Point Lobos Reseerve; State Park, California

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The Cover— North Point From
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Photo by Gabriel Moulin

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA

DIVISION OF BEACHES AND PARKS
Department of Natural Resources

POINT LOBOS l!ESEI!V[

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STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA

Edited by
AUBREY DRURY

For Sale by
PRINTING DIVISION
(DOCUMENTS SECTION)
Sacramento 14, California

$1, plus tax

An eminent artist described ►
Point Lobos as "The greatest meeting of
land and water in the world"

FOREWORD

This book is intended to jofuide the reader to a fuller understandinpr of
Point Lobos Reserve, its unique value as an example of primitive land-
scape, and the reasons for the policy underlying its administration.

A rocky promontory on the shore of the Pacific three miles south of
Carmel, California, crowned by a grove of picturesque wind-blown ]Mon-
terey cypress, backed by slopes and meadows rich with associations of
plant and animal life in relatively undisturbed environment. Point Lobos
has long been recognized as an area of rare natural beauty and excep-
tional scientific interest. When it was acquired for the inspiration and
enjojTiient of the public, the California State Park Commission appreciated
its perishable qualities, and asked an advisory committee, with assistance
from the Carnegie Corporation, the Carnegie Institution of Washington,
and the Save-the-Redwoods League, to undertake an intensive study of all
values inherent in the site, and to recommend the plan upon which the
present policy of protection is based. This publication has been made pos-
sible by a grant from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C.

A composite work, this volume has been taken from the findings of
specialists who contributed to the Point Lobos Master Plan, and the writ-
ings of others who have thought upon the problem of protecting primitive
landscape conditions. At times these are quoted verbatim, and at other times
their reports or recommendations are paraphrased. Credit is given at the
beginning of each chapter to those from whose studies material has been
drawn.

Just as Point Lobos Reserve is a living, growing thing, subject to never-
ending change, so this book may doubtless in future editions undergo ex-
tensive modification both in content and method of approach — provided
the belief is correct that there is continuing need for such a work in the
field of nature interpretation.

Aubrey Drury, 1954
August, 1954

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POINT LDSDS RESERVE

State Pan/k

Orientation, Boundary, and Facilities Map—Pt. Lobos Reserve State Park

CONTENTS

Page

Foreword 5

Chapter

I. Protection of the Primitive 9

(John C. Merriam)

II. A Master Plan for the Future 11

(Newton B. Drury)

III. A Landscape of Beauty and Meaning 19

(F. L. Olmsted and George B. Vaughan)

IV. Geology of Point Lobos 37

(Ralph W. Chancy and R. A. Bramkamp)

V. A "Tree Island" of Monterey Cypress 39

(Willis L. Jepson)

VI. A Pageant of Flowering Plants 45

(Herbert L. Mason)

VII. Animals, Land and Marine 51

(Joseph Grinnell and Jean Linsdale)

VIII. Birds of Shore and Sea 61

(Joseph Grinnell and Jean Linsdale)

IX. Life Between the Tides 71

(W. K. Fisher and James L. Leitch)

X. History at Point Lobos 78

(Aubrey Drury and V. A. Neasham)

Appendix 86

TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

North Point from Cypress Grove Trail Cover

"Greatest meeting of land and water" (Frontispiece) 3

Map of Point Lobos 6

Point Lobos will be held in trust 13

Rocky points mark seaward margins of cypress groves 14

When the seas run high 18

Cypress tell a poignant story 20

Rocky points jutting into the sea 24

Littoral areas provide great interest 27

Exposed cypress contrasted with protected ones 28

Hilltops are ancient beach terraces 30

Rounded domes influence cypress growth 32

Cypress are witnesses of shoreline changes 35

A lesson in geology at Point Lobos 36

Mortar holes mark Indian sites 36

Esthetic window vistas 38

Cypress may be on the verge of extinction 40

Cypress grow on the face of cliffs 42

Meadows covered with wildflowers 44

Colorful wildflowers are abundant 46-47

California sea lions 50

Steller sea lions 52

Reechey grf>und squirrels are plentiful 57

Cormorants constitute a high percentage 60

Rird Island is avian paradise 64

Lace-lichens frame path 70

Algae predominate in aquatic growths 72-73

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CHAPTER I

PROTECTION OF THE PRIMITIVE*

"When the profrram for preservation of Point Lobos was being outlined,
the reasons given for protection of the area were found mainly in the
occurrence of the last original or primitive stand of an interesting and beau-
tiful tree, the Monterey cypress. While the Point has many exceptional
features, it is doubtful whether the supreme effort to protect it would have
been possible without the need for preservation of a unique treasure such
as the cypress. Other features, as illustrated by the exceptional setting for
the cypress grove on a rocky promontory almost surrounded by the sea,
enhance tremendously the beauty of the place. These additional factors,
taken with the unusual esthetic value of the cypress, give the locality a
peculiar charm, and there can be no doubt as to the importance of the
association and interrelation of these numerous features.

In a discussion of the values of Point Lobos a great number of features
must be considered, and it will be necessary also to examine these elements
both collectively and as separate units. But it is important to remember
that if the cypress were lost we would have failed in the first purpose of
this endeavor. At the same time it is necessary to bear in mind the fact
that an attempt to maintain the cypress in a primitive condition probably
requires maintenance of the cypress in its original environment with all
of the included factors. To risk the loss of any element in the setting might
jeopardize the whole group, including the cypress. Particularly important
is it to maintain the entire group of eleriients, because such protection not
only continues the great scientific values represented but may at the same
time be one of the most important guarantees of continuity in the esthetic
qualities and the human appeal of the region.

In viewing the problem of Point Lobos and the Monterey cypress it is
well to consider the situation in the light of available information from
the vast accumulation of facts relating to the history of life. In the almost
infinitely long period during which life existed on the earth before the
appearance of man, a vast number of species of plants and animals became
extinct through the influence of natural processes. The history of the Mon-
terey cypress suggests that this tree may, in the geological sense, be on
the verge of extinction. If it be true that this species is about to disappear
under the influence of natural processes, intensive scientific study might
show thfe manner in which we could rescue this element of beauty and of
scientific interest by modifying or eliminating some factors inimical to
the life of the tree. Viewing the situation from another angle, it may be that
we should look upon maintenance of the present natural factors and their
natural balance as necessary for maintenance of the cypress as a part of
the interrelated group of natural elements.

The Point Lobos project, and the master plan formulated for the Cali-
fornia State Park Commission by the Point Lobos Advisory Committee and
the associated group of specialists, of course involved attempts to secure

• By Dr. John C. Merriam, when President Emeritus, Carnegie Institution of Washington,
D. C. ; President, Save-the-Redwoods League, 1940.

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10 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

information as to all of the natural features at Point Lobos which have
human interest or appeal. An exceptional aspect of this program was the
effort to bring together data obtained by specialists in all fields of knowl-
edge represented at Point Lobos. The information from these varied sub-
jects was then brought together in such a way as to relate the items con-
cerning each portion or feature of the area, to elements in other fields of
knowledge which may relate to some portions of the area or to comparable
things represented in the complex of Point Lobos. Plotting each factor from
the point of view of art, esthetic appreciation, zoology, botany, ecology,
geology, paleontology, archeology, and early human history, consideration
was then given to the extent to which these factors or features conflicted,
or the extent to which they could be fitted together in a mosaic program
made more valuable or more beautiful because of this interlocking of dif-
ferent elements.

While a program of this nature does not seem to have been worked out
before specifically for any area with these ideas in mind, the general point
of view of nature as a mosaic of many elements has been considered by
writers in various fields. Particularly should one remember some reference
to this situation in Heine 's, ' ' Die Harzreise. ' '

In development of those features which have to do with accessibility to
human beings and with administration it was also necessary, at Point Lobos,
to determine the influence that development for purposes of accessibility
may have upon future value of the region.

It is extremely interesting to note the way in which landscape architects
have given consideration to elements in the picture of Point Lobos which
have human interest or value in the field of esthetic appreciation or nature
appreciation. This is the approach which landscape men should take in
consideration of a primitive area, which is to ask, first of all, what are
the elements which have human value ? These will perhaps rest upon other
elements than those involved in landscape study. They may be features
which have come to be known through study of the geology or the history
that one knows will have esthetic value comparable to design or pattern so
commonly used as a basis of judgment by the landscape architect.

It is to be noted that study of the Point Lobos problem has been ap-
proached by the method which is natural, normal, and necessary, namely
determining first what the values are in the area and then making a decision
as to how the area should be made accessible and how it may be used.
From this studj^, educational movements will develop which will make
clear to visitors the elements that have been discovered through an intensive
appraisal of the values of the region.

CHAPTER II

A MASTER PLAN FOR THE FUTURE*

"The greatest meeting of land and water in the world."

Extravagant praise for any one portion of the earth 's surface ; yet these
are the words of a noted student of landscape, the painter Francis Mc-
Comas. And there are many who agree that on Point Lobos there have been
brought to a distinguished climax many elements that make for landscape
beauty and significance.

Deriving its name from the colonies of sea lions whose hoarse barkings
are carried inland from the offshore rocks, Punt a de los Lohos Marinos
(point of the "sea wolves" to the early Spaniards) has scientific interest
because the habitats of two species of sea lion — California and Steller —
here overlap ; because it holds the farthest-north breeding place of the Cali-
fornia Brown pelican ; because many forms of land and marine life remain
here undisturbed, in remarkable relationship to their environment and to
each other. But the outstanding distinction of the Point — and the element
which produces most of its unique atmosphere — unquestionably lies in the
presence here, associated with other diverse plant life, of the most out-
standing natural grove of Cupressus macrocarpa, the Monterey cypress,
widely distributed in earlier geological time, but now in its native state
making a last stand in the Monterey region. Clinging precariously to the
cliffs above the surf, shaped into picturesque forms by wind and weather,
shrouded sometimes in the smoke of drifting fog, the living trees rich
green in foliage, the dead ones standing stark in silhouette, their bleached
white twisted branches red with algae, these cypresses are the characteristic
note in a landscape beloved of artists for its form and color, and the
dramatic story revealed by its oceanward pinnacles — the never-ending con-
flict between sea and land.

It was the recognition of such distinction that inspired the State of Cali-
fornia, after long negotiations and at considerable cost, to acquire Point
Lobos in order to preserve it as part of the Nation's heritage of beauty.

Escaping almost miraculously from the destruction of native landscape
values that had occurred around it, passing from owner to owner who
regarded it lightly — once in the free-and-easy early days of the Mexican
regime, tradition says, lost as the stake in a game of cards — site of a
whaling station, shipment point for a coal mine, laid out on paper as a
townsite with its harsh gridiron of streets, grazed over by cattle, in parts
occasionally burned — this rare and exceptional landscape .was finally pos-
sessed by an owner who appreciated its full value ; and, when it passed
into the trusteeship of the State of California, fortunately held most of the
essentially primitive character that had lured increasing thousands to it.

Yet when the State acquired Point Lobos, apprehension as to its future
still remained. Residents of Carmel, quaint and leisurely village which had

• By Newton B. Drury, Chief, Division of Beaches and Parks, State of California ; Director,
National Park Service, from 1940 to 1951; for many years active as Secretary of the
Save-the-Redwoods League and Point Lobos Advisory Committee ; Research Associate in
Protection of Primitive Landscape, Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C.

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12 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

long been a refuge for votaries of the arts, held up their hands in horror
at the prospect of a state park. They visioned formal paths and artificial
masonry, networks of roads and the frantic rush of automobile traffic, the
din of crowds, the nondescript structures of catch-penny concessions and
tourist camps, all, they feared, to the loss of more precious, but more
fragile things — the spell, the mystery, the beauty of this site.

The Carmelites sighed with relief, therefore, and so did nature lovers
throughout the. Nation, when the State Park Commission set its face
against these possibilities, pledging for all time that Point Lobos would be
a "reserve" — a property held in trust as nature had designed it. For the
commission concluded that it was in the public interest to hold this land
unmodified, even at the cost of considerable restriction of use, as thus only
could its highest values to the public be perpetuated.

Even so, the declaration of such a policy was not enough. What were
the values? How could they be protected for people of many generations
to enjoy? To find an answer to these questions was the complex problem
confronting the commission.

Gladly, therefore, they availed themselves of the offer of the Save-the-
Redwoods League, with financial assistance from the Carnegie Corporation
and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, to make a thorough study, to
formulate a policy, and to recommend a plan. An advisory committee of
scientists, artists and conservationists was formed, with Dr. Ray Lyman
Wilbur of Stanford University as its chairman. Specialists in many fields
were engaged to make sustained observations, and to prepare an inventory,
as it were, of all values possessed by Point Lobos, both material and in-
tangible. Frequent conferences were held on the ground by the committee
and its advisers, to determine the interrelation and proper evaluation of
all the findings. It was not enough to map the topography, to analyze the
geological structures, to plot the vegetative cover, to chronicle the 300
species of plants, 178 species of vertebrate animals, 88 species of marine
invertebrates along the shore and in the tidal pools, the many species of
seaweed and marine algae. The normal balance of conditions favorable to
the persistence of each plant and animal species had to be studied. More,
the relation of this balance to human use of the area had to be gauged.

It would be easy to become prosy in recounting the findings of the spe-
cialists in geology, zoology, botany, forestry, ecology, plant pathology —
even archeology, and early history — each of whom contributed significant
facts; the plotting and analysis of esthetic effects involved in the pattern
and composition of the landscape ; the study of forces, whether natural or
artificial, which might tend to lessen or destroy the qualities that all these
interrelated factors produced.

It took two years to prepare an 850-page typewritten volume embodying
these reports and studies, and then to Frederick Law Olmsted, well-known
landscape architect, and his coworker, George B. Vaughan, fell the task of
correlating the findings in making a plan, the object of which was, with the

The State Park Commission pledged for all

time that Point Lobos would be a "Reserve"— a property

held in trust as nature designed it

^"^'f

MASTER PLAN FOR THE FUTURE 15

minimum of disturbance of natural conditions, to afford those visiting
Point Lobos the maximum enjoyment of its most worthwhile values.

The Park Commission and the Advisory Committee had before them
ample warnings. They had observed the fate of other celebrated landscapes,
whose fame and popularity had carried the seeds of their destruction. In
their own-state parks — in the Coast Redwoods of Humboldt County, where
steadily the roadside had been conventionalized and cheapened, as increas-
ing pressure of tourist traffic had induced "improvement" of the Redwood
Highway; at the Big Basin Redwoods of Santa Cruz County, the central
grove of which a generation ago was rich in all the attributes of the primi-
tive, the forest floor carpeted with ferns and flowering plants ; but which
today, frequented by milling throngs, cluttered with structures strangely
out of place among the stately redwoods, presents an aspect bare as the
ground beneath a circus tent. In the California Sierra, where one after
another the last fastnesses were being penetrated by automobile roads,
destruction following in their wake. Even in Yosemite, still incomparable,
they witnessed the steady and inexorable operation of the law of diminish-
ing returns, the disappearance when sought by many, of qualities which in
the past had given Yosemite its fame. The dictum of Robert Burns, that

. . . "pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, the bloom is sped,"

surely states the situation of some of the areas of greatest natural beauty
in California.

