A Century of Birding in Arizona

For over a century Arizona's geographic situation on the northern border of the Mexican highlands, and its great variety of life zones, has been a fruitful field for study and pleasure. People from far and near have ardently observed and recorded Arizona birds and their activities. First came the doctors attached to the exploring parties, then the surgeons with the army as it established the far flung system of frontier posts to protect the settlers against the Indians. After the Indians were subdued and the settlers were able to care for themselves, professional ornithologists made collections which were displayed in the principal museums of the world. By the middle twenties check lists and appealing books were available, and the National Audubon Society had won its battle and was encouraging the study and protection of birds. Each era contributed much scientific knowledge and wholesome enjoyment to the casual as well as the more serious watchers. Thousands of people, interested in seeing birds in their natural habitat, have journeyed to Arizona by all manner of transportation from wagons to planes. The early 1850's brought a desire by the people of the United States to connect the west and the east with a railroad, and a number of scientific expeditions were organized. These included groups of men to make topographical maps and bring back information about the country they pushed through. The first of these through Arizona was the Sitgreaves Expedition, organized under Lieutenant Sitgreaves in 1851. It had been customary in the Pacific Railroad Surveys for the Secretary of War to assign a surgeon-naturalist as doctor on the expedition and much of his time was devoted to collecting specimens of birds, reptiles, and plants. He worked under direct supervision of Professor Spencer F. Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom the collected material was sent. In some places this party traveled across Arizona on

EARTH'S SUITORS

Young Spring woos Earth with gay approach - a burst of song from feathered throat. Bold Summer comes with warm embrace and burning kisses on Earth's face. Then Fall, devoted, but not so bold, decks Earth out in cloth of gold, But wise old Winter tucks Earth deep in quilts of snow, and whispers - "sleep." -Lucy Ellis Riley terrain we know as U. S. 66. The surgeon-naturalist for the Sitgreaves Expedition was Dr. Samuel Washington Woodhouse. He had acted in this capacity for other expeditions and was considered one of the top ornithologists of the time. So probably the earliest reports of birds from Arizona to the National Museum were reported by Dr. Woodhouse. He was bitten by a rattlesnake on the index finger of the left hand at Zuñi, New Mexico, and later at the west side of the state received an arrow in the leg, so was not in prime shape to collect or prepare skins. In spite of these two injuries, it is reported by Dr. H. S. Colton of the Museum of Northern Arizona that Dr. Woodhouse made important contributions to the fauna of Arizona. Dr. Woodhouse first collected the Woodhouse's jay, probably before he entered Arizona. It carried his name until recently but is now commonly called scrub jay. The Pacific Railroad Expedition of 1853 touched Arizona in the Yuma area and across Southern Arizona, on to El Paso. Dr. Adolph Lewis Heerman was the surgeon-naturalist and some material was gathered. His description of the roadrunner is interesting to us, though he first saw the bird in California. As time passed the civilian movement across Arizona swelled. Some few stopped off in spots like Tubac in the Santa Cruz Valley. Gradually mining operations were started. This movement of people and goods with the accumulation of precious metals stirred the Indians to raid and resist the settling of their land. The Indian trouble and the Gadsden Purchase brought the United States Government into the picture and made it necessary to station troops in Arizona. There were forty-six camps and forts set up in Arizona between 1849 and 1866. The changing locations and re-naming of these posts is as elusive geography as you can imagine, probably made necessary by the phantom aspect of the Indians. Several of these posts were very important to the study of birds and we will visit them, not in order of their coming into being, but more as they affect bird study. The first American soldiers to enter the territory after the Gadsden Purchase marched into Tucson in 1856, then moved to the Sonoita Valley, where Fort Buchanan was built. The location was not healthful due to a wet, overgrown situation which bred mosquitoes and in turn malaria. In 1868 a much better site was selected on a beautiful plain above and one half mile to the east of the old location. This post was then named Camp Crittenden, later Fort Crittenden. It was finally abandoned in 1873. The outline of the main building stands today. The adobe walls were probably two feet thick. The rain and wind have eroded them until they now are only about four feet high and present a thin edge at the top. The wooden doors and the windows were probably removed when the land was returned to the public domain by proclamation of President Grant. The Buchanan-Crittenden location is important to us as bird students for the reason that here Henry W. Henshaw, the naturalist from the Wheeler expedition, which had come from the north through Utah, took the first specimens of the broad-billed hummingbird, sulphurbellied flycatcher, and Arizona woodpecker. He was followed some time later by Frank Stephens, another civilian collector who found the first olivaceous flycatcher. Colonel Bernard J. D. Irwin, Surgeon, U.S.A., at Fort Buchanan, sent the first specimen of the Arizona jay to the Smithsonian Institution. The bird is now called the Mexican jay. Half of the soldiers, stationed in Arizona forts at this period, were from Europe, usually from Germany, Ireland, or the Scandinavian countries. Colonel Irwin found in this hospital corps a young soldier, a native of Germany, who was much interested in science. He gave him good training in scientific observation and the methods of preserving and recording specimens. This young soldier, Charles Emil Bendire, was destined to become one of our great ornithologists, and author of Life Histories of American Birds. He is quoted as saying he saw the Mearns' quail in August, 1872, in the foothills and canyons of the Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, while he was scouting for hostile Indians. As he naively remarked, he had no time to study their habits. Soldier Bendire developed into a fine officer and we will pick him up later at Fort Lowell, near Tucson.

