18 
You. XT 
BIRDS OF THE BICx BASIN 
By MILTON S. RAY 
WITH THREE PHOTOGRAPHS BY OLUF J. HEINE MANN 
I HAVE told in a previous number of The Condor how Heinemann and I 
tramped from the coast thru the Ben Lomond Mountains to the Big Basin, 
which was reached on the 13th of June, 1908. The present article tells of our 
stay of four days in the Basin, and the return journey to the coast. 
Our stay, while rather short, still gave us time to visit the principal points of 
interest and to gain a fair idea of the bird life. Arriving as we did at a later date 
than in 1907, and in a year of less rainfall, we found that the extreme dampness 
of the previous year did not now prevail. Bird life in general was most abundant 
about the settlement known as the Governor’s Camp, due no doubt to the fact that 
the habitations attract many species which, receiving protection as they do here, 
have no occasion to leave. 
Thruout the entire Basin the 
Coast Jay ( Cycinocitta stemeri 
carbonacea ) is an ever present 
species and is even more noti- 
ceable on account of its noisy 
ways and deep blue plumage. 
These jays are the most arrant 
bird thieves I know of and were 
the cause of many a joke on 
“green” campers. One party 
arriving from Los Gatos in a 
motor car brought a cherry limb 
thickly hung with fruit; but 
leaving it on the hotel porch for 
a few moments they found, on 
returning, they had nothing to 
show their expectant friends but 
„ the green leaves. Bolder birds 
than these Big Basin Jays I 
have never seen anywhere, not even excepting the Mainas of Honolulu or the 
Magpies of Shanghai. When eating our meals on the camp-tables, which were 
about eight feet long, a jay, or often several, would alight on the far end, and with 
that wise-acre look and scolding note come sideling up the table. Picking up 
the nearest eatable handy the bird would fly to a nearby perch to enjoy it; or per- 
haps, having been noticed by other jays, would be compelled to fly to safety thru 
the woods with a host of screaming fellows in pursuit. In no way afraid of the 
camera we were enabled to take pictures as close as we desired; but our camp 
being in the thick shade instantaneous photographs, for the jay is ever active, were 
not a great success. The jay rises early, for every morning before the camps were 
astir the jays, hungry and saucy, paraded thru the grounds peering into every nook 
and cranny and, alas, farewell to anything eatable lying within their reach. The 
jay, tho bold, is ever alert, and possesses a remarkable quickness of vision, as 
many an angered camper, with well-directed tho unavailing missile, is aware. 
This bird has one of the most varied vocabularies I know of. Here are some 
of the most common calls: a quick succession of chep chep, chep, chep, usually 