What to do — or not to do — in a democracy, in order to perpetuate for
the public of today and tomorrow, in undiminished freshness, the perish-
able qualities of its own property?

That was the delicate problem to which the members of the Point Lobos
Advisory Committee addressed themselves. Observing trends elsewhere in
the same field, they determined to escape if possible some pitfalls into
which others had fallen, to avoid some fetishes that had been set up in the
administering of public lands; to resist the pressure of scenic showmanship
which measures success in revenue or attendance; of recreational enthu-
siasm, which considers that piece of level land wasted which is not teeming
with citizens engaged in healthful and innocent outdoor sports, regardless
of their appropriateness to the site; of virtuosity, the aim of which is to
"paint the lily" or remake nature's design in keeping with the precon-
ceived notions of well-meaning individuals or groups, for the glory of
themselves and their techniques — or merely to satisfy an itch to
monkey with a landscape; of made-work projects, exulting in new-found
resources, more designed for expenditure of money than expenditure of
thought; of that pseudo-democracy complex which holds that if a piece of
property belongs to the public, they have an inalienable and limitless right
to use it, even if they use it up.

Extreme as some of these things sound, they all represent tendencies
that have lessened the real value of public properties grouped loosely under

■^ The rocky points mark the seaward

margins of the cypress groves. Inland, the Monterey
pines form a solid covering

16 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

the term of "parks." This has not occurred throug'h any lack of efficiency
in operation on the part of those in charge. It has been largely due to the
absence of a clear-cut realization of policy and purpose of administering
natural areas.

To remedy such a situation the California State Park Commission
adopted the Point Lobos Master Plan.

"To keep at a high level of perfection the unique natural conditions
upon which the greatest values of Point Lobos depend, in order to make
these permanently available for the enjoyment, education and inspiration
of the public."

Thus was the purpose stated, and thus was the policy determined, both
for development and use. Its guiding principle was moderation. Existing
conditions were to be changed as little as possible, and these only in the
interest of restoring naturalness or checking destructive tendencies. Auto-
mobile roads, for instance, were reduced from 16,000 to 8,000 feet, and
their scars removed, without lessening their main function of carrying
visitors within reasonable distance of important points. Parking places were
located after careful study.

The finer areas are to be entered only on foot, over unobtrusive trails
which follow the logical course of travel and lead to features of greatest
beauty and interest, as determined by the analysis of the property. En-
trance is free, except that the commission has retained as a protective
measure a facility charge of 35 cents per car, which has the threefold merit
of providing some revenue for administration, of being nominal for those
who are genuinely interested, and giving enhanced appreciation of an ex-
perience through having paid for it. Marauders of the landscape, it is
found, do not so readily mobilize on foot.

Camping and gatherings of the convention type, because of their de-
structive effects, cannot be permitted, but picnicking is provided for in
least perishable portions of the Reserve, such as the ocean shore and beaches.
Rules against destruction of plant and animal life are explained and inter-
preted by the staff, as well as enforced. Protection from an extreme hazard
has required that there be no fires or smoking. "Clean up" for fire pro-
tection or other purposes has been practiced with restraint. The scientists
have discovered important functions of the brush and grasslands as the
habitat for small mammals and many species of birds. Structures and all
artificial intrusions have been kept to the minimum necessary for adminis-
tration, and so placed that they will not mar any important element in the
picture.

As to protection, one emergency has already been revealed by the studies
of plant pathologists. It is the threat of the cypress canker, deadly foe
of the Monterey cypress, which if it takes hold at Point Lobos will destroy
the most distinctive feature. Discovery of this plant disease within two
miles of the Reserve led to definite and aggressive measures. Trained crews
furnished by the National Park Service C. C. C. combed the territory for
at least 10 miles around to detect and remove from all plantations of
Monterey cypress those diseased trees from which the spores might be
transmitted by wind or birds, and a protective zone was established wherein
systematic examination and eradication were carried on.

Already in many parts of California the planted cypresses, so important
in our landscape, are believed to be doomed, so far had this disease ad-
vanced before its menace was realized. There is no discovered cure. It may

MASTER PLAN FOR THE FUTURE 17

be that in its type of locality the Monterey cypress will make its last stand,
saved only in Point Lobos Reserve from total extinction.

All this, and much more, in the way of protective procedure is being
interpreted and explained to the visiting public, and embodied in a basic
publication. Artists, writers, students of flora and fauna, are encouraged
to make this their headquarters, so that steadily at Point Lobos there may
grow a tradition favorable to the established objectives. As to results from
the Point Lobos program, California park authorities are optimistic and
encouraged. Success thus far has been assured by the complete understand-
ing and sympathy of the state park administrators. Their plans have been
carried out ably by Park Supervisor R. A. Wilson. Scientists and others who
contributed to the plan, upon revisiting the area, are impressed by the prog-
ress thus far in maintaining and restoring natural conditions. Di.splays of
spring Avildflowers in the undisturbed meadows and on grassy slopes were
never more colorful. Marine life in the tidal pools along the coast remains
in undiminished interest. The pine woods inland are a refuge for the many
creatures whose presence gives meaning to the total spectacle. That "mosaic
of many elements" spoken of by Dr. John C. Merriam as representing im-
portant human values in a concept of nature and the primitive, is being
held intact, we hope, for countless generations to enjoy.

Certain it is that the Point Lobos program has significance, not only in
determining the future trend here, but in setting the pattern for the admin-
istration of other possessions in the California system of more than 135
state parks, built up within the past 25 years to safeguard outstanding
natural features not already included in national parks and forests.
Notable among these are three mountain areas in southern California
possessing Sierran qualities, namely Mt. San Jacinto, Palomar and Cuya-
maea. Anza Desert, whose 460,000 acres contain a wealth of desert flora,
includes such unusual and interesting plants as the native fan palm ( Wash-
ingtonia filifera), ocotillo, smoke tree, cacti and the rare elephant tree
(Bursera microphyJla). Also preserved are the Calaveras Groves of Big
Trees, Burney Falls and Castle Crags ; and above all, the matchless forests
of Coast redwoods, {Sequoia sempervirens) , in Humboldt and Del Norte
Counties — the Bull Creek watershed with its majestic "cathedral-like"
groves in the flats, the primeval forest on Prairie Creek and along the Del
Norte Coast ; and the redwoods on Smith River and Mill Creek north and
east of Crescent City.

Not all of California's state parks are destined to be "reserves." Some
have historic meaning, primarily ; some, of their very nature, will be de-
voted to outdoor recreation — such as the ocean beaches of the south. But
for the more perishable areas, the program at Point Lobos has pointed the
way to sound procedure, based on knowledge and appreciation. This lesson
has been learned: to protect the primitive properly takes time and thought.

CHAPTER III

A LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING*

"When the seas are running high, as they so often do at Point Lobos, the
huge waves, with their heaving, burst and drag, grip the attention and
rouse the emotions. This spectacular impact upon shore forms of extraordi-
nary variety stirs the mind to some appreciation of the vast power and
dramatic quality of the forces here at work.

But on every hand, and in every kind of weather, other phases of the
same great drama become apparent, more and more impressive as one's
understanding grows.

The functional adaptation of a richly varied vegetation, marine and
littoral, is directly traceable to the impact of waves and currents, of ocean
winds, and windborne spray and spume and fog — from the lithe seaweed
up through the tapestries of rock plants to the gnarled cypresses and the
wind-moulded pines.

The cypresses tell a poignant story of survival in a battle against great
odds, twisting and buttressing themselves against the thrust of wind and
pull of gravity, extracting vigor from the driving sea fogs and adapting
themselves to drenching sprays of salt that sometimes crust the soil with
white and rout the advance of other trees.

Whole communities of living things are shaped in every vital detail to
play their strenuous parts in the everlasting drama of the sea and shore —
visibly so shaped, not only in response to these pervasive forces of sea and
wand but also in response to conditions of soil and rock which are themselves
the outcome of the same unending reaction of sea and land.

Rocks now crumble visibly before the eyes, grain after grain; rocks
plainly formed in long-past ages out of pebbles on beaches, not unlike the
present, then buried deep until a new uplifting of the continent enabled
the sea to cut those other less ancient beaches which we see on the present
hillsides, terrace below terrace— until finally the ocean again reached and
hammered into the same old beach conglomerate, rattling its veteran peb-
bles back and forth, and with them battering out new clefts, chasms and
caves where planes of weakness had been formed by continental heavings.

Infinite are the variations of meaning relating to this single dominant
theme, immensely inspiring in their significance, and expressed in forms of
exceptional sensual beauty.

One sensitive to beauty and meaning in landscape, and disposed to ana-
lyze its appeal in terms of pattern, form and color, finds in Point Lobos
Reserve and surrounding country a great variety of types. An attempt
to classify them would reveal as worthy of specialized appreciation such
types as: (a) the seaward margins of the cypress grove; (b) the cypress
forest interiors; (c) glades and meadows on the cypress forest landward
margins; (d) Big Dome cliffs; (e) open points jutting into the sea; (f) the
littoral areas and sea caves; (g) open saddles; (li) open hilltops; (i) high

• By Frederick Law Olmsted and George B. Vaughan.

When the seas run high at Point Lobos,

the onlooker is gripped by the power and dramatic

quality of the forces at work

(19)

w%

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 21

chaparral areas; (j) broad, sweeping meadows bounded by varying com-
binations of pine forest, chaparral and the sea; (k) pine forest interiors.
It should be admitted that no satisfactory explanation can be given for
any esthetic experience, so far as the landscape is concerned. It should
also be recognized that the appeal of Point Lobos is to many senses, and
is composite in its nature. To each beholder some one phase or feature has
a special meaning. Nevertheless, it may be of some value to attempt a study
of some elements that contribute to the character and charm of the dif-
ferent landscape types in this area.

Seaward Margins of the Cypress Grove

The most dramatic landscape effect — in fact the supreme effect of the
entire Reserve — is found on the outer ends of the cypress-covered points,
and principally of Cypress Headland. Here, as on a mountaintop, one has
the sen.se of being on a battleground of natural forces where man is a
negligible factor. Here, where the cypress clings to the very edge of the
continent, one feels the prower of the elements in rolling surf churning
against jagged rocks ; in the outlines of these rock formations sloping up-
ward and away from the sea ; in this same slope repeated by the surfaces
of wind-sheared cypress foliage, and carried back to the crest of the forest,
beyond which there is comparative shelter. If, when the wind blows, there
be driving fog to trace its course, this effect is intensified ; for the fog
drifts up along these same lines, flowing over the sloping rocks and smoothed
foliage, and through the bleached and naked limbs of any tree that has
dared to raise it.self above this general slope. The tree trunks leaning from
the wind, foliage clinging in dense masses on the sheltered side of branches,
buttress formations to the lee supporting trunks and limbs, and anchor
roots to the windward holding fast in crevasses of the granite, even on
quiet days, tell a story of frequent high winds and flying spume.

The feeling of seclusion, of being far removed from the influence of man,
is an important part of the spell that is east about this place. Little is
here to remind one of human attempts to modify the work of nature. Trees
carry dead branches, and skeletons of trees whose life cycle is completed
stand stark or lie prostrate, undisturbed. The only trails are casual tracks,
such as animals might have made. Here is the inner sanctuary which has
been reached by progressively leaving the evidences of civilization behind ;
first, by turning aside from the main stream of traffic at the highway gate;
next, leaving the supervisor's hovise behind; then abandoning the automo-
bile at entrance to the headland, and finally coming on foot through the
cypress forest with one's face toward the ocean and the end of land.

Where the oceanward pinnacles burst upon the view is felt most strongly
that stress and flow of elements resulting from repetition of form ; the slope
of rocks repeated again and again, and re-echoed in wind-blown trees and
movements of fog ; and if one stands on the open end of Cypress Headland
— on North Point looking south, or on South Point looking north — this
repetition is increased by the view of three or four rocky points, each in
succession presenting a variation of the same theme.

Another interesting repetition of form conspicuous throughout all the
granitic portions of the Reserve and adjoining coast, is due to various angles

The twisted and gnarled cypresses tell a
poignant story of survival in a battle against wind
and fog, and drenching salt sprays

22 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

and directions of faulting of the granite which produce a series of steep
slopes facing northeasterly and southwesterly ; and where a point is being
cut off from the mainland by the sea there is also a steep slope to the south-
east. Thus the form toward which each point and island is tending as the
ocean carves away its base is that of a pyramid. This is typified by the
pinnacles at the outer end of Cypress Headland.

Combined with this strong harmony of form is remarkable richness of
color. The sea is the most changeable element, reflecting from afar every
color of light thrown upon it ; rich blue under a sunny sky, shot with white
or lead gray from banks of fog, or tinged by brilliant reds and yellows of
a sunset. Close inshore the plunging view from bluffs and cliffs, so char-
acteristic of Point Lobos, penetrates the surface reflections and catches
light reflected from things beneath : brilliant emerald greens of sunlit sand,
warm red-browns of waving kelp, lavenders and crimsons of life encrusted
on the rocks, rich olive greens of deep water and pale blue-greens of sub-
merged clouds of air close to the foaming white breakers — with, perhaps,
as an added touch of color, a black and white guillemot with orange-red
feet swimming around the shore. These are impressions one remembers, and
when overlaid with swirls of creamy froth and broken here and there by
reflected glints of gray rocks, overhanging green foliage, bright orange alga
or blue sky, the riotous symphony of changing color becomes a challenge
to every artist to see how much of it he can catch. Then add to these the
red-browns of the granite below the spray line; and, above, the blue and
pink trailing rosettes of Cotoledons with their pale yellow flowers making
a soft rich tapestry over the steep bluffs ; and, above these, a zone of green
covered with fiery orange Castilleia, bright yellow Ericameria and soft blue
Erigeron going back into the shade of the cypress woods where rise the
tree trunks, red-brown, or bleached to the light gray of the granite rock;
naked and dead, or supporting at their tops dense heads of twiggage washed
beneath with the rich orange-red and silver of the alga; and crowned
against the sky with bright green foliage. This is rich pictorial material,
and even painters who care little for the manifestations of nature come
here day after day, and year after year, for inspiration.