HARRY L. AND RUTH CROCKETT

We find there was a change in requirements for the army doctors compared to the expedition and survey doctors. This is shown in a description of the duties of Spencer F. Baird, who then was assistant secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was “to take charge of the making of collections for the Smithsonian Museum and to request of officers of the army, and other persons, such assistance as might be necessary for the accomplishment of the interested object.” Besides their great desire to find all they could of the natural history of the new country, these doctors were well trained, devoted medical men and military leaders.

Colonel Irwin proved himself to be a soldier and leader of men. During the absence of the commander at Fort Buchanan, Assistant Surgeon Irwin, being next in command, carried out several brilliant and meritorious expeditions against the hostile Apaches. His citation for the Medal of Honor reads “He took command of the troops and attacked and defeated the hostile Indians he met on the way. At Apache Pass, Arizona, February 1314, 1861.” For a few years, 1860 to 1870, there was a camp for American soldiers in the city of Tucson, which had become the crossroads of the Territory. When it became expedient that the soldiers be separated from the citizens in 1870, the Army moved about seven miles to the northeast and installed Fort Lowell. For twenty years it was a busy, bustling outpost, a crossroads of activity. It was host to many of the Army doctors, who stopped there for shelter and rest while they were on assignments to other places. It seemed the Army medics took advantage of every possible chance to go with groups of soldiers sent out to supply, reconnoiter, or escort. They took every oppor tunity to add to their growing collection of bird skins and data.

The following list of eight birds were added to the American fauna from Fort Lowell and the surrounding country: Arizona cardinal, western blue grosbeak, Arizona hooded oriole, Arizona crested flycatcher, Palmer's thrasher, Arizona vireo, rufous-winged sparrow, and Bendires thrasher.

Southwestern Research Station

Charles E. Bendire continued his activities with the birds at Fort Lowell. Captain Bendire was particularly interested in oology, and collecting eggs nearly caused his downfall. He followed a black hawk about five miles from the post to locate the nest in a cottonwood tree. He climbed the tree to find only one egg which he took and returned to Lowell. Several days later he returned to the nest planning to get the other eggs and take at least one of the birds. He chose to get the eggs first and climbed the forty feet to the nest to find only one egg. At the same instant, from his elevated position he saw something else which could not have been observed from the ground. Several Apache Indians were crouched on the side of a little canyon which opened into the creek bed about eighty yards farther up. They were evidently watching him, their heads raised just to the level with the top of the canyon. Since the Apaches were not considered friendly to a lone soldier he popped the single egg into his mouth, slipped down the tree to his horse and shotgun, and rode back to the post. He had some difficulties in removing the egg from his mouth, and his jaws were sore for some time. The egg was unharmed.

