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Nov., x9o 7 ?t85 A COLLECTING TRIP BY WAGON TO EAGLE LAKE, SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS By HARRY H. SHELDON N the morning of June 5, 1905, in company with Jim and Stanley Taylor, both enthusiasts in bird-study, I started from Marin County equipped for a three months trip by wagon to Eagle Lake, California. We purposed to collect some of the birds of the Lake and intervening region, and at the same time to enjoy the wilderness that abounds in the northern counties of California. We had a trip of four hundred miles before us, a trip which proved to be one of the roughest we had ever experienced. A tedious fourteen hours of navigation up the Sacramento River brought us to the capitol city at 4 A. ?. We were soon beyond the outskirts of Sacramento and into the big wheat fields of the valley, where after not more than three miles of travel we took our first specimen, a young Yellow-billed Magpie. Having secured a permit from the Fish Commissioners we were not so wary of being molested by the "don't shoot here" property owners, that were numerous enough along the county roads of the valley. From the second day on we began to take notes, and the long evenings were spent in putting up skins of birds we had anticipated putting in our cabinets. On the fourth day, after traveling thru the intense heat of the valley, we arrived at a beautiful spot at the base of the "table" mountains, the commencement of the Sierras. Here bird-life was at its height. It seemed like entering a large aviary as we walked thru the thick foliage that grew on either side of the creek. Tree Swallows, Kingbirds, Chats, Gnatcatchers, Woodpeckers, Vireos and others were all nesting in numbers; most nests found either contained young, or eggs advanced in incubation. The thickets of blackberry vines and thistles seemed to be there but for the purpose of a building-site for the Russet-backed Thrush and the Chat. The lat- ter's pleasing whistle was ever to be heard, and above the din, from the throats of the numerous other birds, we would intently listen, at long intervals, to the melo- dious notes of the California Cuckoo. After staying a day in this place, having procured some desirable specimens, we moved on to Chico, our last town south of the Sierras. Twenty miles of travel up the oak-covered hills brought us into the big cool timber; here our trip began in earnest, for nature was seen in all shapes and forms, and the names of the moun- tain dwellers were daily registered in our note books. The tin-horn song (as it im- pressed us) of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch was the first conspicuous bird-note we heard upon entering the timber, and close scrutiny would find him clinging a hun- dred or two feet up, on a dead pine. Chickadees, Tanagers, Kinglets, Warblers and Woodpeckers (many varieties of the latter) were seen in numbers, and on rare occasions a Pileated Woodpecker would give vent to his far-reaching call. After several mishaps that occurred to us especially on the last fifteen miles to the lake, we passed Papoose Valley, a home of the Wilson Phalarope, Wilson Snipe and numerous other water fowl. Three miles from here thru the gigantic pine timber, traveling on nature's path alone, put us on the shore of Eagle Lake, June 26. Well was it named, for above us, soaring in circles, was a solitary eagle, with his prominent white head and tail, and his dark body outlined against the prover- bial turquoise sky.