For those who find greatest interest in observing nature as a dynamic
living organism, there is added to the thrill of color and form a dramatiza-
tion of two opposed processes — one, the disintegration of the rock by the
plant cover and rain and sun, making of it food for the support of a richer
and finer plant cover; and the other, that of the sea eating slowly back
into this headland, aided, strangely enough, by the cypress tree itself,
which may be observed splitting off great chunks of granite by the pres-
sure of growing roots in seams of the rock. It is thrilling to go out onto the
Cypress Headland and stand in a wilderness of clean-washed granite ridges
with sea water surging in narrow chasms between, among rocky ribs of the
earth that once supported soil, flowers and trees like those seen inshore.

The cycle of growth and decay of the cypress is worth noting because
of its influence on the character of this landscape. Where reproduction is
very thin and scattered, as on the outlying ridges at the end of Cypress
Headland, and in portions of the landward margins, trees stand out as
individuals through their entire history. Elsewhere, reproduction is apt
to go in waves, creating thickets of young cypresses whose foliage often
presents continuous surfaces modeled by the wind into smooth-flowing con-
tours. The most outstanding examples of this effect are to be found in the
eastern portion of the north shore. A less extensive example is to be found

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 23

at the head of the southern cove on the end of Cypress Headland. As
such a group matures, losing its lower limbs, it approaches the condition
of the much painted and photographed group of twisted and distorted trees
on the outer south side of Cypress Headland which is of added significance
when one realizes that this represents a late stage in the life of this group.
Where reproduction has been adequate to insure the continuance of such
groups, the young trees growing up have obscured the old picturesque trees.
Another of the outstanding cypress forms is found also on the seaward
margins, but on more sheltered portions of the shore, splendidly typified
by the so-called Old Veteran at the head of the cove west of Little Dome.
Old, flat-topped trees of this type have matured without much distortion
from wind, standing mostly alone at the seaward edge of open meadows
where they form striking silhouettes against the sea beyond. On the south
shore of Cypress Headland, such trees compose magnificent pictures with
the foreground meadow and the farther side of Point Cove and the Seal
Rocks behind.

Cypress Forest Interiors

Of this phase there are at least two classifications: (1) Dense thickets
of young trees, usually with many dead twigs and of little esthetic value
as seen from within — they have important meaning, however, as they are
one link in the development cycle of the cypress — ; (2) heavy mature woods
containing large trees. Such have considerable dignity if not too much
cluttered up with small, young growth, although some inmixing of young
trees gives interest and contrast. Since these groves are limited in extent,
it is always possible to get glimpses of the bright sea out between the
trunks, that frame many fine "window vistas." Thus, while within these
groves one feels sheltered from the sea-winds and bright light, the eye is
drawn toward the sea margins, making them less restful and sufficient in
themselves than the depth of the pine forest. The principal interests here
are the great varietj' of fine tree shapes and the vistas seen through them.
Notable groups of large specimens are scattered through the cypress areas,
each Avith a character of its own. In several places the cha,racter and inter-
est in the cypress woods lie in the trailing "moss" hanging pale green from
every branch and twig, usually lighted from beyond through the filmy
shreds. This adds to the atmosphere of "untouched wilderness."

Glades and Meadows of the Cypress Forest Landward Margins

Open margins of the cypress forest, away from the sea and sheltered
spaces or glades within the woods, whatever their cause, are very important
to the total esthetic make-up of the cypress areas. Views across these open-
ings reveal the luxuriant green walls of cypress foliage, and vistas of the
sea, and surf-battered rocks crowned with wind-dwarfed trees. Here we
have the contrast of two phases of cypress growth. It is difficult to associate
the battered cj'presses of the outer rocks with the same trees thriving richly
on the edges of sheltered inland swales. Such amazingly different forms are
assumed under different conditions.

The distributional pattern of the cypress grove, typically a crescent with
its thick middle portion on the outer end of a granitic point and the two
tapering points trailing back toward the heads of coves on either side,
follows largely the pattern of fog penetration when being "burned off"
b}' the sun over the heated land, and also the pattern which one would
expect a given density of salt from the breakers to penetrate under similar

v«*

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 25

conditions of sea-winds — and thus to the beauty of the scene is added the
interest of speculation as to what are the determininnj factors which have
so reduced the once-extensive cypress forests to their present slight hold
on the two granitic points that they occupy.

Big Dome Cliffs

The north side of Big Dome and adjacent shore, while bearing cypress,
are quite different in feeling from the other cypress shores, because of the
dramatic cliffs rising almost sheer from the water 75 feet to the narrow
ledge where the trail is — and then up again in bare faces of beautiful
lichen-covered granite, with only narrow footholds here and there for trees,
to the narrow summit, 260 feet above sea-level. Here the cypress, while
confined to the shelves where soil can lodge, has propagated continuously
so that in any location the trees range from magnificent, tall, straight-
shafted giants to graceful, pointed seedlings which one might step over.
Here, instead of finding the trees distorted and dwarfed from battling with
the salt-laden wind, we find them high up above the sea thriving against
the background of colorful rocks Avhich shelter them from both sun and
wind. Because of the northern exposure, these rocks are always a show of
color from herbaceous material. Here, too, are a few adventurous pines
that have seeded into a habitat where they can never thrive, and it may be
felt that esthetically these sickly trees weaken the otherwise admirable
effect created by the other plants which so well adapt themselves to these
cool, rocky shelves. Ecologically these pines are interesting, but they can
hardly be called inspiring. From the trail that zig-zags up from the end of
the shore trail to the summit of Big Dome are obtained lovely views of
Cypress Headland and Bluefish Cove, and of Carmel Bay framed by the
cypress trees clinging to the knoll.

Open Points Jutting Into the Sea

There are three such points of outstanding quality : Pelican Point, Punta
de los Lobos Marinos and Granite Point. From the former two, the central
objects of interest are nesting birds and the sea lions. From Pelican Point,
the effects are comparatively simple : the bare, knobby islands with the
wash of the sea about their feet, and several species of birds nesting, roost-
ing, bathing and drying, and always birds departing and birds arriving
making everchanging patterns in the sk3\ Morning is a time for zoological
study. Evening is a time of silhouettes.

From Punta de los Lobos Marinos the interest is more varied and the
scene more changing. The great sea lions keep calling attention to them-
selves Avith their yelping and growling as they spar on the rocks or sport
in the breakers. Here, during a high surf, the great seas, crashing over
the rocks and charging down on the outer end of the Point, leap high into
the air and fall back again in a drenching rain. Here, on a quiet day and
at a low tide, one may see tide pools as lovely as any garden with many
living things. And here at close intervals, all day long, sea birds pass, flying
north or south between the Point and the Seal Rocks, so that one might well
sit for long hours watching the movement of the sea and the life associated
with it.

Open, rocky points that jut into

the sea provide a habitat for nesting birds

and resting sea lions

26 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

In the northeast corner of the Reserve, Granite Point presents quite a
different appeal. All throug:h the spring much of the area is covered with
the most colorful wildflower display to be found in the Reserve, both of the
rocky meadow types and of the north-facing sea-bluffs. Over these, as a
foreground, one gets raking views of the whole north shore with its pic-
turesque knobs and bumps, its outlying islands and its cypresses and pines.
To the east, against a background of curving beaches, hills and valleys, is
the string of rocky reefs close by across Moss Cove, where one may see as
fine a surf as any to be found in the Reserve. One may also be impressed
by the fact that the topography of this point, the orientation, and the plant
list, are surprisingly like that of Cypress Headland.

Litforal Area

The principal esthetic value of the littoral, or tidal area, is not usually
to be found in the broader outlooks but in the interest of details close at
hand.

Of interesting tidal pools containing garden-like growths of plant and
animal life, there are quite a number. Notable ones are situated (1) east
of Big Dome; (2) on the north side of Cypress Headland; (3) on Punta
de los Lobos Marinos, perhaps the most accessible and beautiful; (4) scat-
tered along the south shore from Sand Hill Cove to Pebbly Beach, a series
of interesting pools.

Of small sea caves there are a number, seven or eight of them, accessible
to bold climbers during times of very low tide and calm sea. These are to
be found mostly in Sand Hill Cove and 1,000 to 1,500 feet southwesterly.
Some of these "show very beautiful incrustations of lavender and scarlet
growths, and most of them give interesting geologic exhibits in clean-
ground conglomerate surfaces, often revealing faults that have cracked
and slipped the porphyritic pebbles. Of tunnels, double-ended caves, al-
ways dramatic evidence of the work of the sea in detaching islands, there
are some 15 in the Reserve. A very interesting one is in East Grove, with
a great cypress tree growing on its bridge. The others are mostly grouped
near Pelican Point.

Some of the small beaches of the Reserve are tucked away between cliffs,
and one happens upon them in surprise. This is true of Sandy Beach, and
particularly of Hidden Beach and China Beach. The latter is the safest
and most sheltered place for swimming. Moss Beach, in the area to the
east, while not in itself as esthetically satisfying, nevertheless has consider-
able value as a safe swimming place and as a safe and dramatic viewpoint
for the surf tumbling over the ledges across its entrance.

Open Saddles

The landscapes of the various open saddles in the Reserve are quite varied
in character. Of these, perhaps the most interesting is the saddle between
Big Dome and Whalers Knoll known as "The Pass." Looking through it
in either direction, one gets much the feeling that one does from looking
through a high mountain pass. The bare rocky spur to the south, always
colorful with flowers, descends to the strip of meadow in the bottom, in a
graceful sweep of lupine, and opposite. Big Dome rises in tiers of pine and

The littoral areas of Point Lobos provide tidal pools, sea coves, geologic faults
and bridges, and herbaceous growths of unusual beauty and scientific interest

" .*» 1V, •^•i^.^*^

.i\ > ;,

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 29

cypress which reveal their craggy footing, while through the pass to the
east only the tops of tall pines and cypresses are visible. Climbing up out of
the woods from the east, one views Little Dome, interestingly enframed by
The Pass with a glimpse of Cypress Headland and the open ocean beyond.

Ecologically, The Pass is one of the most remarkable spots in the Re-
serve ; for here in a small area are tremendous differences in exposure to
sun, to wind, and to sea fog, and in soil depth and runoff, so that here are
to be found many species in constant competition : the two major trees,
large and small shrubs, and several distinct meadow types. Here also is
perhaps the finest specimen of mature cypress, neither crowded nor wind-
blown, a tree from which nurserymen have preferred to gather seed for
propagation.

The other open saddle to the south of Whalers Knoll is notable because
of its broad sweeping views over meadows. That between Vierras Knoll
and the knoll to the southwest, now used for the parking of cars, is remark-
able for two smashing "views out" obtainable, at their best, from within a
few feet of the edge of the sea bluffs. Here one's eyes move from the pic-
turesque knobs of the Bird Rocks, viewed between pines and flower-deco-
rated crags, to the sudden and thrilling discovery of the gleaming white,
and hitherto quite hidden, China Beach beneath, wdth the surf breaking on
it from the pale emerald green water of the narrow granite-bordered cove.

From the saddle, east of Vierras Knoll, one gains sweeping views of the
whole south shore to Sand Hill and Whalers Knoll, over a foreground of
meadow which is rapidly filling up with bushes and young pines. This fine
view, unless something soon arrests the growth, is doomed to disappear.

The open saddle south of Whalers Knoll is fine because of its views over
the meadows, with foregrounds variously broken by scattered shrubs and
pines. The western view is terminated by the shore and the horizon, the
eastern by pine woods and the mountains, with a glimpse of Carmelo Cove.

Open Hilltops

Looking out from an open hilltop gives one an expansive and uplifted
feeling, the attainment of which is the principal, if unconscious, aim of the
majority who climb hills for pleasure. That feeling, while it is a part of the
uplift experienced by those who climb the hills of the Reserve, is certainly
to be gained in greater degree elsewhere ; and hence, those few people who
do climb the hills of the Reserve find other recompense. One of these is the
typical cover of low bushy character full of color from the yellow and
orange of its Ericameria and Diplacus in the spring to the summer display
of buckwheat. At the south end of the Reserve, perhaps the most worth-
while knolls to climb are those west of the park road where not only are
there fine flower displays but also raking views of the shore both north and
south, and interesting sights of Bird Rocks nearby.

From Whalers Knoll the outlooks are various and quite outstanding.
First of all, from the summit, to the south and east, over a long expanse of
buckwheat, broken here and there by clumps of Ceanothus and a few scat-
tered pines, one looks out to the distant shores and islands, and over the
pine woods to the mountains. The foreground, here, is formed by an ancient
beach terrace, so that the top of the hill is comparatively flat, breaking

Surf-battered rocks crowned with wind-dwarfted trees ofFer a striking contrast
to the luxuriant green walls of landward cypress margins

mjy

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 31

quite suddenly into steep sideslopes. To look down, therefore, on what lies
close to the hill, one must make a tour of the edge of this terrace, and then
one will be rewarded with a long series of fine plunging views. Of these,
one will longest remember those looking down on Blue Fish Cove, The Pass,
Big Dome Cove, and on The Old Veteran — which, as seen from Whalers
Knoll, is in silhouette against the water of Little Dome Cove far below,
and gives the impression of being suspended or poised.

High Chaparral Areas

While the narrow belts of high chaparral, made up principally of Cea-
nothus, are chiefly important esthetically in their relation to the broad
meadow views, they have, nevertheless, for those who care to enter them,
an interest and charm definitely their ow^n. They constitute an "elfin for-
est" of weirdly formed "trees" full of small animal and bird life, where
wood rat nests are quite a common feature. There soil is a deep soft duff, at
times so deep that it takes a lot of heavy rain to penetrate it, so that often
there is little or no plant cover.

Broad Sweeping Meadows Bounded by Varying Combinations
of Pine Forest, Chaparral and the Sea

The feeling of these meadows is one of peace and restfulness. They are
large enough to give the eye scope to wander, sufficiently contained by their
barriers of forest, so that one is not wondering what is over the hill ; simple
in texture, simple in topography, leading the eye inevitably, though gently,
to the restful horizon of the sea.

Of pictorial material the meadows are full, although not with the lavish
richness of the north headland area. Color there is in plenty, in bold
splashes throughout the spring when most of the flowers are blooming, and
in more subdued but still rich tones of browns and reds throughout the
long dry summer, changing with the winter rains to lush bright green shot
through with the red-bro\vn of last year 's stalks ; with always the little-
changing foil of dull green pines, almost the dullest green of all the pines,
and the ever-changing sky and sea. Pictorial depth, that separation of
planes of relative distance into sufficiently simple terms to be easily grasped
and enjoyed in a single view, is furnished here by the undulating forest
margins and by lone trees or isolated clumps of trees standing free in the
meadows, between or beyond which more pines are seen at greater dis-
tances, carrying the eye through from group to group until it comes to rest
on some feature adequate to arrest it. This effect is lovely if the terminus
is still more pines, but the striking views, and those most typical of Point
Lobos, occur when interest is finally focused on surf-washed shore or bold
rocky islands.

