
Crescent City, California. I landed at Eureka May 20, 1899 and spent a week in 
the vicinity of Areata, at the end of Humboldt Bay. This is in the more open 
long ago lumbered district close to the coast. From June 8 to 2 t I staid at a lum- 
ber camp north of Mad River close to a large tract of dense primeval forest. Then 
after spending a few days on the oirter peninsula of Humboldt Bay I travelled up 
the coast by stage, stopping at Trinidad Head, the vicinity of which is lumbered 
off. One evening was spent at the mouth of the Klamith, and June 29 to July 8 
at Crescent City, in the extreme northwest corner of the state. 
The redwoods occupy a narrow belt next to the coast from the southwestern 
corner of Oregon (Chetco R.) to about twelve miles south of Punta Gorda, Vlonte- 
rey County. North of San Francisco Bay the belt is almost unbroken and as- 
sumes its greatest width in the country between Cape Mendocino and Humboldt 
Bay. From Humboldt Bay north the strip scarcely ever exceeds fifteen miles in 
width. The redwoods typically occupy the low hills and valleys next to the 
coast, and in the northern portion of their range probably never go over a thous- 
and feet. In the vicinity of Humboldt Bay the belt ends abruptly at the first 
low range of mountains back of the coast. 
It is a hazardous undertaking to define precisely the life zone of this strip, 
from Cape Mendocino north, for the simple reason that the belt is mixed zonally. 
There seems little doubt that south of Cape Mendocino the redwood belt is refer- 
able to the Humid Transition. Considerable confusion exists however as to the 
proper position of the coast belt north. Dr. Merriam, in ‘Fife Zones and Crop 
Zones,’ places it as a division of his Canadian, but without remark. Other 
authors in an indefinite way have called the whole coast region boreal witliout 
differentiating the redwOod belt from the quite different mountainous district just 
to the east of it. A little detail seems necessary in dealing with the subject. 
But in a general way the open country immediately bordering the coast, the 
river valleys such as those of the Eel and Mad, and old deforested tracts, mostly 
near the coast and in or near the valley of the principal streams, contain species 
of birds and plants which would easily relegate these areas to the Humid Trans- 
ition. The same is true of the mountains immediately to the east of the redwood 
*To be published as part II, Condor IV, No. 6. 