Charles Emil Bendire served Fort Lowell from 1871 to 1873, at each rank a soldier could attain, up to Captain. He served as Captain from 1873 to 1886 when he was discharged for physical disabilities. On February 27, 1890, he received the honor brevet of Major, for his gallant service in action against the Indians at Canyon Creek, Montana. His Life Histories of North American Birds, in two volumes, are a monument to a man who, primarily a soldier, gave the world a set of books of the soundest ornithological value.

Fort Lowell ceased to be the crossroads of activity in 1891. The Apache Indians had been conquered and civilian government had taken over. Four years after its closing everything of value was sold. With the roofs, door and window frames removed, the adobe walls slid back into the desert.

Fort Whipple was originally established in 1863, fifteen miles northeast of Prescott, and in 1864 it was moved to Granite Creek, a mile above Prescott. This fine post has a distinguished history and is still in existence on the same grounds. It was designated and rebuilt after the First World War as Whipple Veterans Hospital.

At Whipple, we find a young doctor who had just become of age, and had been on an expedition to Labrador. He was stationed at Whipple sixteen months. During this time he participated in a march to San Diego via Fort Mojave and Fort Yuma, and several trips each to Lowell, Bowie, and Crittenden. Dr. Elliot Coues (pronounced “cows”) was assigned to a military quartermaster train for Whipple, as doctor for the expedition in 1864. The Quartermaster Officer was ordered to furnish transportation to side areas along the route and to carry the cases and casks for his collections. He collected specimens by riding in front, or to the side of the train each day and prepared his collections in the evenings. The casks of alcohol used for preserving the snakes and lizards seemed to diminish in contents on the trip until at the end of one day the soldiers saw Dr. Coues place his snake and lizard specimens in them. On these sorties from the column he was astride a buckskin colored mułe which he named Jenny Lind because of her musical bray.

When he was released from duty at Fort Whipple in 1865, he told Captain Curtis, an associate there, he should take with him over two hundred and fifty distinct species of birds, six of them hitherto unknown to science. Among them were probably the buff-breasted flycatcher, gray vireo, plumbeous vireo, Grace's warbler and western chipping sparrow. Dr. Coues had four birds named for him: a shearwater, a sandpiper, a cactus wren and a fly-catcher. In recent nomenclature changes made by the American Ornithologists Union, Coues flycatcher is the only one that retains his name.

Dr. Coues gave nineteen years of active military service to his country, much of it spent in lesser populated areas. He wrote a great deal. In his later years he was a collaborator on the Century Dictionary and finally turned to writing of the expeditions across America, finishing up with a translation of Diary of Francisco Garcés. His impact on bird study was enormous. His Key to North American Birds, in two volumes, stands out among the best bird books written. He has been called one of the ablest and most brilliant scientific writers of the nineteenth century.

Camp Verde, originally called Camp Lincoln, was established in the spring of 1864, five miles south of the location later chosen. It was moved to its present site in 1866 and named Camp Verde. Around 1871 twelve substantial adobe buildings were constructed on three sides of a spacious parade grounds. Three of the four facing the west are still standing and occupied. The two story officers quarters, the most pretentious, housed the commanding officer. The second was the pharmacy and sick-bay and served as a working place for Dr. Mearns. Perhaps the specimen of the Mearns' woodpecker collected at Squaw Peak near what is now Phoenix was prepared here. The third building has been rebuilt into very serviceable apartments. The building facing the north was quarters for enlisted men. It too has served as apartments and now houses the Post Museum. The museum is open to the public and for a modest fee the attendant will show visitors mementos of the Army Period. This site is surrounded by a thriving community which bears the military name Camp Verde. It furnished the setting for another of our outstanding surgeon-scientists. Dr. Edgar Alexander Mearns was stationed there 1884-1888. At the beginning of his military service he had a choice between several posts as his first station. He chose Camp Verde because it offered the greatest interest to a naturalist. Moreover, the ruins of an ancient American civilization in that vicinity offered him great promise. After his arrival he availed himself of that study. According to custom the army doctor made many expeditions and forays to the far flung forts of the region and gathered material and made notes which were the basis of many writings later in life.