Beautiful as these sea-facing meadows are from a purely pictorial stand-
point, they become infinitely more inspiring when one knows something of
their significance in the long progression of natural change. One may be
thrilled by the knowledge that the beautiful front of the meadow, gently
sloping toward the sea, represents the cutting and building of a terrace by
that same Pacific Ocean which now rolls against the rocks at its seaward

Open hilltops are ancient beach

terraces that now break suddenly into steep

sideslopes overlooking colorful coves

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 33

margin, and that the surrounding: ridge on which perhaps stand pines, is
the older line of shore-cliff softened by erosion to gentle well-drained slopes
where a succession of plants has built nourishing soil from the crumbling
rocks until the forest now stands, held by the poorer drainage of the flat
meadow, on a line often closely following the line of the ancient sea cliffs.

For flower displays of blazing color, the great meadow southeast of
Whalers Knoll is outstanding, with golden poppies in March, contrasted
with blue Ceanothus on the margins ; in the show of solid splashes of red-
brown Riimex in May, and the intermixed blue and pink and yellow of
Sisyrinchium, Geranium and Cenothera, lovely close to, but perhaps most
effective from the edges of the meadow, making vibrant variations in the
reds and maroons of the Rumex. For interesting compositions, for a study
of the old beach line and an undisturbed condition of forest margin and
meadow flora, and for the interesting mound formation that is typical of
the wet meadows in the Reserve, the big Mound Meadow on the south shore
is most typical. Here the meadow has never been plowed and the evidence
of forest clearing is small. There are, however, signs of a natural advance
of pine in successive stages down from the location of the present state
highway into this mounded area, with mounds, buried more or less deeply
by woods soil, extending all the way up to the highway.

Each meadow has its peculiar' character and its dominating note of
interest. Around Carmel Cove and focused in its center is a low terrace
meadow surrounded by an upper terrace largely open and also meadow,
giving a fine opportunity to see the terraced formation. Northwest of
Whalers Knoll is a narrow meadow contained on the sides mostly by
brush-covered slopes, and strongly guiding the attention down to the Old
Veteran cypress and the cypress-enframed cove— one of the fine views of
the Reserve. Another outstanding meadow view is that obtained from the
north side of Vierras Knoll looking over the very lovely bushy meadow
to the panorama of the south shore as far as Whalers Rock and the Sand
Hill. This is, however, apparently in a stage of rapid transition from open
meadow, where grain was once raised, to chaparral, or more probably pine
forest. To the south of Vierras Knoll is a similar meadow looking toward
the dramatic coast to the south, showing no evidence of losing its herbaceous
character in which the chief color effects in the spring are derived from
Rumex and pure yellow Lupine.

In both of these areas one is unpleasantly reminded of the close presence
of highway fence, cuts and traffic, and by the Carmel Highlands subdi-
vision, and that the future might easily bring building developments on the
hill east of the highway which would dominate this whole end of the
"natural" Reserve. Besides these areas are numerous little meadows full
of a variety of interest, tucked away all over the Reserve — well worth ex-
ploring, from the point of view of the artist, the naturalist or the less
specialized nature lover.

Pine Forest Interiors

In the pine forest are three very distinct types of character. The first
is where the trees are spaced quite wide and open, retaining considerable
low foliage here and there, with sufficient light entering to support grass

Rounded domes, sheer-walled on the

ocean side, shelter straight-shafted cypresses

on their unexposed slopes

34 POESTT LOBOS RESERVE

and flowers on the forest floor. Pictorially, this is the outstanding type,
with its foliage masses contrasting with the ground cover and more distant
views, and composing an endless variety of vistas. The pine tree forms are
of the most robust and healthy appearance in these areas. The grass and
flowers and clumps of rhus, or "poison oak," make these woods always
colorful with their seasonal changes.

A second type is apparently more characteristic of Monterey pme in
its most favorable habitat, although (because crowded) the trees on the
average have less vigor and health. This is the character of close continuous
stands of tall, bare-stemmed trees, which are progressively increasing their
spacing through natural crowding. Underbrush is almost entirely limited to
occasional live oaks, and in a few places thickets of young pine where there
have been recent openings. Pictorially, less interesting than more open and
irregular stands, these areas, nevertheless, have their esthetic charm, par-
ticularly where the trees are fairly large and widespaced, and not too
cluttered with spindling, suppressed trees, dying or dead or fallen, and
lying criss-cross on the forest floor. The gray shafts of the trees topped by
a high crown of foliage, infinite in their variations of size and curve and
spacing are in many places saved from the danger of monotony of color
by an occasional poison rhus vine hung in lacy reds and greens high up in
a gray pine trunk. j n n

Young trees, suppressed trees, old flat-headed veterans, dead and tallen
trees, large and small, in normal quantities, all help here to complete the
presentment of an unbroken life cycle which is in turn part of the longer
progression of change and evolution that leads up to what one is looking
at, out of the dawn of all trees, and which becomes part of the picture that
includes the mound formations, extending through the trees, and the old
strand terraces skirting their margins, often opening views out of the
higher woods over the open meadows beneath. This type of scenery is not
peculiar to Point Lobos, and, in fact, it is seen at its best in forests ot
other trees larger and more graceful than the Monterey pme. The principal
inherent value of the pine forest at Point Lobos is that it gives background
to the meadow margins and that it increases the variety of conditions typ-
ical of the coastal shelf; and the condition which will make it of added
worth will be unbroken freedom from human interference.

Now we may consider the third type of pine forest effect, which is that
found on steep tree-clad slopes facing north onto Carmel Bay. Here one
obtains striking views, out through the tree trunks, over the bay. The
value of this effect varies with the density of the forest. If the trees are
too thick, the views are obscured, but not so completely that one is not still
conscious that the view is there, and consequently one resents the close
obscuring trees. Because the trees on these slopes grow tall and leggy, and
if they are thin and scattered, they present the appearance of a skeleton
forest' like that left by some of the more careful lumbering operations. The
strongest esthetic effects in these areas depend upon strong. contrasts be-
tween foreground pattern of trees and distant views, and therefore are
best seen on clear, sunnv days. In the late spring there is considerable
color on the floor from Ericameria and Castilleia, and in more open areas
close to the shore will also be found beds of Erigeron, giving pretty strong
doses of the three primary colors against a background of greens.

As to the locations : the two outstanding areas of the open forest type
are in the long tongue of woods separating the north shore meadows from
those of the south shore, and in the smaller, low area just north of the

LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING

35

Vierras Knoll plateau. The close-standing type is best seen along the high-
way from Rat Hill south. The north-sloping forest area is most typical in
the bowl-hke slope surrounding Bluefish Cove, although there it is thin
and too full of dead and sickly trees to be at its best esthetically Also
here is a very heavy new crop of seedlings growing up that is likely not
only to smother the outlook but to obscure the rather fine effect of the
bowl-hke ground form, and this will certainly result in another crop of
trees too tall and too weak. On the northeast side of Whalers Knoll is a
variation of this type, of long standing, containing some sizable timber,
living and dead, and perhaps representing the least tampered-with piece
of pine woods in the Reserve. Here are to be found numerous squirrels and
birds busily seeking food and shelter. This area contains some fine pan-
oramic views, particularly interesting because they look out over and be-
tween the cypress-covered and pine-covered knolls along the north shore
Big Dome is a very striking picture when framed by these trees.

With pine forests and cypress forests, with hi'lls and meadows and
chaparral, with a sea front of spectacular aspect, Point Lobos Reserve pre-
sents indeed a wide variety of types of landscape beautv. Unique in some
of its features, it remains typical of the finest reaches of the central Cali-
fornia coast as once it was. Infinitely diverse, rich in color, dramatic in
significance, Point Lobos is an abiding inspiration for lovers of the
American scene.

Monterey cypress is, as a species, the most dramatic witness of past
changes on the western shoreline

Wj^-^>=«^

■15' .

36

POINT LOBOS RESERVE

The geology of the Point Lobos area is well-demonstrated in the various
rock outcroppings exposed on many of the headlands

Mortar holes in the granitic rock used by the Indians for grinding seeds and
acorns can still be found at five locations at Point Lobos

CHAPTER IV

GEOLOGY OF POINT LOBOS *

The "record of the rocks" at Point Lobos, where the forces of surf and
weather have for countless centuries battered the edge of the continent,
reveals a story of many chapters.

Rocks on Point Lobos show varied conditions of origin. The granite
(granodiorite), once cooled from a molten mass of rock far below the sur-
face, has been raised up and exposed on Cypress Headland. Fragments
worn or broken from it and from other rocks were heaped in layers as sand
and gravel along the shore, and have since been cemented into rock which
we call sandstone and conglomerate. Occasional fossils found in these sedi-
ments indicate that they were laid down in the sea. More recently, as a part
of mountain-making which produced the California Coast Ranges, all of
these rocks have been folded, and subjected to erosion until Point Lobos
as we know it has been carved out by waves, wind, and rain.

Some of the more important events in the geologic history of Point Lobos
Reserve, in the order of their happening, include :

1. Deposition of an extensive series of rocks, probably mainly sedimen-
tary, of which now no remnants are left in the park. These may have been
deformed and altered before the intrusions of the granodiorite.

2. Intrusion of the Santa Lucia granodiorite with accompanying contact
metamorphism superheating the surrounding sediments by molten rock.

3. Elevation, which may or may not have occurred at the time of the
intrusion, followed by long-continued erosion which removed entirely the
altered sedimentary rocks above the granodiorite and cut deeply into it.

4. Deposition of the Carmelo formation, at least partially under marine
conditions. At the same time older (Cretaceous) sediments and granitic
rocks were probably undergoing erosion on adjacent highlands.

5. Deposition of Miocene (Middle Recent) marine sediments along the
coast. This deposition continued locally to the south on the borders of the
Santa Lucia Range into Pliocene time.

6. Deformation accompanied by strong shearing took place probably
some time during the Pliocene. The history of adjacent regions indicates
that deformation occurred intermittently through the Pliocene and prob-
ably continued into the early Pleistocene (Ice Age).

7. Erosion of the region with the development of something approaching
the present topography, probably mainly by streams and wind.

8. Depression of the area beneath the sea and then emergence which was
intermittent rather than gradual in its character. At certain periods the
sea level must have been relatively stable to permit the cutting of rather
broad terraces, each of which tended to remove traces of the previous ones.
Finally there has been cut the terrace which is still beneath the sea and
which is still being eroded.

• By Ralph \V. Chaney, Profe.ssor of Paleontology, University of California ; Research Asso-
ciate, Carnegie Institution of Washington ; and R. A. Bramkamp, Research Assistant,
Paleontology, University of California.

(37)

38

POINT LOBOS RESERVE

There are features of the geology of the Point Lobos Reserve which are
of outstanding importance from an educational standpoint. These are :
(1) The presence of a mass of igneous rock which was intruded in a molten
state into the crust of the earth at considerable depth and at high tempera-
tures, cooling slowly to form a granodiorite in which large crystals of
quartz, feldspar and mica may be seen; (2) Sedimentary structures of the
Carmelo formation produced by wave action in the past, similar in char-
acter to the forces now shaping this part of the coast of California; (3)
The development of sea-cut terrace surfaces in the immediate past at levels
considerably above present sea level, but similar in form and character
to the sea-cut shelf now being eroded along the coast, and indicating recent
changes in sea level; and (4) The action of the waves on a coast line com-
posed of varying types of rocks and varying structural features.

Even the casual visitor is likely to gain some insight into the geology of
Point Lobos, for here are exposed the rocks which reveal the chapters of
earth history.

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CHAPTER V

A "TREE ISLAND" OF MONTEREY CYPRESS*

Two rocky headlands, Point Lobos and Cypress Point, one on either side,
mark the mouth of the Carmel River, \yhich empties into the Pacific Ocean
a few miles south of Monterey Bay. These headlands are small, so small as
to border on the insignificant save for this, that each of them bears a nar-
row forest of a remarkable sort, consistinfr solely of one kind of cypress
tree, and they have thus become endowed with a unique and singular in-
terest. In the way of botanical observers, the trees were first seen in 1786
by Jean Francois Galoup de la Perouse, commander of an ill-fated scien-
tific expedition from France that, two years later, was lost in the South
Seas. Since that early day many other expeditions to the California coast
have come and gone, and we now know definitely, after this long period
of searching, that the Monterey' cypress (Cujn-essus macrocarpa) does not
occur at any other locality in California — nor elsewhere in the world.

The trees grow on the summits of the headlands and on the very face
of the cliffs, alwaj's within reach of the flying salt spray from the ocean
in times of storm. So exposed are they that the power of the sea may
occasionally undermine an individual on the steep face of the rocks, and
the tree falls into the thundering gulf below. The Cypress Point grove on
the north headland is the larger — a half-mile long, in breadth measuring
300 yards at its widest. The Point Lobos grove lies on a higher and wider
headland to the south. On both headlands the trees of the cliffs and shore-
line carry in their architecture and in their outline, often boldly proclaimed
against the sky, the life story of their battle with centuries of storm and
wind from the Pacific Ocean — a battle which has recorded in the structural
details of the tree's organs, the intensity of the struggle to maintain one
last foothold on the Californian shore. The thick weave of the clustered
masses of foliage, as smooth as a lawn on the seaward side, the long, gaunt
arms, weirdly irregular and picturesque, the vertical structural bracing
of the boardlike trunks and main branches — all these things typify combat,
resistance, long-enduring tenacity.

While no two trees of the storm-driven type are alike, all give out so
powerful a picture of the dramatic as to make deep appeal to the poet, the
lay traveler, the mystically minded. For now three generations, a river of
people, who come to see, have flowed past the Carmel shores. Frankly ex-
clamatory, or murmuring low one to the other, or querulously skeptical
as the eyes turn from the angular type of tree to another, near at hand,
which is set in the beauty of its perfect symmetry — all emotions have cen-
tered in questionings. Whence came these trees? How is it that they are
found only here in California? Why should the}^ have such strange and

• By Dr. Willis L. Jepson (1869-1946), for many years Professor of Botany, University of
California, Berkeley. Author of Silva of California, A Manual of Flowering Plants tw
California, and other works.

"Window vistas" at

Point Lobos are on esthetic part of

the cypress forest interiors

(39)

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"tree island" of MONTEREY CYPRESS 41

at times peculiar shapes? In answer to these and many other queries there
has grown up a large body of folk-legend as odd and as curious as the
trees themselves. Some of the folk-stories insist that the Monterey cypress
is the same as the Lebanon cedar of the Lebanon Mountains in Syria (a
statement innocent of the botanical fact that the Lebanon cedar belongs
to the Pine family and that the Monterey cypress is of the Cypress
family) ; that the tree came by the hand of pious pilgrims from the Holy
Land as a sign to the devout ; that it was brought across the Pacific Ocean
from Japan many centuries ago and planted here by Buddhist monks ; and
so on in many tones and variations.

