Transcribing the field notes of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 9 Page Number: 2578

6456 Slender-billed Nuthatch (female sign) ad. 16.8g. Shot from bole of pine. 6457 Sierra (?) Junco (male sign) im. 18.3g. Shot on ground among salvia bushes. This was the only junco of this form seen so far; alone. 6458 Junco (male sign) ad. 18.3g. bill, pinkish white; iris sepia; shot in willow. 6459 Junco (male sign) im. 18.8g. bill, pinkish white; iris sepia; shot in willow with the last. 6460 Bluebird (female sign) im. 27.3g. Shot in pine. 6461 Bluebird (male sign) im. 28.2. Shot in pine. 6462 Bluebird (male sign) im. 29.9. Shot in pine. 6463 Bluebird (male sign) ad. 28.5g. Shot in pine. 6464 Cabanis Woodpecker (female sign) 46.7g. Shot in pine. 6465 Cabanis Woodpecker (female sign) 53.6g. Shot in pine. This morning I went off to the south about 2 miles up a draw and into some hills where there was considerable of the oak growth that looked good for birds from a distance. I saw nothing there, however, not common around camp; only a few Mountain Chickadees, one small company of Bluebirds, two Cabanis Woodpeckers, and the ever-present Pigmy Nuthatches. All of these were in or about pines, not in the oaks at all. Oh yes, -- two Ravens flew over. Most of the birds put up today, and listed above, I shot within half a mile of camp. Of the bluebirds, pigmy nuthatches, and chickadees, there is a seemingly exhaustless supply right around us. Saw a Tanager today, in the cascara thickets, where I shot one the other day. Heard the

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 9 Page Number: 2580

doubtless hardly covered with dirt as they go. I suppose they find the insects in the leaf-mold under the thickets here and there. Lamb and I both have "modified" Macabee gofer (sic) traps set all the time for the moles, but this species is so small that an individual goes thru and thru (sic) a trap without springing it, or if sprung, without nipping(?) him. 7:00 p.m. -- Barometer = 23.20 inches Sky partly overcast, but northwest wind blowing cold. 6466 Merriam Chipmunk (male sign) 56g. 226x98x34x14. Under boulder. 6467 Merriam Chipmunk (male sign) 55.4g. 217x90x33x16. Under manzanita. Oct. 10 6468 Thomomys (female sign) 88g. 196x71x29.5x4. In wet sand. 6469 Thomomys (male sign) 129 g. 225x80x32x4 In dry "second(?)bottom". Discarded: 1 Peromyscus maniculatus (male sign), under edge of boulder by cascara thicket; P. truei, 1 (male sign), 1 (female sign);by cascara bushes and boulders; P. boylii (male sign), by manzanita, on dry upland. 6470 Audubon Warbler (female sign) im. 10.0g. Shot in willow by stream. 6471 Pigmy Nuthatch (male sign)ad. 10.5g. Shot on ground under pine. 6472 Slender-billed Nuthatch (male sign) ad. 16.4g. Shot from high in pine. 6473 Townsend Junco (male sign) ad. 18.6g. Shot on top of boulder. 6474 White-crowned Sparrow (male sign) ad. 26.9g. Shot in willow by stream. 6475 Monterey Hermit Thrush (male sign) im. 21.8(?)g. Shot in cascara bush. 6476 Tanager (male sign) im. 25.3g. Shot in cascara bush under pine. 6477 Bluebird (male sign) ad. 27.0g. Shot from lower branch of pine. 6578 Spurred Towhee (female sign) ad. 36.4g. Shot in top of cascara bush. 6479 "Pinero" (female sign) ad. 91.4g. Shot from pine.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 11 Page Number: 2582 6490 Bluebird (male sign) im. 26.6g. Shot from pine. 6491 Tree Swallow (male sign) im. 16.4g. Shot as it coursed back and forth alone above the bottom strip of Arroyo La Encantada. 6492 Cooper Hawk. (male sign) im. Shot as it flew up from among rocks and brush with remains [saved] of Valley Quail in its claws. Later today saw another Cooper Hawk sweep down into a bevy of quail which, however, apparently all escaped. I am impressed with the great numbers and wide adaptability of the Pigmy Nuthatches. They are on the ground a good deal of the time, working over the litter; or in the seed heads of Salvia carnosa, working at them seemingly as do goldfinches. Then they work in the needle clumps of the pines, and all around the limbs upon which they hammer with great assiduity, leading me on many a wild goose chase in quest of a supposed woodpecker. Also they pound away upon the opening cones. I often see a nuthatch fly from one tree to another with a pine seed, relatively huge for the bird, in its bill. A good deal of the pounding one hears doubtless appertains to the opening of these seeds. Truly the Pigmy Nuthatch here is an all-round bird; it is dominant in point of numbers, too. I saw my first Siskins here this afternoon, three of them feeding in salvia heads on open ground whence they flew to a pine, where I secured one. Heard my first Sparrow Hawk late this afternoon.

