6 T H EVA UD UG BeOUN = R Us bie Negi 
“Westward, Ho!” 
By Mrs. AMY G. BALDWIN 
WHAT A DAY we are living in, with the many kinds of transportation we 
are privileged to use! Having never been in California, I was glad to 
get there as soon as possible, and flew by Trans World Airline from 
Chicago in 10 hours. Our trip was rerouted through Albuquerque instead 
of Las Vegas because of storms, bringing us in later than expected. On 
the way out I took some cloud pictures through the window of the plane 
which showed what bad storms were raging below us, though we were 
not disturbed. 
Arriving in Los Angeles on May 30th, I rested on Saturday, enjoying the 
lovely home where I was to stay. Roses, hydrangeas, fuchsias and Martha 
Washington geraniums were abundant and all blooming. Black phoebes, 
house finches, Brewer’s blackbirds, Chinese spotted doves and mocking- 
birds were in the streets and gardens. Sunday was spent with my brothers; 
one I had not seen for 43 years. 
Monday found us on our way to Catalina Island. We spent part of 
two days there, taking every trip out from the island and also through 
35 miles of its mountainous interior. On the way to the interior we 
visited William Wrigley’s El Rancho Escondido, where we saw pure-bred 
Arabian horses being trained. We also toured the new radio station instal- 
led high up on the mountain. 
We saw Bird Park, with its hundreds of rare and exotic birds from 
all over the world. We viewed Seal Rocks, and also the undersea gardens 
through a glass-bottomed boat. The flying fish put on a fine display when 
we took the boat again in the evening. A 40,000,000 candlepower search- 
light was played on water, rocks and hills. We saw far more seals at 
night than in the daytime trip. ‘Catalina is an education in itself. During 
the ride in the mountains we saw a striking mature bald eagle drinking 
water at a reservoir, and a wild goat on a rock. I thought flying fish 
were large, but was told the ‘average length is eighteen inches. The 
large herd of seals was on the mainland, but took off for safe depths with 
bellows from the males as the searchlight played on them. 
On a drive out to the San Gabriel Bird Sanctuary, Mrs. O. M. Stultz 
told of a field trip by the Los Angeles Audubon Society and made arrange- 
ments for my brother and me to join them. We traveled by chartered bus 
to Charlton Flats in the mountains not far from Mt. Wilson. Yucca was 
in full bloom, with many spikes scattered over mountainside like senti- 
nels. These plants may not be picked or disturbed, as they have good food 
value for ‘anyone lost in the mountains. There were many other blooming 
plants which I could not identify. We enjoyed meeting the members 
very much. 
Here I saw the pygmy nuthatch and the California or acorn woodpecker 
nesting in the same stump. Here, too, I added another woodpecker to my 
life list, the white-headed. Later I was to see this woodpecker much 
better in the forest up on the mountain in front of the chalet where we 
spent our two weeks at the California Audubon camp. 