Nevertheless, the tree has a real history, the beginnings of which are
slowly being unfolded with the results of research on the geological history
of the California coast and the study of ancient plant migrations. During
recent geological periods the eastern part of the North American continent
has been relatively stable, but during the same time the coast of California
has passed through successive periods of very impressive uplift and cor-
respondingly great subsidence. For a long time it has been a theory of
the writer that during the Pleistocene epoch an extensive forest filled the
south Coast Kange country and extended over the area which at that time
united the Santa Barbara Islands with the mainland. The changes which
have occurred since, in connection with climatic cycles, are thus made to
account for the restriction or localization of many of the forest trees com-
posing that ancient forest.

The Monterey pine {Pinus radiata) occurs in a few small stations along
the coast set in the midst of other vegetation — small sharply defined areas
in which this species is dominant, and which, hence, are ecologically termed
"islands." The Bishop pine (Pinus muricata) is also found only along the
seacoast and often in narrow "islands," especially southward. The Cata-
lina ironwood {Lyonothamnus florihnndus) is now restricted to three of
the islands of the Santa Barbara group. The Torrey pine {Pinus torreyana)
is another highly localized species, limited to a small area on the San Diego
coast and to the south end of Santa Rosa Island. The Santa Lucia fir
{Abies venusta) grows only in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The Gowen
cypress {Cupressus goveniana) is a dwarf growing in a few tiny areas near
Monterey. As our knowledge of past time increases, we are learning that
the coastal species of our native trees once had a much greater range. AYell-
borers on the coastal plain at Los Angeles have brought up fragments of
redwood, thus extending a long distance southward the present time-range
of that species. In the asphalt beds at Carpinteria, Chancy and Mason have
uncovered cones of the Monterey pine in excellent preservation, a station
far south of the present mainland ranges of that species. Long ago the
present writer identified Monterey pine cones from the strata at Bodega
Head and at Mussel Kock, localities north of the present living stations.

It is increasingly evident that we are only at the beginning of this unfold-
ing history, and we may confidently say that the Monterey cypress is a relic
of the Pleistocene, a reminder of a silva which has been subject to a long
series of migrations following upon the succession of profound geological
changes which finally made the California coast what it is today. Indeed,

The history of the Monterey

cypress suggests that it is o tree which may

be on the verge of extinction

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"tree island" of MONTEREY CYPRESS 43

the Monterey cypress, clinging to the edge of the continental shelf, is, as a
species, the most dramatic witness of past changes on the western shore
line. It has seen the Santa Lucia Mountains take on their present form,
with knife-like canyons cutting direct to the sea; it has seen the Coast
Range foothills soften and smooth to their present velvet-flowing slopes ;
it has seen many forest species migrate from the mountain tops to the shore
line to avoid extinction; it has seen the "Golden Gate," that is the one
main outlet to the ocean for waters from the Great Valley, move from
Monterey Bay to San Francisco Bay. What a fine pageant has been this!
No other tree, from this consideration, is so deserving of the protection
which can be afforded by enclosure within the limits of a park sanctuary.
Its singular beauty lends to this bit of coast a special charm. No other tree
on earth has so narrow a natural range, though its full history, when
written, it is not unlikely, will show a range as long as California, or pos-
sibly much longer. It has today a wider horticultural distribution over the
earth than any other California tree species ; and yet it cannot or does not
extend back naturally, that is to say, spontaneously, from the shore line
over land which is now and has been barren of trees. Interesting and preg-
nant questions multiply constantly about it. All thought, all contemplation,
all study are here in a sufficient way eminently worth the mind 's attention.
It is one tree whose full history will be highly fruitful, and it will in time
easily take its place by the side of those trees most well-known of the
earth's silva.

Monterey cypresses grow on the face of cliffs,

so exposed that roots are frequently undermined—

to toss huge trees into the pounding seas

CHAPTER VI

A PAGEANT OF FLOWERING PLANTS*

STATEMENT
Point Lobos Wildflowers, written by Ken Legg and illustrated by Roland Wilson, and with a scientific
check-list by Dr. Mason, can be purchased at Point Lobos Reserve State Park and at Monterey book
stores.

Trees, shrubs, and wild flowers at Point Lobos were given "a new lease
on life," when a policy was adopted by its guardians, the essence of which
is to interfere as little as possible with natural processes. Protective meas-
ures have been taken, but they are not obtrusive. The result has been that
there is freshness and naturalness in even the least spectacular portions
of the Reserve, and from this feature many visitors derive great enjoyment.

At almost any season of the year, everywhere at Point Lobos there is
color. Gold of California poppies, yellow of buttercups, creamcups, Bro-
diaeas, azure of the sky and sea brought to earth by blue lupine and Cean-
othus, reds of the Indian paintbrush, greens of the shrubs and ferns, made
darker and richer by the background of cypress leaning against the sky,
and pines across the grassy meadows — these are splashes of color that con-
tinually change.

In spring, color is also splashed about with the pink of the rose, the
lavender and white of the shooting stars and the Dodecatheon, related to
the primrose, sometimes called cyclamen or mad violet. There are gay
Johnny-jump-ups and the "wild" or yellow violets. Besides creamcups and
tidytips, and purple Brodiaeas, there are rose mallow and filaree. Hung
over cliff's edge a/e fringes of native grass and sea daisies rippling in the
wind.

Some of the desert-like exposed parts of the point are painted blue and
yellow by masses of lupine. This hardy member of the pea family thrives
well roundabout Carmel, growing high at times — fragrant with the yellow
or the blue flowers. There are annual, biennial and perennial varieties. The
bush lupine, which needs abundant sunshine, grows in sandy spots. There
are places on the Point where in springtime and early summer one can walk
through veritable lupine thickets — almost lost in the clouds of blue.

As a "plant refuge" Point Lobos Reserve performs an important func-
tion in giving complete protection to one species of great significance to
California. For this species is officially its state flow^er, rapidly disappear-
ing. The Spanish called it Copa de oro or "cup of gold," but the botanist
has named it Eschscholtzia calif ornica, and popularly it is called the golden
poppy. The scientific name of the poppy was acquired when a Russian
scientific expedition under Kotzebue, in 1815, explored the California coast-

• Based on a special report by Herbert L. Mason, Professor of Botany, University of
California.

Broad sweeping meadows, bounded by

majestic Monterey pines, are covered in spring with

a profusion of colorful wildflowers

( 45 )

46

POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Bush lupine (above) and cream cups (below) add intense yellow color
to the green fields in the spring

PAGEANT OF FLOWERING PLANTS

47

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California poppies (above) and tidytips (below) are colorful members
of the spring parade of wildflowers at Point Lobos

48 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

land. Chamisso, naturalist with the expedition, named the species for Dr.
Esehscholtz, a companion naturalist.

As one wanders the meadows of Point Lobos in spring, one is likely to
think that no state has chosen its representative flower more appropriately
than California. The gold of this poppy seems to have the very essence of
California sunshine woven into its brightness. During the spring it covers
field and mountainside with a cloth of gold. In the past, when it was more
prevalent, men and women and children made a festival of gathering the
poppy, as the Japanese do with their cherry blossoms. And tradition has
it that many a vast field of these poppies used to serve as a landmark,
almost as a beacon, to coasting ships offshore ; that in old Spanish times
the coast often was called The Land of Fire, and that on occasion thanks
were given "to sacred San Pascual who had spread a golden ^ altarcloth
upon the hills."

Including trees and shrubs, close to three hundred species of flowering
plants have been counted on the varied terrain of Point Lobos. There are
other plants, too, such as the marine algae, or seaweeds, and lichens and
mosses, all of which have interest for botanists. To such, the list of flower-
ing plants at the end of this chapter will especially appeal.

To many people, however, the main impression in most of the months is
that a great wealth of bloom, in color masses, adds embellishment to the
striking vistas of sea and headland.

Not only in the number of separate species is Point Lobos notable, but
also found here within small compass is an unusual variety of groups or
associations of plants.

These are the general divisions of the flora of the Reserve: (1) The
cypress groves of the headlands along Carmel Bay, (2) the pine forests
of the areas back from the ocean, (3) the meadow flora, (4) the sea-
bluff flora, (5) the shifting sand flora, (6) the ruderal flora, on the for-
merely tilled lands, (7) a soft chaparral flora on the northwest face of
Whalers Knoll and in the quarry back of Carmelo Cove, (8) the marine
flora in the surf. A large proportion of the Pacific Coast seaweeds was
first discovered in the vicinity of Point Lobos, making this region the type
locality for these species and the source of authentic material for the
future.

The more one explores Point Lobos, the more there are revealed, in its
varied plant life, forms both beautiful and curious. The "rock gardens"
along the inaccessible bluffs above the surf are teeming with succulents
tinted in pastel shades of green and buff and rose.

The mosses and lichens are features of great interest to many. The
almost weird "atmosphere" on portions of Cypress Headland can be in
part attributed to lichens, which are rather conspicuous elements of the
vegetation.

Both the Monterey cypress and the Montere.y pine are often heavily
festooned with a light gray-green "moss." This is the lace lichen, which
is quite abundant. Look closely and you can see that it is made up of lacy
nets with meshes from pinpoint fineness to the size of a pencil, when full
grown. On the points near the sea, this lace lichen is matted by the winds,
frequently torn and shredded. Yet back in the sheltered pine groves of the
Reserve, better specimens are found. Here the lace is luxuriant, hanging
from the branches like the folds of a Spanish lace shawl; near the War-

PAGEANT OF FLOWERING PLANTS 49

den's Cottage and to the Point it hangs somberly and drifts slowly in the
breeze.

This is not the Spanish moss, like that found in the Southeastern United
States. Spanish moss has flowers, and belongs to the pineapple family, so
the botanists tell us. The lichens at Point Lobos are not flowering plants;
they are composed of a fungus and an alga.

There is another lichen abundant at the Point — the kind that is seen on
the dead twigs and on the rocks. It spreads out in all directions, forming
a fuzzy-looking brush, dull olive green to nearly black. Old weathered rocks
often owe their color more to lichen than to the rock minerals themselves.

The trees overlooking the bay have their lower branches covered with a
growth of red algae. However, we are assured by scientists that this does
no damage, since it appears only on dead twigs and on the bark of the
living branches and not on the green leaves. But this alga does add color
and so contributes interest and beauty to the groves.

CHAPTER VII

ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE*

"Is there much wild life at Point Lobos?" asks the visitor as he con-
siders the comparatively small area in the Reserve of 35-4 acres.

The answer is a definite affirmative. During one year Dr. Joseph Grinnell
and Dr. Jean M. Linsdale observed the presence here of 176 kinds of verte-
brate animals — 10 amphibians and reptiles, 19 mammals, and 147 birds.
Both as regards species and individuals, the count was high in Point Lobos
Reserve. They ascribed this partly to the number and diversity of habi-
tats represented, including grassland, brushland, forests, ocean shore, and
islands.

Next to the spectacular beauty of the Point, this presence of wildlife is
among the most arresting features. Here it is possible to observe in a primi-
tive environment many plant and animal species living in interesting rela-
tionship to each other.

Nearly every plant or animal seen at Point Lobos, with but few excep-
tions, may be seen in abundance by most Californians at some locality more
conveniently accessible than here ; but in few places can they be freely
examined and studied under undisturbed natural conditions such as are
maintained at this Reserve. For example, most visitors to this area are no
doubt only slightly interested in white-crowned sparrows themselves, for
these are common backyard birds, but here this species of bird is seen in
normal responses to its natural environment.

Nor has the program followed here been to preserve permanently any
specific objects now occurring in the park, but primarily to insure freedom
for all the natural processes which have produced those objects and which
if permitted to continue will, it is believed, tend to maintain them for a
long time in their most valuable form.

Of those natural habitats which attract the wide variety of animals to
the Reserve, grassland makes up a larger portion than any other. Several
predatory species normally range here, where their prospects of finding
suitable prey are greater because of the virtual absence of obstructing
vegetation. This in turn requires that animals which live in this low vege-
tation be so colored as to escape easy detection or that they have access to
burrows into which they may escape from view. Such a habitat encourages
the exercise of acuteness in the senses of sight and hearing, and of alertness
in starting to escape when danger threatens.

Seeds, roots and insects constitute a food supply for a few mammals,
such as gophers, mice, and ground squirrels. Dr. Grinnell and Dr. Linsdale
estimated that mammal workings are extensive enough in a year's time to
disturb every bit of the surface of the soil of all the grassland to a depth

• Based on a special report by Dr. J. Grinnell and Dr. Jean Linsdale, 1934-35.

California Sec Lions.

Habitat group. California

Academy of Sciences. •

(51 )

ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE 53

of close to one inch. Presence of seeds and insects, and freedom of move-
ment or vision, attract several kinds of birds which are so closely dependent
upon these situations that they come only as lon^; as the conditions prevail.

Conditions in the brushland favor the animals with restricted power of
escape from pursuit and the ones which are accustomed to capture prey by
making: short dashes. Lupine and Ceanothus particularly provide shade,
screen, and food for many species.

The trees of the forest — oak, Monterey pine, cypress — provide the accom-
modations for animals usually associated with trees of some sort. As has
been emphasized, the presence of the Monterey cypress is responsible more
than any other sinprle circumstance for the selection and maintenance of
Point Lobos as a state reserve. It is somewhat of a surprise to find that few
species of vertebrates are satisfied with the cypresses for living quarters.
The extremely dense foila]2:e of the trees and the heavy tangle of branches
present an almost solid wall which few animals care to penetrate. Under
the trees, juncos (the year round), linnets and thrushes (in the winter)
are accustomed to forajre ; winter wrens forage in the very densest branch-
work. A few other species feed among the more open portions of the tree
tops. Of these the only one that shows preference for the cypresses over
the pines is the Townsend warbler. Wood rats commonly build nests among
the limbs of cypresses.

The ocean shore is the forage ground and nesting site of numbers of
birds, as discussed in the following chapter. The second largest group of
islands, known as Seal Rocks, is the hauling-out place for a large herd of
Stelkr and California sea lions. T .e factors of safety and conveniently
available food seem to account for the presence of these animals.

"Weather conditions vary markedly, also. A slight slope toward the
morning or afternoon sun greatly increases the warmth of certain strips of
land. Added to this, the various rises and knolls are effective in defi " ing
the course of the wind so as to produce many types of climate iocally
within this comparatively small area.

