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18 VoL. XI BIRDS OF THE BIG BASIN By MILTON S. RAY 1VI'I'H THREE PHOTOGRAPHS BY OLUP' J. HEINEMANN 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 ? 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 (Cyanocilla slelleri 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 ?a a'riving from Los Gatos in a motor car brought a cherry limb thickly hung with fruit; but leaving it on the hotel porch for '$ a fe?v moments they found, on 4, ? . ,o ? returning, they had nothing to show their expectant friends but the green leaves. Bolder birds COAST JAY FORAGING AROUND CAMP IN BIG BASIN 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