After his four years' service at Camp Verde he was stationed at a number of places in the United States. He did three tours of the Philippines and later was a year with the Theodore Roosevelt Expedition in Africa. Records show that of the 4,000 birds collected on the expedition, 3,000 were Mearns' contribution. He also was a memberof the Frick Expedition to Africa.

This band of army scientists, who served in Arizona, contributed much to the knowledge of Arizona birds. They lived on to write their findings into the fundamental books. A rapid check of the 1931 (4th) edition American Ornithologists Union Check-list of North American birds reveals that forty-seven birds were first taken in Arizona and described by the group of survey and army scientists. This story has missed many forts in Arizona, but they were there, and in the early days offered a refuge for the naturalist to make his headquarters, a sanctuary to write his notes and prepare his specimens. There was Fort Bowie at Apache Pass, established in 1863 and abandoned in 1894. Fort Huachuca near the Mexican line was established in 1877 to watch over the San Pedro Valley, ripe for settling, and the silver operations around Tombstone.

With the conquest of the Indians completed (1849-1886), the doctors and other scientific men were removed from the picture and other people were sought to supply the nests, eggs, and bird skins for the scientific institutions and private collections. Another era was under way. To give a picture of this group let us quote from Harry S. Swarth's introduction to Birds of the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona. "In 1896 four of us, W. B. Judson, H. G. Rising, O. W. Howard and myself made the Hua-chuca Mountains the objective point of a leisurely wagon trip from Los Angeles across the Colorado desert and southern Arizona, and spent three months, from April 25 to July 20 camped in Ramsey Canyon." This trip seemed to be for the collecting of eggs and nests. The material collected went into a private collection in the San Fran-cisco area. He made two later trips in 1902 and 1903. These trips were successful in that his findings were published in a pamphlet of seventy pages mentioned above and this became the guide for those who came in the early nineteen-hundreds. Mr. Swarth complied from many government reports and the work of other collectors, and wrote A Distribu-tional List of the Birds of Arizona, published by the Cooper Ornithological Club in 1914. This check list with one revision has served as the only state check list until now. The University of Arizona has a publication listed from its press, A Checklist of Arizona Birds by Allan R. Phillips and Gale Monson. These men have had years of work with Arizona birds, Dr. Phillips as an independent ornithologist and Mr. Monson with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Mr. Swarth returned in 1917 for a six weeks trip, staying at Tempe, Roosevelt, and Sierra Ancha Mountains. This visit resulted in a bulletin from the Government Printing Office, Birds of the Papago Saguaro National Monument. He returned again in 1927 to Patagonia and the Santa Rita Mountains to do a publication on the distribution of the birds and animals of that area. He was an active field-man and from the 1902 and 1903 trips to the Huachucas he made notes on and collected 2,500 skins of birds. Mr. Swarth was the first of this pioneer group to translate his bird activities into publications specifically on Arizona birds.

Herbert Brandt published a most extensive book and called it Arizona and its Bird Life. He spent eight spring seasons studying southeastern Arizona, an area of probably 10,000 square miles; roughly from Tucson south to the Mexican border and east to New Mexico. He worked on the life histories of 170 breeding birds that nest in the area. In the whole North American faunal region there are probably not more than 650 full species of breeding birds, but this rich Arizona area can boast of more than a fourth of these nesting birds. Many are rare, little known birds. These eight spring seasons covered a period of thirteen years and the book was published in 1951. Each season he invited several outstanding bird men to work with him, some local, some national. He produced a scholarly work, beautifully illustrated in color and black and white by America's best artists and photographers.