MAMMALS FOUND IN POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Mole — Scapanus latimanus (Bachman)

California Bat — Myotis calif ornicus (Audubon and Bachman)

Brown Bat — Eptesicus fusciis (Peale and Beauvois)

Coon — Procyon lot or (Linnaeus)

Striped Skunk — Mephitis mephitis (Schreber)

Wildcat — Lynx rufus (Schreber)

California Sea Lion — Zalophus Calif ornianus (Lesson)

Steller Sea Lion — Eumetopias juhata (Schreber)

Ground Squirrel — Citellus heecheyi (Richardson)

Gray Squirrel — Sciurus griseus Ord

Pocket Gopher — Thomoniys hottae (Eydoux and Gervais)

Pocket Mouse — Perognathus calif ornicus Merriam

Steller sea lions form

interesting habitat groups in the California

Academy of Sciences

54 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Harvest Mouse — Reithrodontomys megalotis (Baird)
White-footed Mouse — Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner)
Wood Rat — Neotoma fuscipes Baird
Meadow Mouse — Microtus calif ornicus (Peale)
House Mouse — Mus musculus Linnaeus
Jack Rabbit — Lepus calif ornicus Gray-
Brush Rabbit — Sylvilagiis hachmani (Waterhouse)
Black-tailed Deer — Odocoileus columhianus (Richardson)

Sieller Sea Lion and California Sea Lion

Of all the mammals at Point Lobos the Steller sea lion attracts more
attention from visitors than any other. Not only is it the predominant
species on the rocks off the shore near the tip of the point, but groups of
individuals are seen frequently in the water close to shore. The animals are
present the year round, but their numbers seem to increase considerably
in the spring, about the middle of April.

Sea lions may be distinguished easily from seals by the presence of an
external ear, by their much longer necks, allowing them to carry their
heads high, and by their active, sportive, and noisy natures. Seals are
clumsy, short-necked, quiet animals.

The fur seal, not seen on this coast, is also a sea lion but he has a thick
under-fur not found on these species. Some writers claim that sea lions
received their name because of the lion-like appearance of the faces of
some of the huge males. Others say it is the fur manes of the animals which
suggested their names.

Not so large as the Steller sea lion, and far more intelligent than a seal,
the California sea lion is the one you have nearly always seen balancing
a ball on the tip of his nose in some circus or on a vaudeville stage. This
fellow can live quite easily in fresh water.

The California sea lion inhabits almost the entire coast of California.
It is always associated at Point Lobos with the Steller sea lion, though it is
represented by a considerably smaller number. The dark coloration, the
"hump" on the forehead, and the bark which resembles that of a hound,
are characteristics which in combination serve to distinguish this species.
Apparently the two are friendly, at least when on these rocky resting-
places. Most of the time they are crowded together in "bunches," both
Steller and California sea lions in the group, but those of the California
species keep fairly close together within the group. Two individuals of
the same species sometimes snap at each other; not so frequently two of
different species engage in a skirmish. Even the old males, who do most of
the fighting, are timid if approached by a man.

Usually sea lions are seen hauled out on the rock surfaces above reach
of the surf, lolling about, sprawled out, prone, with only rarely even a
head raised. The animals seem to be sunning themselves, with no concern
for any kind of outside disturbance. Counting them from the shore is
almost impossible because the animals keep so close together, often appear-
ing even to be across one another.

On the lower ledges, evidently just out of the water and still wet, they
nearly always look shiny and dark-colored. The ones high on the rocks,
apparently dry, are dull and golden brown in color. Seen swimming be-
neath the water they may appear distinctly green.

ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE 55

Steller sea lions are the larg:est of any sea lions — the average estimated
weig:ht of an adult male is about 1,400 pounds, and they measure from
10 to 11 feet in length.

The sounds made by the Steller species when on the rocks are much like
those made by a herd of cattle — possibly with a slightly lower tone. Some-
times they are deep-toned snoring sounds, as if the animals are growling
in unison. On still nights these sounds can be heard easily at the Warden's
House on the opposite side of the Reserve.

"When disturbed, the herd will generally rush off into the water in con-
fusion, causing great commotion. After swimming about for awhile with
raised heads the sea lions return to the rocks, which they climb easily.

Small groups of sea lions are often observed in Point Cove in the surf,
tumbling over one another, diving, and coming up with their heads to-
gether. Apparently these maneuvers are in the nature of play.

Compact groups of sea lions are sometimes seen swimming at the surface
of the water. This animal swims with an undulating motion up and down,
coming partly out of the water on each upward curve. Sometimes an animal
comes up with such momentum that it emerges completely out of the water.
Occasionally a head of one will be projected above the water and at times
a front flipper will be extended upward into the air. Such compact groups
of sea lions are followed by many birds, mostly Heermann and Western
gulls.

Sea lions will also hunt in packs like wolves. Both of these species live
on fish, squids, crabs, shellfish, and devilfish or octopus ; but the California
sea lion eats comparatively few fish, while a sea lion of the Steller species
finds fish the staple of its diet.

Ground Squirrel

Its large numbers and the many ways in which it affects its surroundings
make the ground squirrel one of the important mammals on Point Lobos
Reserve. The population probably runs as high as the area can well support
— a number somewhere near 2,000. The squirrels choose ground clothed
with vegetation that is low, or has scattered boulders and bushes to be
used as lookout posts, or any slope, especially toward the east, where the
soil is well-drained and where they can expose themselves to the sunshine.

Squirrels, which attract many carnivores to the Reserve, take alarm
easily. Disturbed b}' a person, a squirrel may hurry off a short distance to
where it can turn and sit on its hind legs to stare at the disturber. Chased
by a dog, it may turn when it is safe to bark at the dog. Ground squirrels
can be seen in large numbers in open places, and frequently members of a
pair will chase each other in play while chattering rapidly. When fright-
ened they give a sharp bark of alarm.

They keep the ground covered with burrows, which they dig with their
forefeet. Foliage and green herbaceous plants supply them with food.

Gray Squirrel

The gray squirrel is one of the conspicuous mammals in the Reserve,
partly because of its large size and unafraid disposition, partly because
it is active in the daytime through the whole year, and partly because of
the everpresent signs of its home and feeding habits. Estimates of total
numbers in this area vary upwards from one hundred, depending upon the
time of year.

56 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

One word — pines — is enough to characterize the habitat of the gray
squirrel at Point Lobos. Squirrels are found all through the pine woods
and none is seen far from a pine tree. In these trees all the essential needs
of this animal are fulfilled. The branches provide safe refuge from ground
prowling predators; also in the tops of the trees are support and materials
for the nests.

Dependence of the squirrels upon the seeds of the pines for food is close,
although they are not restricted to this one source. Squirrels carrying fresh
cones, held at the base with the small end pointed forward, are seen often,
both on the ground and in the trees. Many times it is necessary for squirrels,
in getting access to the cones out on the limbs, to cut off obstructing small
branches and stems, which fall to the ground, making a conspicuous litter.
They do not strip the bark, but make a clean cut. The greatest amount of
this cutting seems to occur in mid-April. They also feed on the upper part
of the large toadstools which are abundant during the rainy season. Another
food source for gray squirrels in the Reserve is the acorn crop on the
live oak trees. They crawl sometimes to the very tips of some of the outer-
most branches, and there they hang head downward, holding on only with
their hind feet. Having cut an acorn off with its incisors, a squirrel will
back up or turn around to reach a more secure position. The acorn is then
transferred to its forefeet and the squirrel proceeds to hull and eat it.

Gray squirrels can go all through the woods without coming to the
ground, following along familiar overhead ways without hesitation, jump-
ing across the interval between branches of adjacent treetops as high as
fifty feet up.

Responses of gray squirrels to the near presence of humans varies widely.
Usually they retreat to safety, but sometimes they protest loudly by bark-
ing and sometimes by rapping on the wood with their forefeet. One gray
squirrel observed came directly to a person who sat stock-still with his
back against a pine trunk at the edge of Mound Meadow. The squirrel
climbed onto his knee, looked him in the eye for about two seconds, then
without any appearance of sudden alarm, took a course without haste
back into the woods.

Pocket Gopher

On approximately one-third of the land at Point Lobos pocket gophers
play the predominant part in modifying the physical character of the upper
soil as well as in affecting the plant life and, less directly, the animal life
there. They avoid three general types of ground: (1) the forest where
there are few small roots; (2) the wet, soggy ground, where they cannot
keep dry; (3) the oldest, longest established grassland, where, possibly,
the sod is composed of roots too fibrous to be suitable as gopher food. The
abundance of herbaceous plants with thick stems and roots provides ample
food. Salt grass, occurring in patches in Mound Meadow, is preferred
provender of the pocket gopher.

An estimate of the average number within the Reserve during a year in
which they were closely observed (1984-35) was about one" thousand. A

The friendly Beechey ground

squirrel is one of the more numerous mammals

to be found at Point Lobos

L.

58 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

population-rej^ulatinfj: factor of "reat sijiuificanee in long-time processes
is the presence of predators such as the barn owl.

The extent of the ground workings of a pocket gopher is shown by counts
made on an area 3 paces long by 2 J paces wide, where there were 64 erup-
tions— fresh ones since the last rain. These varied from mounds of normally
large size down to holes plugged level with the surface, where stems of
grass had been trimmed off above ground. This was evidently all the work
of one gopher.

Harvest Mouse

The harvest mouse is one of the most numerous rodents in the Reserve.
These mice are abundant in late summer and fall in all the types of
grassland, even on the most recently grass-covered ground. In summer
and fall they may be found in the pine woods, especially where the floor
is covered with grass; and pine needles, sections of logs, and remains of
stumps provide refuge places for them. The bush-covered slopes of Vierras
Knoll are well populated with these mice.

Their nests are globular in form, the top well above the ground. The
nests are nearly always well-concealed from above with a loose thatching
of grasses and brush.

Meadow Mouse

In mats of dead grass and other plant material, meadow mice make a
network of runways, which, during the year, extend to nearly every sec-
tion of the Reserve. They are present in great numbers, not only in the
grassland, but throughout the brushland habitat and a great many are
present on the floor of the pine woods. Several kinds of hawks fly back
and forth across the meadow mouse colonies, obviously watching for op-
portunities to pounce upon these mice, which are to be caught at almost
any time because they work both during daylight hours and at night. In
fact, the marked increase in numbers of hawks on the area through the
summer can be attributed largely to the increase in the numbers of these
mammals.

Other Noteworthy Mammals

Numerous tracks of coons have been found on the sand at Gibson Beach,
indicating that they have gone all over the beach and especially to the
drift masses of kelp and edges of rocks along the tide line.

Striped skunks live in the Reserve in some numbers.

Only a few jackrabbits, easily identified as they race along, doubling
back on their tracks, leaping over bushes, are permanent residents here.
More brush rabbits than jackrabbits live here, but they are hard to detect
in the thickets. They cannot accommodate themselves to strong sunlight
and are rarely seen even in moderate shade.

The presence of wood rats in the Reserve is chiefly revealed by their
nests, found in the pine woods, mostly among the live oaks -there, but also
in thickets of Ceanothus and poison oak, and among the cypresses. These
nests are built of soft materials such as leaves and grass, but they are
piled over with coarse sticks, twigs and leaves, sometimes to a height of
several feet. The nests then resemble a dead bush under growing: bushes.

ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE 59

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES FOUND IN POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Slender salamander — Batrachoseps attenuatus (Eschscholtz)
Oregon salamander — Ensatina eschscholtzii Gray
Arboreal salamander — Amides luguhris (Hallowell)
California toad — Bufo boreas Baird and Girard
Pacific tree toad — Hyla regilla Baird and Girard
Fence lizard — Sceloporus occidentalis Baird and Girard
Alligator lizard — Gerrhonotus multicarinatiis Blainville
Gopher snake — Pituophis catenifer (Blainville)
Garter snake — Thamnophis ordinoides (Baird and Girard)

Slender salamanders occur in small numbers throughout the pine woods
and on certain portions of the grassland.

The Pacific tree toad is apparently the most numerous species x)f am-
phibian at Point Lobos. The absence of permanent freshwater ponds,
except for a wooden trough south of Whalers Knoll, has limited the exten-
sive development of them. Tadpoles have been found in many temporary
ponds, but as these dry rapidly, the tadpoles do not often have time to
transform into frogs before the water is gone.

Fence lizards are the commonest species of reptile in the Reserve, but are
not sufficiently numerous to be met with every day. They live in a variety
of situations from near the edge of the water on the beach back through
the pine timber. They sun themselves on the sandstone cliffs and granite
boulders as well as on cypress and pine logs. The presence of several road
runners here may be a considerable factor in keeping the numbers of this
species low.

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CHAPTER VIII

BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA*

Point Lobos Reserve is a veritable haven of refuge and an expansive
banquet table for the birds. At all times, they gather there in great num-
bers Some are year-round inhabitants, some are seasonal, and some are
merely wayfarers bound for more distant fields. The "through" migration
of land birds, however, is surprisingly weak. In the main, arrivals and
departures become evident only in spring and fall, and these movements
take place gradually over a period of many weeks. There is no migrational
"rush" at all. The winter and spring population is heavier than the sum-
mer population ; furthermore the birds seem to leave the Reserve after the
nesting season, before the food supply has been noticeably reduced.

Birds occupy all the habitats of the Reserve. Of the 147 kinds of birds
noted by Grinnell and Linsdale, 28 percent of the species listed owe their
presence directly to the influence of the ocean.

On the shore,' turnstones, oyster catchers, and other shorebirds, as well
as such land birds as Audubon warbler and black phoebe, forage regularly.
Pelagic cormorants roost and nest on certain nearly vertical, conglomerate
cliffs, as also do cliff swallows in large numbers, and occasionally black
phoebes and duck hawks. This use is evidently because of inaccessibility of
the sites from disturbance, and the suitability of the niches and shelves for
nests. Several islands support nesting colonies of Brandt and pelagic cor-
morants, and pigeon guillemots. The largest. Bird Island, near the southern
boundary of the Reserve, is permanent headquarters for a colony of brown
pelicans. Several pairs of black oyster catchers and many Western gulls
generally nest on the islands.

OCEAN BIRDS
Brown Pelican

Conspicuous among all the birds in the Reserve, the brown pelii'ans make
their home on Bird Island. Only known breeding colony of these birds
north of the Channel Islands, it is likely to remain the home site of large
numbers of them if left undisturbed by man.

These large, peculiarly constructed birds are here the year around,
although during late winter and early spring there may be days when no
pelican is in sight. Probably 200 or more are permanent residents, but in
the early autumn the travel season begins with a great influx of pelicans
from colonies on islands of Lower California and the mainland of Mexico.
As many as 3,000 pelicans gather on these rocks by the late fall, probably
attracted by the resident birds, and the favorable roosting site.

They are quite easily seen from shore as they tend to gather on the lee-
ward side of the rocks, where they are somewhat protected from the wind.
Particularlv is this true in winter.