Collector: Grinnell-1925 Location: La Grulla, 7,200 ft. Date: October 11, 1925 Page Number: 2584

6501 Townsend Junco (female sign) ad. 16.9g. Shot on rock in bush. 6502 Mountain Chicakdee (male sign) ad. 11.8g. Shot in pine. 6503 " " (female sign) ad. 11.4g. Shot in Salvia bushes. 6504 " " (female sign) ad. 11.4g. Shot on ground under willow. 6505 White-crowned Sparrow (male sign) im. 23.1 g. " " " " " 6506 Bluebird (male sign) im. 26.6g. Shot in cascara bush. 5 p.m. Our packer, José, has just come in to inform us that a mule is missing, so we will be two days late in changing location. But - "mañana" is the rule in this country! The feature of my day was a full close view of a Ferruginous Rough-leg (my gun was entirely out of commission at the moment!). The bird circled above me within 60 yards, showing its character well. It was the whitest hawk I ever saw. The whole under surface was white, save for sparse dark markings on the chest; The basal 2/3 of the tail was white, the terminal third being light dusky?; The under sides of the wings were white save for dark primary types and for dark mottlings in a transverse row at "wrist." Lamb and I have both seen this bird distantly in previous days, referring to it as "the white hawk." This is the only other buteonine besides the Red-Tails we have seen at this station. Saw a Great Horned Owl fly along the hillside at late dusk last evening. We hear their notes every night.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 13 Page Number: 2586

see in very faint outline the mountains of Sonora. The panorama reminded me strongly of that seen from the Santa Rosa or San Jacinto mountains of southern California eastward. Toward the top of the divide the prevailing Jeffrey pines were mixed with some white fir, incense cedar and sugar pine; and in the rough hills adjoining the pass were numerous scrubby oaks, and rather dense chaparral of manzanita, buckthorn, and cascara. It was here, on the dessert slope of the divide, that I encountered the three Calif. Jays. The following census was pencil checked on card-board on the way out, from camp to my farthest point over the divide, 7:20 to 10:00. Pigmy Nuthatch 68; Audubon Warbler 5 (only along the stream); Bluebird 10; Cabanis Woodpecker 6; Townsend Junco 13; Chickadee 10; Raven 5; Red-tailed Hawk 2; Pinyon Jay 1 (heard); Olive-backed Thrush (1, in cascara bush); Canyon Wren 2; Williamson Sapsucker 1; Slender-billed Nuthatch 4; Red-shafted Flicker 1; Spurred Towhee 1; Siskin 5; Calif. Jay 3. Total, 17 species, 138 individuals, in 2 2/3 hours. Note that just about half of all the birds noted were Pigmy Nuthatches! Of mammals I checked in the same period; Chipmunk 28;Scirus 2 (in pine near divide); Wildcat (one out in open meadow in bight sunshine; bounded up a draw; may have been laying for birds coming to drink at the seepage near where he was); on the way down