People have always been interested in and mystified by the movement of birds, or migration. The taking of specimens for museum skins only partly solved the riddle. The beginning of the new century brought a technique called bird banding. The birds were caught in traps, an aluminum band placed on one leg, and then liberated. This band carried a number and a notation requesting the finder to send a report to the U. S. Biological survey. In many cases the bird returned to the same trap year after year, in other cases the bird was trapped in other places. All these facts were reported to the Biological Survey, which with a reorganization of government agencies is now called the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This service has well over three million entries on birds, trapped at different times and different places. This information has been compiled on charts which, combined with previously gathered information, show where the birds nest, where they go after the young are raised, and where they spend the winter.

Most of the field work for these studies was done by volunteers, among them men and their wives employed in the National Parks and Monuments of the country. Arizona has many of these areas in her bounds, so much information has been gathered here by government employees and a great group of non-government volunteers who have supplied information bit-by-bit to show, when put together, the movement of birds over Arizona. This has been an important contribution and now the traps are supplemented by mist nets to further this work. People doing this work must have permits from both Federal and State governments.

After the turn of the century, throughout the country, there was a growing interest in birds as live neighbors and friends, not just museum collections. The National Audubon Society put on its tremendous drive, and won against the use of feathers as decorations for women's hats and apparel. This new organization grew by leaps and bounds and its members were in need of good guide books. Frank M. Chapman brought out his Color Key to North American Birds in 1903, with the aid of a prolific artist, Chester A. Reed. By 1906 Mr. Reed had started making bird guides in a pocket size, illustrating them with the finest color pictures. This series was very popular and in 1913 his western bird guide was available. This was the first popular, small-sized guide adaptable for Arizona, and gave great impetus to the general public on a hobby basis.

Awareness that the areas of Arizona and Southern California were different from the balance of the west, prompted Luther E. Wyman of the Los Angeles Museum and Elizabeth F. Burnell of the Los Angeles City Schools to write and illustrate A Field Book of Birds of the Southwestern United States. It was published in 1925 and only went through one printing. It has beautiful maps of the section in which you can expect to find the birds, but the bird pictures are black and white drawings. The book is

filled with valuable information, but lacks the color people associate with birds, so did not fill the popular demand. Roger Tory Peterson, a very able artist and ornithologist, has worked out a system of identification, by showing with pictures how each bird is different from other birds, at a glance. He proved his system workable with his Field Guide to the Birds published in 1934. Field Guide to Western Birds was printed in 1941 and was the constant companion of every bird student. His illustrations and keys to bird identification were brought up to date in 1961, and the west and particularly Arizona has a usable book that every bird student seems to have. We have seen parties of as many as forty people on a field trip and most every person would have his "Peterson."

Since the middle twenties there has been a growing number of photographers visiting our state and with the resident photographers have produced many wonderful studies of the birds of Arizona. ARIZONA HIGHWAYS has printed hundreds of these pictures, and has contributed much to the popularity of Arizona as a birding state. Their projection slides, Color Classics, have enjoyed wonderful distribution. We have 25 bird slides in this collection and over the years Color Classics have sold 8,450 duplicates. This gives an idea of the popularity of birds. When you go in the field now there seems to be a bird photographer behind every bush.

Practically all the names in American ornithology have been in Arizona, mostly attracted by the fabulous birding in the Huachucas, Santa Ritas, Chiricahuas, Grahams, and the valleys between. Arthur Cleveland Bent, who carried on the Smithsonian Institution publications in this century, and wrote twenty-five volumes to continue Life Histories of North American Birds, teamed with C. F. Willard who lived in Tombstone to make an expedition in 1922. Several Pacific coast notables such as Joseph Grinnell, did field work here. Allan Brooks and Roger Tory Peterson are outstanding among the many artists who have painted Arizona birds. Only last year a team of European ornithologists was taken on a conducted tour through this area by our government's cultural exchange program.