The breeding cycle of the pelicans has not been definitely determined,
because no one goes out to the rocks any more for fear of disturbing the

• Based on a special report by Dr. J. Grinnell and Dr. Jean Linsdale, 1934-1935.

( 61 )

62 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

birds; but from mainland observation it seems that they begin to pair off
as early as February. By April some of the nests are built, and by May
there are two or three eggs (sometimes, though, only one) in each nest.

The nest building procedure is for one bird to stay on the spot while
the other goes for material, collecting sticks and weed stems. Then, stand-
ing beside the nest spot, it opens its bill and shakes out the sticks and stems,
which are taken and arranged by the sitting mate. The highest sites seem
to be most desired, for the birds crowd there and are most active in driving
away intruders.

Nests on Bird Island are situated mostly in compact groups on the north
end, the middle hump, and the foot of the south hump. The birds relieve
the monotony of incubation by frequently stretching and preening. Some-
times they flap their wings hard enough to blow the feathers of a neighbor.

The number of young hatched on Bird Island varies greatly from year
to year. Since 1927 the number has ranged from none to 78.

The naked young are kept covered by the brooding parent and are not
so often seen, though sometimes with a telescope the young pelican can be
observed feeding from the open bill and pouch of its parent. This is the way
the young are fed until they are able to fish for themselves — even as late
as August and September of the year.

Pelicans occasionally can be seen fishing in the narrow channel between
Seal Rocks and the mainland and in the general vicinity of the tip of
Cypress Point. However, the greatest number appear to fly off to some
more distant place to the northward. The birds both leaving and returning
usually fly close to the water, at times seeming almost to touch the waves.

When food is sighted, the procedure noted most often is for the bird to
turn back and drop to the surface of the water, then to make quick jabs
with its opened bill — sometimes only a few and at other times many. Only
on rare occasions have the pelicans been seen to go partially or completely
below the water.

A striking feature of the behavior of the brown pelican is its marked
trait of flying over the ocean and avoiding the mainland during the early
part of the year. After the middle of the summer these pelicans take to
flying across the mainland at times. Grinnell and Linsdale guessed that
this was either because of the economy of flying over prospective fishing
areas or because they felt a greater degree of safety when over the water.

Brandt Cormorant, and Pelagic Cormorant

These two species, not easily distinguished from each other by many
visitors, offer continuous demonstration of two diverse ways of coping with
one environment by separate, closely related species present here in abun-
dance, but not readily observable at many other places along the Pacific
Coast.

Greater numbers of Brandt cormorants nest at Point Lobos than of any
other ocean bird. Because these birds like to perch and nest on the outer
seaward sides of rocks and islands, it is practically impossible to count the
numbers present ; but it has been estimated that between 300 and 500 indi-
viduals live within the limits of the Reserve — that is, during the nesting
season, when the greatest number are present.

They can be seen on the tops of all "humps" of islands, and quite often
they form a fringe of thick black dots along the skyline of almost the whole

BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA 63

of Bird Island, which is by no means the exclusive property of the brown
pelicans.

A marked change in the behavior of the adults in the colonies is noted as
the season progresses. At an early date, before the "nest-situations" are
well defined, the birds are unstable and easily frightened from the rock.
Later they become fixed in their positions and are not readily disturbed
from them.

By March the birds begin to gather green land plants and sea plants for
their nests. The sea plants are secured generally from the coves, where they
dive to the bottom for about 35 seconds or so, and come up with the nesting
material in their bills. They also get nest material by thieving from each
other.

By late May the birds can be seen on their nests, and by the end of June
the young are hatched and only a few broken nests remain. In July great
flocks of Brandt cormorants have been seen flying northward, past Point
Lobos and over Carmel Bay.

Brandt cormorants can be seen at nearly all times at the Reserve, either
on the islands, in flight close above the water, or diving for food.

Pelagic cormorants are present in much smaller numbers. They are also
smaller in size, with thinner necks and heads, slenderer builds. These
pelagic cormorants have more rapid wing-beats in flight than the Brandt
cormorants. The population is about equal to the much more conspicuous
brown pelican, and scarcely more than one-third as great (probably much
less) as that of the Brandt cormorant. This. bird is less strictly localized,
even on so small a stretch of coast, than the two relatives just mentioned.
Roosting and nesting places are scattered all along the shore of the Point.
Groups do not generally reach more than 100 individuals. When the nest-
ing season arrives, pelagic cormorants evidently break up into smaller
groups than on their roosts.

One or more pelagic cormorants feeding or in flight usually can be seen
by watching for a few minutes at almost any place along the shore. A
favorite feeding spot for certain individuals is Carmel Cove, where they
catch fish and occasionally bring up a crab from the depths.

Western Gull

Among the several kinds of gulls, only this one is a permanent resident
at Point Lobos. Its large numbers and aggressive nature make it important
here in the animal community along the shore. It is seen in all parts of
the area — in the water and on the islands and rocks close to shore, on the
ground close to shore, or in flight anywhere, very often over the woods.

The Western gull searches over a wide variety of forage ground. One
favorite source of food is the refuse left at tables by picnickers and along
the shore by fishermen. Another type of forage niche of a more nearly
natural sort, and rather peculiar to gulls, may be noticed often during low
tide. Along the sea cliffs where the rock surfaces rise vertically out of deep
water, single, scattered Western gulls commonly feed over the rocks un-
covered at low tide, as well as at certain favorable spots on the ocean away
from the shore.

The breeding season is a long one. By August most of the young gulls
are in dark plumage and able to fly, although they still beg for food from
the adults. As late as December young gulls have alighted beside adult
birds, have opened their bills near the heads of the older gulls and have

BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA 65

uttered hifrh pleading notes, though the older birds generally ignore them
by this time. The adults occasionally remain stationed at nesting sites
until fall, even after the young have gone.

LAND BIRDS

Point Lobos Reserve lies in what may be termed a Transition Life Zone.
To the north is the Boreal and to the south is the Austral zone. Vertebrates
typical of both zones are found at Point Lobos, though 60 percent of them
belong to Austral species, and only 26 percent to the Boreal. In addition
there are some species present — like the Allen hummingbird. Western fly-
catcher, violet-green swallow, pigmy nuthatch, and purple finch — about 14
percent, which belong specifically to the Transition Zone itself. The last
percentage is fairly normal for Transition anywhere ; for this zone is essen-
tially merely one of overlap between Austral (or Sonora) and Boreal (in
its Canadian division).

Alien Hummingbird

The busy Allen hummingbird, flitting rapidly from flower to flower,
hovering over a blossom to take the honey, always attracts attention. Of
Austral zone origin, the bird is of peculiar interest because, in spite of its
great powers of flight individually and its seasonal migrations, it is re-
stricted in its breeding to an astonishingly narrow range — to the "fog-belt"
of California, from the Oregon line to San Luis Obispo County. Nests have
been found beyond these limits but rarely. These hummingbirds are not
known to nest farther than 20 miles from the sea.

The species has no counterpart in the Sierra Nevada ; though it does have
in the coast belt north of California. The life zone is thus chiefly Transition.

Males and females of this species occupy separate types of environment
nearly all the time. Grinnell and Linsdale, at the time of their study of
Point Lobos, thought some 15 females lived in the area then, but not more
than one-third this number of males.

Santa Cruz Chestnut-backed Chickadee

The Santa Cruz chestnut-backed chickadee, quite sharply characterized
by gray instead of rusty or chestnut-colored sides, is restricted to the
narrow, humid, coast belt south from San Francisco interruptedly as
far as Cambria, San Luis Obispo County, where, significantly, occurs the
southernmost mainland stand of Monterey pines. This bird seems to require
the presence of coniferous trees for a suitable environment. Its relative,
the mountain chickadee, is found in Monterey County only a few miles
in an air line from the Reserve, but the two species are separated on some
subtle basis — possibly connected with differing degrees of climatic hu-
midity. There is no record of either kind of chickadee in the area of the
other.

When a survey was made in 1935, there were about 50 chestnut-backed
chickadees resident within the Reserve. Foraging places for these birds
include all of the kinds of trees found here. Nesting begins in March and

Bird Island, ofF the south shore of the

Reserve, is a veritable haven of refuge for many of the

147 species of birds identified in this area

66 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

the bob-tailed young ones can usually be seen in May. A characteristic of
their nesting sites, which are from 4 to 10 feet from the ground in cavities
in stumps of rotted pines, is that practically all of them are closely sur-
rounded by thickets of young pines or are screened by low boughs of taller
trees. The entrance then, while close to the ground, is hidden from view.
The birds contribute to the concealment by making quick silent flights to
the nests without any pause at the entrance. By nesting at this low level
the chickadees avoid the stratum normally inhabited by the pigmy nut-
hatches. These might be fierce competitors of any small bird attempting
to nest in the cavities within the vertical zone frequented by it.

Monterey Pigmy Nuthatch

Visitors are attracted to birds of this species because of their almost
continuous notes, and also because of their large numbers and gregarious
habits. As many as a hundred of these small birds will be here in nesting
season, though they are present in some numbers throughout the year.
The nesting period is a long one, preparation of nests sometimes beginning
in February. Nuthatches dig their nesting cavities in pines or the dead
remains of pines. The sites selected are high ones, averaging 30 feet above
the ground and running as high as 60 feet. While the two species of birds
have about the same forage beat and cruising radius, often indeed seem
closely associated, the nuthatch seeks (at least in the season of greatest
food scarcity) static insect food in crevices of dry cones, twigs, and smaller
branches, and it uses its specialized digging tool, the bill, to dislodge or
uncover these insects. In other words, the nuthatch has a food source bej'ond
the usual reach of the chickadee. And then, too, with suitably rotted boles
of trees available, it digs its own nesting cavity.

Pigmy nuthatches appear always to dig hurriedly and persistently. Blue-
birds are the most formidable competitors of this species for nest sites, and
in several instances, in which the entrances were of sufficient size, they have
temporarily'- or even permanently ousted the smaller birds from the cavity.

Road Runner

Road runners are present in sufficient numbers, and their chosen sur-
roundings are so close to the routes traversed by visitors, that these birds
attract special attention and are an emphatic reminder that Point Lobos
shares many characteristics with the arid interior of the Southwest. Road
runners are not known to approach the sea so closely north of Monterey
County.

One mannerism of the road runner is to raise its feathers to expose the
skin of the back to the sun. While foraging, the bird may flip its wings
open widely at intervals of a few seconds, possibly to frighten the grass-
hoppers into action so that they may be detected more easily.

On one occasion, a road runner was discovered in the narrow roadway
south of Vierras Knoll. It kept in the road ahead of an automobile which
was speeded up to pace the bird. At the rate of exactly 10 miles per hour
the bird appeared to be too closely pressed and it suddenly veered off into
a patch of lupine bushes on the uphill side of the road.

Headquarters for each road runner, or pair, seems to be in an area of tall
bushes, mainly Ceanothus in this locality. From such centers the birds for-
age out among the smaller bushes, or the adjacent grass-covered ground,
sometimes as far as a quarter of a mile. When disturbed by a human, either
on foot or in an automobile, a road runner out in the open will nearly always

BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA 67

immediately cease its luuitin«i' activity and after a brief survey of the sit-
uation, hurry back to the protective margin of the pine woods or even for
a short distance among the trees if these are scattered, but none of these
birds are seen in the main woods. Tliey show a marked tendency to travel
along the roadways and paths, probably on account of the freedom of
movement permitted there. Also, it may be easier to sight prospective
food objects in such a situation than amid the dense tangle of grasses.

Not all of the time is spent by road runners on the ground, for each
individual seems to have certain favored perching places where it may be
found often. Road runners give a series of cooing notes in the breeding
season. At other times the}- have a rattling note.

Bush-tit

The flock behavior and peculiar nesting traits of this Western bird make
it one of the permanent attractions, especially to visitors acquainted with
birds in other regions.

Bush-tits are present continuously throughout the year at Point Lobos.
About 100 are around at the beginning of the nesting season. All through
the winter, bush-tits are seen in flocks averaging about 15 birds each.

Their nest-building season starts late in February and most of the nests
contain young as late as the latter part of April. Bush-tits build nests in
a wide variety of plants, nearly every kind of tree and bush in the area
being used, which is a peculiar characteristic in any bird.

Linnet

The fact that the linnet is so widely abundant through the farmed por-
tions of California makes more significant the added fact that it is also
a prominent feature of the landscape at Point Lobos. At this locality we
may expect to learn the true nature of the adaptation of the bird to its
normal surroundings. It is one of the few kinds of animals to make im-
portant use of the cypresses.

The linnet is one of the most conspicuous singing birds, and is just about
the last species of bird to be quieted by a cold and overcast sky. In the
building of nests, the usual procedure seems to be for the female to gather
and carry to the nest most of the materials, and for the male to accompany
her and sing. The linnets use lichens chiefly for the main construction of
the nest, generally building on the limbs of trees, although sometimes they
use cavities and crannies in stumps. Both pines and cypresses are occupied
by their nests, which are usually well concealed among lichens or masses
of trash on tops of flat limbs or boughs. Approximately five weeks, starting
generally in April, are required for nesting, from the beginning of building
until the nest is left.

Ordinarily linnets exhibit a marked preference for open places, exposed
to the sunshine. They frequently feed in compact flocks of fifty or more.
Their fare is ripening seeds and other parts of the plants, particularly of
the mustard and radish. Often they hull and discard outer coverings of
the seeds.

Linnets are present at Point Lobos throughout the year, but in varying
numbers. The linnet population is greatest during the early part of the
nesting season, when this is the most numerous species, with the possible
exception of the colonial cliff swallow. It is estimated that around the
middle of May at least 800 linnet individuals live in the Reserve.

68 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

White-crowned Sparrow

This bird is a conspicuous feature of that narrow coastal portion of
California typified by Point Lobos. It is predominant in the brushland,
and its welfare here requires freedom from disturbance by unnatural
changes in this type of habitat.

Approximately 150 pairs are found in the Reserve at the beginning of
the nesting season.

All through the year this bird stays in the same general type of habitat—
the bush-covered portions of the Reserve. All kinds of bushes are occupied
to some extent, but lupines appear to be more suitable than any other. This
bird forages a great deal on the ground between, and a short distance out
from, the bushes, as well as within their foliage. It returns to the bushes
for cover and for lookouts from which it can see approaching dangers.
Greneral types of food obtained in these situations vary widely, including
as they do the ripened seeds of the plants, the green leaves of plants, and
insects. It is especially interesting to watch the scattered flocks forage out
over the open ground, yet keeping close to the bushes.

These sparrows sing much during the spring, with a clear, full song, and
occasionally they are heard at night, and during the summer.

