May, 1905 
IN ALASKA’S RAIN BELT 
71 
could think of nothing but the well known picture called ‘The Tight Shell,’ which 
one sees advertised in the sporting journals. The bird is perhaps still at large, and 
the shells, which finally did go in, were rapidly discharged at the empty air, mak- 
ing a fitting climax to a short but vigorous series of atmospheric disturbances that 
had preceded them. 
Washington , D. C. 
Midwinter Birds on the Mojave Desert 
BY JOSEPH MAILLIARD AND JOSEPH GRINNEEL 
T HE midwinter collecting trip of 1903-04 had been so pleasantly participated 
in by the authors of this article that it was proposed to repeat the experience 
the following year, with the difference of a change of base, and the addition 
of a student assistant for each of us. After thinking over various localities it was 
decided that Victorville, near the southern edge of the Mojave Desert would prob- 
ably prove an interesting point, and one at which but little work had ever been 
done. This locality was near enough to the bases of the San Bernardino and San 
Gabriel Ranges so that mountain birds should be found during stormy weather 
dispersed at the lower levels along with northern visitants and the resident 
desert species. 
Victorville is a small settlement on the line of the A. T. & S. F. railroad be- 
tween Barstow and San Bernardino, thirty-seven miles south of the former. The 
Mojave River runs past the place, cutting through some picturesque rocks just 
above the town, and finally loses itself in the desert sands below' Barstow. Its 
source is in the wood-covered San Bernardino Mountains to the south, and along 
its banks are groves of cottonwoods, many of these trees being of large size and 
the groves quite extensive in places. On each side of the river the desert stretches 
away in a varied assortment of plains, rolling hills, and bare rocky mountains. 
The usual desert bushes are but thinly scattered over its surface, affording little 
cover for the permanently resident birds; and while the tree yuccas are in evi- 
dence, chiefly towards the south, they are much less numerous than we had hoped 
to find them. 
The party consisted of the authors and three students from the Throop Poly- 
technic Institute of Pasadena. One of these, Philip Finger, was Mr. Mailliard’s 
assistant; another, Joseph Dixon, Mr. Grinnell’s; while the third, Walter P. Taylor, 
ornithologized on his own account. Owing to the scarcity of cover in the desert 
proper, birds proved very scarce there, and we soon found that most of our collect- 
ing would have to be done among the cottonwoods along the river, and about the 
large alfalfa field two miles north of town. A small irrigating ditch from the river 
above ran through this field, with seepage-sinks here and there containing reeds 
and willows, and we discovered that these were the abiding places of numerous 
song sparrows, which, when disturbed or when feeding, scattered out to weed 
patches in the vicinity. These birds had evidently come from many parts of the 
west, so that this locality seemed to serve as a sort of winter meeting place for 
them. We captured what looked to be quite a variety, but which finally worked 
down to three races, with intermediate examples, as shown in the annotated list 
to follow. 
