Transcribing the field notes of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: Lassen Section Date: June 12, 1925 Page Number: 2460

slopes of Inskip Hill); Calif. Woodpecker; Nuttall Woodpecker; Calif. Purple Finch (very common and in full song here in the black oaks); Linnet (equally common and in full song); Western Tanager (one in full song, as I write); Cassins Vireo and Western Warbling Vireo (equally in evidence); Wood Pewee (common); Ash-Throated Flycatcher ( "buckaroo" song heard early in the morning from slopes of Inskip Hill; Black-Throated Gray Warbler (several singing males); Lutescent Warbler (one singing male) Western Lark Sparrow (several); Western Chipping sparrow (common and singing); Green-backed Goldfinch (singing birds almost continually within hearing); Wren-tit (heard song from bushy slopes of Inskip Hill; Valley Quail (sentinel call of male in distance); Plain Tit (one pair, in black oaks); Slender-billed Nuthatch (very common); Bullock Oriole (one heard); Morning Dove (several have flown past); The "stream" right here is now dry - all the water taken out for the ranches around Payne Creek P.O. But down below here a few rods a narrow canyon begins, cut down thru the lava cap, and there, there are potholes with water, the source, apparently, for the birds of these woods. Along the ravine are luxurious golden oaks, densely blooming syringia (Philadelphus), ash trees, etc. Up in the rocky walls are bushes of Cercis and Rhus Trilobata.

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Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: San Jose, 2500 ft., lat. 31° Date: Oct. 22 Page Number: 2601

My traps this morning, rained on, brot only one blue pelaged, young (male sign), Peromyscus manipulatus under a grease-wood clump (Adenostoma fasciculatum).

6583 Sceloporus Under rock. 6584 Cnemidophorus Dug out of ground in making barbecue pit. 6585 Nyctinomus (male sign) 93 x 32 x 8 x 14. Shot at late last dusk last night flying rather high north over open ground paralleling willows. 6586 Mudhen (female sign) alone, at side of creek in willow bellow the ranch. 6587 Brewer Sparrow (male sign) 11.9g. Shot from willow, near water; was preening. 6588 Marsh Wren (male sign) im. 11.9g. Shot from sawgrass among willows near shallow water in marshy place; two others noted.

There was a flock of Chipping Sparrows in the ranch yard this morning, a dozen or so. Presently a Sharp-shinned Hawk dashed in among them. I saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker in a cottonwood. Trees here which are punctured one willow, cottonwood and the deciduous orchard trees, pear & apple. Heard a Yellowthroat in a semi-aquatic tangle where the creek seeps out of the sand; for there is no water in the stream course for a long way above the ranch, at least running on the surface. Heard two Tanagers in the willow-bottom early in the morning. There are about 6 English Sparrows around the ranch, staying around the cottonwoods above the corrals and sheds, in which trees there are mistletoe clumps; also in and around a stock of fodder corn nearby. There are a few Linnets about the ranch, and very many Intermediate Sparrows.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: to Colnett, Sat. 31 degrees Date: Oct. 28 Page Number: 2608

6641 Savannah Sparrow (female sign) im. 16.7g. Shot in salicornia. 6642 “ “ (female sign) im. 16.8.g. Shot on stem of clump of juncus.

Was out early 5:15 to 6:30, and again 9:20 to 11:30, the last time to the beach, the bluff, and the salt flats. Saw following birds: Turkey Vulture (4+); Poorwill (heard calling last evening); Valley Quail (2 large coveys near camp); Cactus Woodpecker (one heard); Say Phoebe (2); Anna Hummer (2, around blossoming Lycium); Brown Towhee (4+); Spotted Towhee (2); Rufous-crowned Sparrow (2); Intermediate Sparrow (12±); Calif. Thrasher (2, singing); Linnet (6±); Wren-tit (4+); Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher (2); Bewick Wren (2); Red-winged Blackbird (a pair visited camp, and others in small companies in flight out in the valley); Raven (within hearing most of the time); Meadowlark (4 or more, out in salt flat); Marsh Wren (common, a dozen or more, in dense mats of Salicornia (unknown 1) sloughs just back of the cobble-stone beach-barrier (which is fully 8 feet higher than the flats inland from it)); Savannah Sparrow (scattered troupes on open ground among small bushes back from the salicornia); Belding and Large-billed Sparrows (on salicornia marshes, not many, the latter also on beach at high-tide line of drift); Pipit (flock of 10± on bare alkali flat); Killdeer (one heard - the only wader, where we saw so many on the beach when we were here in September); Song Sparrow (2, in big juncus clumps up the valley from the salicornia. Of mammals, I saw one Jack Rabbit on salt flat and 2 or more Brush Rabbits.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: To San Diego Date: October 31, 1925 Page Number: 2614

6:30 a.m. - Last night’s camp a pleasant one. Fog high, and things dry. Live oaks along the west-flowing (dry) watercourse; chaparral of “San Diegan” type on each hillside. Birds: Wrentits, numerously calling; Spotted Towhee; Linnet; Red-shafted Flicker; Audubon Warbler.

Got under way a little before 7 and reached Ensenada at 8:30. Within 10 miles north on Ensenada got a good view, close ranch, flying thru brush at roadside, of a Pigeon Hawk, fully adult, I am quite sure — dark blue back.

In Ensenada, went to see Goldbaum and his museum. The Governor of B.C., Rodriguez, has built him a very substantial little building, “El Museum Regional”, in which are some atrociously mounted vertebrates, but mostly geological specimens. The only thing I saw of special interest was a mounted Spoonbill (Ajaiah) taken [recently?] on the Hardy River by. Capt. E.W. Funcke.

Continued on to San Diego, 10 to 3:30; not delayed at all by the custom officials on either side the line.

Nov. 1 In San Diego: Last evening I called on Mr. Ingersoll at his house. Found him vigorous, and as enthusiastically interested in birds’ eggs as ever. He and Mr. + Mrs. John Burnham were up in the Sierras the past summer and had taken eggs of many good things, such as Sierra Grouse and Hermit Warbler.