We are living in the age of binoculars and telescopes for bird study. Many, many people attract and enjoy birds about their homes and when they go on outings. Bird study is no longer exclusively for the ornithologists. Few collecting permits are issued and there seems less need for them.

The Phoenix area is served by the Maricopa Audubon Society, an affiliate of the National Audubon Society. During the outdoor seasons there are two field trips a month, and their bird walks in Encanto Park are very popular. The trips and walks are conducted by people who know the birds of the area. Evening meetings are held once a month to hear a speaker, usually with slides or a movie. A bird sanctuary has been established thirty-eight miles north on the Black Canyon Highway with the cooperation of the owner of the land. Tucson has a similar organization with a refuge along Sonoita Creek, near Patagonia.

Several of the field trips are special, such as the Maricopa Audubon Society's trip in May to the Santa Ritas and Patagonia. Friday by noon the group assembles in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains and then goes over the area. Most people see the coppery-tailed trogon, Rivoli's hummingbird and a host of flycatchers, all high on a birder's life list. The next morning they assemble at Sonoita Creek for more flycatchers, gray hawk, and rose-throated becard. This year the group broke up on Sunday to explore the old highway north of Nogales and a small party went to Mexico along the river road to Magdalena. They saw the becards again in the process of building their distinctive nest, the little green kingfishers, and black vultures. This three day trip has attracted national attention. There have been people the past two years who have flown from the east and joined the party in rented cars. The trip shows signs of being an annual affair with more out of state visitors.

For many years, the National Audubon Society held its Annual Convention in or near New York City. In 1962 it broke this precedent by holding it in Corpus Christi, Texas. This brought such enthusiastic response that it was taken to Miami, Florida in 1963. This year Tucson has been selected for the convention to be November 7th to 11th, 1964, at the Ramada Inn. This will probably bring over 1,500 of the most ardent birders in America to our State to enjoy our fabulous bird heritage. Technicians will give the latest reports on bird life and conservation. The new pictures or those talked about will be shown. Old friendships will be renewed, and new ones made. Field trips will be made to the birding areas of the state. Following the convention smaller groups will make trips to Mexico and other places in the west.

ROBIN'S NEST

The grass, the twigs, the bits of string Do not, alone, compose her cradled nest; But, woven in this symbol of eternal Spring Are love, and hope and courage, all the best. -Alpha L. Buntain

THE ROBIN AND I

I make an offering of crumbs And Songster Robin has a hunch, As soon as I am safely gone, He is invited down to lunch. Back into the tree, his song Crescendos, and he knows, somehow That I am wishing to applaud, For Artist Robin takes a bough! -Olive Breed

TO A ROADRUNNER

Run, pert cock o' the desert, Funny old friendly bird, Bright speckled feathers And "kook-kook" word; Rudder-tail a-veering, Your crooked neck held out, Run, quick feet, and follow trails Where lizard and cricket scout. Rickety nest in a cactus Is near any road you roam; Forage for your birdlets Close by my home. Eyes alert go chase it, Go race a car or truck, Run, have fun, and happy day But stay near my home for luck. -Beula-Mary Wadsworth

WESTERN TANAGER

Who left out the poster paints? Who daubed you, front and back, With Chinese orange, dazzling gold, Splashed with this dramatic, bold Midnight black? Who lacquered you until you shone A bright, fantastic toy? Someone whose heart was gay and free, Who thought that one small bird might be This symbol: Joy! -Ethel Jacobson

DESERT DWELLER

For some the rain-sweet grasslands, For some the ocean's brine, But the pungency of creosote bush Turns air to headier wine. Above the plain, a lark calls. Gulls cry above the shore. But dearer is the cactus wren That sings beside my door. For some the green of prairie, For some the blue of sea, But the silvered jade of sagebrush is The hue of home for me. -Ethel Jacobson

WESTERN MOCKINGBIRD

The Mockingbird will sing all day Sweet tunes he likes to borrow, At night he softly practices New notes to use tomorrow. He mimics any bird he hears And this is really shocking - He has a fine note of his own, But keeps right on with mocking. -Faun M. Sigler

