Zbt Condor 
A MAGAZINE OF WESTERN ORNITHOLOGY 
Bi-Monthly Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club 
Vol. 4. No. 6. Santa Clara, Cal., November-December, 1902 $1.00 a Year 
Birds of the Little Sur River, Monterey County. 
BY JOSEPH GRINNEEI,. 
T he three days from July ii to 13 
last summer 1 spent in a trip 
down the coast from Monterey to 
the Little Sur River some twenty-five 
miles south. A party of us from the 
Hopkins Laboratory including Dr. O. P. 
Jenkins and several members of the 
class in ornithology set out on our 
wheels early Friday morning. In spite 
of the rough roads and almost continu- 
ous series of steep hills we thoroughly 
enjoyed the picturesque scenery which 
presented points of new interest at 
nearly every turn. The road follows 
the hillsides facing the rugged coast- 
line and crosses many ravines which 
cut down tranversely to the ocean. 
The Monterey pines which make up 
the forest on the Monterey peninsula 
cease entirely within a couple of miles 
below Point Lobos, and then comes a 
stretch of perhaps fifteen miles without 
a native tree of any sort until the 
mouth of Mill creek is reached. Here 
the first redwoods were met with, and 
those most exposed to the prevailing 
strong sea-breezes presented a curious 
flattened-down appearance. Behind 
the brow of a hill the tree tops were 
abruptly lopped off level with the 
top of the sheltering ridge, those right 
at the crest being only a few feet in 
height, but with broadly branching fol- 
iage. The road winds up over two 
divides before finally zigzagging down 
into the deep valley of the Little Sur. 
Here, toward the mouth, are several 
farms, and on the south fork where the 
dense redwood timber begins is a sum- 
mer camp or “hotel” called Idlewild. 
This we made our headquarters for the 
two nights of our stay. The crest of 
the Santa Lucia mountains which par- 
allel the coast is here fully 3500 feet 
high, though scarcely ten miles inland 
from the sea-board. Yet the short can- 
yons which cut westward down this 
rainy and foggy Pacific shed carry even 
in summer considerable streams. This 
narrow coastal slope is in continuation 
with California’s “humid coast belt,” 
and the Little Sur marks nearly its ex- 
treme southern limit. At least the red- 
woods so characteristic of tliis belt do 
not extend as far south as San Simeon, 
fifty miles below; the intermediate coun- 
try seems to be almost a terra incognita. 
Upon gazing over the Mill Creek 
divide into Little Sur Valley, we felt 
well repaid for our last dusty climb. 
For below us the dense dark forest 
looked invitingly cool and the murmur 
of mountain brooks came filtering up 
from the shady depths. To the right, 
between the hills guarding the mouth 
of the valley, shimmered the plaeid 
