10 Te HOB SAPO D UeBsO°NS BU i haeeeigs 
and white pelicans occupied one cove. A flock of 100 Canada geese occupied 
another nook, not at all concerned by a bald eagle soaring above. Western, 
eared and pied-billed grebes abounded. 
Soon we were in rugged, hilly country. Western meadowlarks in song 
greeted our approach. We spotted a white-headed woodpecker and heard 
the calls of nuthatches, long-tailed chickadees, Shufeldt’s junecoes and king- 
lets. After dinner at Alturus, California, we drove for miles through the 
brush, searching for the sage hen. September 1 was open season on sage 
hens in California and the wily birds had evidently secreted themselves. I 
saw none. Even our guide found none the following day. In the swamps 
around Alturus were seen avocet, greater yellowlegs, black-necked stilt, 
Wilson’s snipe, yellow warbler, Western yellow-throat, spotted sandpiper, 
killdeer, sora rail, short-eared owl, and many Western species of ducks. 
Spectacular irrigation projects were observed on this trip and that to 
Tule lake. Drained lakes leave the ground white with alkali. This is washed 
from the ground which later produces great crops of grain and potatoes 
when irrigated. Great flocks of English sparrows frequent these rich grain 
areas. I saw no English sparrows on the Olympic Peninsula and only two 
in Seattle. 
On September 7 we traveled to Aspen lake, Rocky Point and Lake of the 
Woods. We halted at Eagle ridge, where we found a dead California pygmy 
owl that had been shot. It was a tiny thing, only seven inches long, smaller 
than our saw-whet. At Rocky Point we drank coffee with Mr. and Mrs. 
Timmons, the caretakers. He showed us ospreys catching rainbow trout 
and I pointed out the black-headed grosbeak eating elderberries. He showed 
us a spot in the distance where the white pelicans had their nursery. Inlets 
on Klamath lake were dotted with ducks too far off for identification. 
By September 10 the swamps south of town were alive with migrants. In 
an hour toward evening we saw huge flocks of Canada and snow geese, cin- 
namon, blue and green-winged teal, widgeon, ruddy, pintail, mallard, black, 
Shoveller, canvasback, baldpate, and lesser scaup ducks fiying from the 
ponds to huge wheat fields supervised by the Fish and Wildlife Service for 
attracting the wild fowl. Fringes of this area are rich hunting territory. 
Game leaves unprotected areas by the thousand at daybreak and returns in 
the afternoon. The sky is literally black with the huge flocks. 
On September 13, as we headed for Spring lake, we were halted on the 
highway by thousands of migrating swallows perched all over farm build- 
ings and telephone wires. Violet-green and barn swallows predominated, 
but all varieties were well-represented. It was much more spectacular than 
were the fall migrations of purple martins in the hawthorns along the west 
bank of the DesPlaines river at Maywood. At Spring lake the rushes were 
densely populated with yellow-headed blackbirds, with the golden feathers 
glistening in the sun. The white patches on the wings were conspicuous in 
flight. 
The red-shafted flicker and Gairdner’s (downy) woodpecker were the 
most commonly observed members of their family. An Arctic three-toed 
was seen with a white-headed woodpecker. In swamps south of town, the 
red-naped and Williamson’s sapsuckers were listed among fall migrants. 
