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148 THE CONDOR VoL. XII especially W. W. Price, who has spent season after season in the region, and Dr. Sterling Bunnell ? who made such an extended tho fruitless search. Nor was this all; for I was furthermore aware of the difficulties which we were liable to encounter in ascending Pyramid as early as the tenth of June; for the attempt I made on this date in 1903 a, when we were forced back not only by almost im- passable snow-drifts but by drenching rain-storms, while snow fell on the peak just above us, was still vivid in my memory. Chester Barlow is one of the few to ?cend Pyramid as early as June tenth; the majority of those who climb the peak seldom do so until late July or August when the ascent becomes comparatively easy. Carriger, however, unacquainted as yet with the Leucostictes or their alpine habi- tat was far more sanguine and could see no reason why a careful search might not be rewarded. As for the hardships and danger, these were laught at, and the trip became a realty. Fig. 44. DEPARTURE FROM BIJOU BV MOTOR-BOA'E; DUTTKE IN FOREGROUND At five o'clock, on the morning of June 9, we left Bijou, Mr. Wilton Young driving us eight miles thru Lake Valley to the foot of the summit of tile Placer- ville - Lake Tahoe Stage Road and thus enabled us to reach the Forni Meadow at the base of the peak by nightfall. 'As we carried provisions for a week, blankets, and the usual collecting paraphernalia, we advanced but slowly. The summit of the stage road, altitude 7600 feet, was made at 8:30 a.m., and from here our progress became still slower; for Carriger, meeting for the first time such rare species as the Sierra Grouse, Sierra Hermit Thrush and Ruby- crowned Kinglet, in their summer home, made wide detours from the road that were at times decidedly retrograde, and for a while it seemed as if the prospective nests of the Leucosticte would remain undisturbed until solne future season. But now, to the northwest above the tall pines and firs that walled the summit meadow, rose the ever-present Pyramid, towering above all its neighbors, and, splasht with snow, it presented a picture of wild and rugged mountain beauty unequaled in the region. Pyramid, the peak of peaks, xvas luring us, and we continued on our way. Phillips' Station, 6900 feet elevation, was past at ten o'clock, and from here the road is all down grade to Echo, 5700 feet elevation, where, arriving at 12:17, we halted for lunch. The usual route from Echo to the Forni Meadow is by the Georgetown Junc- tion Road, but insted we took a mountain trail which tho very steep is consider- Notes by Dr. Bunnell. appended to this article. Auk, Vol. xxii, 1o. 364.