Yours sincerely BOULDER CITY:

Your tribute to Boulder City, Hoover Dam, and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the May, 1964, issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is truly outstanding. The articles by Gene and Cliff Segerblom and William J. Williams graphically describe the community so magnificently illustrated, both in color and black and white. While Las Vegas has had outstanding publicity through the years, this striking magazine has most graphically portrayed the recreation playground which is becoming world famous for its variety of "water" recreational facilities. As residents of the newest municipality in the State of Nevada, Boulder City citizens are determined to continue the heritage acquired from the Federal Government. With only 5 square miles developed inside its 33+ squaremiles city limits, Boulder City has planned an orderly growth for expansion of residential and recreational facilities. The national publicity resulting from this edition of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS should attract the type of citizens who want to promulgate this kind of a community. On behalf of the citizens of Boulder City and the members of the City Council, I wish to extend our appreciation and thanks for this memorable edition. It is most gratifying to know that our neighbors appreciate Nature's beauty, whether natural or man-made, inside or adjacent to Arizona. Albert Franklin, Mayor Boulder City, Nevada

CLOUDS:

Thank you for the article in the June issue, "The Companionship of Clouds," by Dr. Calvin and the impressive cloud photographs by Senator Goldwater. Last summer on a trip east my husband and I were enthralled and awed by the magnificent cloud formations we saw from the plane. I wished at the time that I could have pictures of them. Now thanks to you and the Senator, my wish has come true because the photographs so closely resemble many of the beautiful skyscapes we saw. Mrs. Tobias Kotzin Los Angeles, California As long as I can recall, I've heard the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." It would take a thousand such pictures to capture the mixed feelings I experienced while reading "The Companionship of Clouds" by Ross Calvin. I have never been in an airplane, so I could only imagine the spectacle the author must have witnessed. I suppose you could say that I experienced what went from an eerie weightlessness ("Before eyes could accommodate to the murk we flashed up into a glorious brightness which I have never seen equalled .") to a serenity which I hope to, some day, find the equal. Mrs. R. L. Phillips Alhambra, California

AS A GUIDE TO THE SCENIC WEST:

I thought you might be interested in knowing that copies of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS proved invaluable in planning a recent short tour of Central Arizona. After seeing Bryce and Zion National Parks (Utah) and following out to Las Vegas (Nevada), we drove through Boulder Kingman Williams Flagstaff Sedona - Jerome Phoenix Globe (via the Apache Trail) Holbrook (via Salt River) - Grand Canyon (So. Rim) Cameron Page and Kanab. Twenty-four issues of your magazine went along providing highlights for practically "every mile of the way." Especially did we appreciate the ruggedness of Oak Creek, the Apache Trail, the Salt River Canyon the beauty of the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest and the fascinating colours around the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon areas. We never seem to get enough of the rugged scenery and the desert areas of Arizona. Our thanks to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. (Miss) E. Dowkes Calgary, Alberta, Canada

BACK COVER

"WESTERN TANAGER" (Piranga ludovicinia) BY WILLIS PETERSON. One of the West's most colorful birds, the Western Tanager is a common nester in Northern Arizona. Males have a striking red head and yellow body. The female is greenish in coloration. 31/4x41/4 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f. 16 at 1/1200 sec.; dual electronic flash.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"SNOWY EGRET" (Leucophyx thula) BY WILLIS PETERSON. One of Arizona's most interesting winter visitors is the Snowy Egret, one of America's most attractive shore birds. This bird winters along the Colorado and around other water areas in our state. Many make their homes in the Topock Swamp up river from Parker on Lake Havasu (an Indian word for "blue") and in the marshy shores along the Colorado near Yuma. Once slaughtered for their filament-like feathers used by milliners for women's hat decorations, they are now under Federal protection thanks to the crusade for them by the National Audubon Society and other conservation groups. 4x5 Hasselblad camera, Ektachrome, f6.3 at 1/250th sec.; 800mm lens.