AMERICAN PIPIT

With the rosy finch, the pine siskin and certain swallows, the Pipit holds the altitude record on the mountain. The Pipit is a wag-tail. His characteristic habit of tipping his tail up and down when resting is his best field mark. During the summer pipits are seldom found below timberline but when the storms come in the fall the birds gather together in small flocks and move down to the heather meadows below timberline. On a recent Nature Guide Trip we encountered several flocks of these interesting little sparrow-like birds. They were exceptionally tame only moving out of the trail for the party to pass. They are a lively, cheerful bird, a welcome sight on a cold cheerless day.

By Floyd W. Schmoe, Park Naturalist.

STEVENS RIDGE NOTES

The part of Stevens Ridge that one reaches after crossing the glacier is high, elevations ranging from 6000 to 6500 feet. Late in August, a deep snow bank still lies just east of the crest. The east slopes of ridges are, of course, the most protected from the afternoon sun. On the west slope of the same ridge, summer conditions prevail. At one place on Stevens Ridge the four seasons were found, side by side. It was less than a hundred feet from the snow bank of last winter to the budding gentians of autumn, yet in the hundred feet were found spring flowers (anemones, white and yellow avalanche lillies), summer flowers (potentillas, paintbrush, lupine) and fall flowers (hellebore and gentian).

The rest of Stevens Ridge is lower, 5,000 feet or so. Here the white rhododendron is abundant, and here we found the first ripe huckleberries of the season.

By S. B. Jones, Ranger-Naturalist.