Raptorial Birds— Hawks, Eagles, Owls

Thirteen species of hawks, eagles, and owls have been observed at Point
Lobos. These birds exert steady pressure on the populations of smaller
animals and thus they provide the necessary curb to over-population by
such creatures. The surest means for keeping the raptores is to maintain,
uninvaded by trails, roads, and other hum.an works, certain habitat ' ' reser-
voirs." Suitable ones occur only in the main area of pine woods and in the
vicinity of Whalers Knoll. It seems certain that the visits of golden eagles
are due to the presence of these "reservoirs," and of ground squirrels as
a food source appropriate to this large bird of prey.

The most conspicuous kind of hawk at Point Lobos is the red-tail. One
or two individuals of this species are seen almost every day. In frequency
of observation this species ranks about equal to the sparrow hawk, which
nests in the Reserve and is also present continuously.

Though the sharp-shinned hawk is not such a frequent visitor to the
Reserve, encounters with one by even the casual observer are likely to be
remembered. When the hawk makes a dash there is a frantic exodus of
small birds from the vicinity, and they are loath to leave cover for some
time after a sharp-shinned hawk has been sighted.

Grinnell and Linsdale reported that during their study of the area, one
or two or three golden eagles occasionally visited Point Lobos from some-
where off to the east. An encounter between an eagle and two duck hawks
w:as watched in the early afternoon of March 30, 1935. The eagle appeared
to be looking for ground squirrels near the parking place by the base of
Cypress Point. It flew westward, poising against the wind until it came
nearly to a cliff where there were two duck hawks. Then these birds came
out and the eagle promptly turned back landward, the falcons diving at
it alternately, one or the other screaming constantly. At least three times,
as a falcon dashed down at the eagle, the eagle rolled over so as to meet
the assault from above, with talons extended upward toward the attacker.
It could not be seen that there was actual contact at any moment, but the
bluff worked. The eagle was obviously on the defensive and made for the

BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA 69

woods with heavily beating wings between each onslaught, soon disappear-
ing into the woods toward Rat Hill and below the level of the tall tree
tops. Only then did the falcons give up the pursuit and fly back to the cliff.

These observers also reported that in the fall for a month beginning on
September 21st, from one to three golden eagles were present regularly in
the Reser^-e. They were seen mostly in the vicinity of Whalers Knoll, along
the western margin of the pines, and over the open ground west of there.
They seemed to be occupied mainly with hunting for ground squirrels.
One was seen once on the ground among bushes. Some days these birds
were heard calling almost continuously. Apparently when the numbers of
ground squirrels above ground were reduced at the beginning of the season
of hibernation, the eagles moved off the area, at least for most of their
activities.

Duck hawks keep to the seaward sides of Point Lobos and particularly
Little Dome and Big Dome. On every occasion that a duck hawk appears
over land there is much confusion among the small birds, followed by
several minutes of complete silence.

Owls are also steady predators in this Reserve.

The birds here discussed are perhaps the most important to Point Lobos
Reserve because of their great numbers, their effects upon the flora and
fauna of the area, or their high degree of adaptation to the environmental
conditions within the Reserve.

However, many others attract the eye or the ear of visitors with their
unusual characteristics or delightfu^ songs.

Juncos in gray coats and slatey-bl ick hoods; brown towhees; flycatchers;
jolly thieving crows ; Steller jays, with handsome crests and deep-blue
plumage; thrashers, with their entrancing love songs; the meadow larks
caroling sweet notes; finches; thrushes; the plump quails calling "AVho
are you? Who are yol^?"; oyster catchers, and turnstones, running . and
out with the waves on the sand and rocks, but being very careful that their
legs do not get wet — these are but a few of the more obvious birds to be
seen and enjoyed by the visitors.

if ^-^

i- J??*

CHAPTER IX

LIFE BETWEEN THE TIDES*

The intertidal animals of Point Lobos are a fair sample of those which
inhabit exposed rocky shores from Central California to Southern Alaska.
The point thrusts ledges of hard rock fan-wise into cold turbulent water.
AVaves rush into narrow coves, dash high, and fall back in numberless
cascades. Except on the southern shore, where irregularities of the eroded
conglomerate provide shelter from the heaviest surges, there is little chance
for the formation of sizable tide pools and, hence, for tide-pool associations
at their best. The sides of the granite points are steep and offer almost a
maximum resistance to the buffeting and scouring action of great seas,
which in winter assail the coast with spectacular force until the ocean is
churned to whiteness.

Under such conditions the only life which can survive is that adapted
by toughness to withstand shock and by structure to adhere temporarily
or permanently. Of course, many creatures are sheltered within rock
crevices, between closely crowded mussels, or in masses of kelp such as
Lessonia.

Along the lower, southern shore of the Point the conglomerate rock is
much broken, affording a great variety of exposure, and often complete
shelter. At one place there is a small rocky beach uncovered at low tide.
Here and on Conglomerate Point will be found a considerable number of
small tide pools, the population of which varies with exposure to surf and
position above lowest tide level. In general, pools nearest low water and
least exposed to wave action contain the greatest variety of forms.

It need hardly be stressed that the time to observe shore animals is dur-
ing low" water and when the Pacific is living up to its name. High tide or
high seas are avoided by the old hand. It may be even dangerous on a
difficult shore to approach too near the water, owing to the occurrence of
sporadic giant waves which greatly overreach the average and constitute
a serious peril to inexperienced persons.

Animal life between tides is dominated by the invertebrates — creatures
lacking a backbone. Such are the sponges, anemones, worms, moUusks,
barnacles, crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, sea squirts, and numerous other
less conspicuous types.

On wave-swept exposed rock such as the granite pyramid point three
rather conspicuous intertidal zones are readily observable. There is a broad,
somewhat bare, splash zone mostly above mean high tide; a broad dark
zone of mussels and kelp ; and below this a coralline zone exposed at lowest
tides and colored pinkish or reddish. On Protected shores this lowest zone
is very populous.

• By \y. K. Fisher, when Director, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, California ; and
James L. Leitch.

Lace-lichens frame the path

that leads to many areas frequented by

birds of shore and seacoast

(71)

72

POINT LOBOS RESERVE

-f

Codium fragile (Suring) Hariot. (Chlorophyceae— Green Algae).
W. C. Maffbews Pbofo.

Fucus furcatus Agr. (Melanophyceae— Brown Algae). W. C. Matthews Phofo.

Brown and green algae make up most of the

LIFE BETWEEN THE TIDES

73

%

M.

\

Egregia Menziesii (Turw.) Aresch.
(Melanophyceae— Brown Algae).
W. C. Matfhews Phofo.

Pelvefia fasfigiata (J. Ag.) De Toni. (Melanophyceae-
Brown Algae). W. C. Matfhews Photo.

Pelveiiopsis limitata f. typica Gardner. (Melanophyceae— Brown Algae).
W. C. Matthews Phofo.

aquatic vegetative growths at Point Lobos

74 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

The middle zone owes much of its characteristic dark color to beds of
California mussels, which also cover the tops of some of the rocks off the
north shore, submerged at high tide. The lower part of the mussel zone is
covered by a dense growth of the tough brown kelp, Lessonia.

A hardy barnacle (Mitella) grows in clusters among the mussels. Its
peduncle or stem is really its head by which it is cemented to rocks, and
its gregarious habit affords mutual protection against the pounding or
shearing action of waves. Feeding on both of these animals, the common
sea star finds the roughest coast a congenial habitat. Impact by heavy seas
makes no impression. It clings like a limpet by means of its hundreds of
sucker feet. It is purple, brown, or yellow in color.

The closely crowded mussels are attached to the rocks by tough horny
threads which are spun by the long, protusible, finger-like foot. The broad-
ened end of the mussel is turned outward and receives the impact of waves,
but between the inner tapered ends there are little galleries filled with
relatively quiet water ; just as a strong wind passing over a thick forest
does not greatly disturb the quietness near the ground. In these irregular
arcade-like spaces live a multitude of worms: Various unsegmented flat-
worms ; rubber-like, soft, striped nemerteans ; green nereids, of many seg-
ments, armed with jaws and remotely resembling centipedes; Halosydna
with two rows of scales along the back ; sipunculids, sometimes called
"peanut worms," a misnomer. A great variety of small crustaceans,
isopods, amphipods, small crabs and shrim'ps are regular denizens of the
mussel beds, as are also small mollusks.

In and around the mussel zone are found sea cradles (Nuttallina and
Katherina), limpets, reddish volcano barnacles, rock barnacles; and in any
little chance rock pool, greenish sea anemones, hermit crabs, and sometimes
small purple sea urchins. In more sheltered nooks or on quiet days the two
sorts of shore crabs venture alertly from hiding. They are unbelievably
nimble, and Pachygrapsus merits the name "Sally Lightfoot" aptly be-
stowed by West Indians on a near relative of identical habits.

In the uppermost zone, w^t only by spray, are dingy little littorine snails
crowded in crevices for mutual protection and moisture, small limpets,
and (once upon a time) the large owl limpet, too, beloved of Italians and
shell collectors.

In this wave-swept area, below the mussel zone, the rocks are often
covered with a reddish incrustation, the alga Lithophyton. In protected
crevices are red, yellow, and blue encrusting sponges; delicate feathery
growths — the hydroids and bryozoans ; soft brown colonial sea squirts ;
small sea cucumbers, and naked mollusks of high color. Here also are
found quite a range of mollusks including the black abalone, key-hole
limpets, leafy horn-mouth snail, top shells, short spired purple. Where the
rock is not too vertical, purple urchins occur, often in individual "forms"
hollowed from the rock. These little basins are excavated by the urchins,
which cling tightly with sucker feet and braced spines.

A characteristic feature of the most wave-swept offshore rocks are the
miniature groves of sea palms, Postelsia, graceful kelps of unbelievable
toughness which bend in unison when a surge breaks over them, and then
spring upright as the water cascades from among the closely crowded
stems. They favor flat-topped rocks and benches at about mid-tide and are
annuals — destroyed by winter storms and renewed in the spring.

LIFE BETWEEN THE TmES 75

On protected rocky shores many animals of the exposed coast are present,
together with a multitude unable to survive the rigors of heavy wave action.
Provided there is an ample supply of well-aerated water at or near sea
temperature, the more varied the configuration of the shore the greater
will be the variety of life. In the most favorable situations on Point Lobos
is to be found a fair representation of the intertidal invertebrates of
Northern California.

A sheltered, fairly deep, tide pool with its surrounding rocks and cobbles,
would house a rather formidable list of animals. One of the first to strike
the eye is the giant green sea anemone, very flower-like with its several
circles of tentacles, which normally are expanded to trap an unwary crab
or sculpin. These sea anemones are not fastidious; any small animal will
be engulfed which is not too strong to escape the adhesive tentacles as they
slowly fold inward.

There is a nearly related, usually smaller, dull pink species and a rare
deep carmine one with larger tentacles, sometimes called sea dahlia. A
fourth small species, growing in mats, covers itself with bits of shell and
when contracting squirts water from a multitude of pores. It is found
usually somewhat higher, in tide position, than the green — which, also, is
an animated watering pot. A green anemone 6 to 10 inches in diameter is
undoubtedly very old — 50 to 100 years — and should be treated with respect.

Belonging in the same great group as the anemones are the exquisite
hybroids, delicate miniature trees and bushes flowering in medusa heads.
They are white, yellow, orange ; others are brownish, as the ostrich feather,
Aglaophenia.

Often living along side of the green anemone are purple urchins. The
much larger maroon, giant urchins, with longer spines, are inhabitants of
the deepest pools and commonest offshore. The young of the purple vrehin
are green and usually hide under stones or in crevices. Both feed oi^ kelp.
In shallow pools the purple covers itself with bits of shell and kelp, held by
the multitude of sucker feet.

The common sea star found on mussel beds is equally at home in quiet
tide pools. Its name, Pisaster ochraceus, is rather misleading, as it is more
often brown or dull purple than yellow. It is a voracious predator, but is
too sluggish to capture anything unattached — hence its predilection for
mussels, barnacles, and limpets. The twenty-rayed star when excited by
food can move rapidly and execute counter movements actively. When
under "full sail" with its thousands of tube feet lashing back and forth
it is an impressive animal. Its numerous cushions of probably millions of
microscopic pincers and the wide expanse of its flexible body make it a
formidable predator. By preferance it eats both species of sea urchins,
which are swallowed, spines and all. After 24 to 36 hours, the cleaned test
and spines are ejected through the mouth. A large example, two feet in
diameter with 20 to 23 rays has about 15,000 tube feet, all perfectly coordi-
nated so that the star can crawl with any ray foremost. It has a wide range
of color: purplish gray, dull furry gray, orange, reddish.

Two kinds of six-rayed starlets, upward of 2| inches in diameter, are
found under rocks and are notable for brooding their developing eggs and
tiny young. A temporary brood-chamber is formed around the mouth by
arching the disk and approximating the bases of the rays. An arctic rela-
tive swallows its eggs and the young develop in the stomach. The small

76 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

blood star, Henricia, is also found under stones. It has five rays and incu-
bates its young.

In the short-rayed star (Patiria) the body is sometimes rather thick and
inflated, sometimes depressed, without sharp distinction between disk and
rays, which may be also 4, 6, or 7 instead of the prevalent 5. The color is
yellow below ; bright red, dark red, purple, straw-color, blue gray, greenish
gray above, or sometimes a mosaic of all of them.

Among the crabs and crab-like animals of tide pools and the intertidal
zone are two shore crabs, Pachygrapsus and Hemigrapsus with squarish
shells, which are agile scavengers often hiding by day under stones or in
crevices. The first has usually a dark green shell, the second a purplish one,
the claws spotted with purple. Under stones will be found the flattened
brown, active Petrolisthes with long antennae; and in deeper parts of a
pool any of several very sluggish spider crabs, often overgrown with
sponges and hydroids. Of the "edible crabs," Cancer productus is most
likely to be found. It is striped in youth but dark red when adult.

Hermit crabs, inhabiting empty mollusk shells, are the clowns of any
tide pool. They are active, pugnacious, inquisitive. The commonest has blue
tips to the legs, and often lives in turban shells. A large relative of the
garden sow bug will be found well above water, foraging on rocks or in
crevices. This is the isopod Ligyda Occident alis, its gait unpleasantly
reminiscent of the cockroach. On kelps, under stones, and in sand are
numerous other isopods, some very small. Among the true shrimps the
most amazing is the pistol shrimp which dwells among sponges, kelps, and
surf grass, often in very definite tunnels. The thumb of the large mitten-
like claw is adapted to snap against the palm. This is the origin of the
snapping noises sometimes heard at low tide.

The most conspicuous of the legion of mollusks is the black abalone
found in crannies near low tide mark. It is greenish black on the outside,
smooth except for the lines of growth, has 5 to 9 holes and is markedly
convex. It is in fact a sort of limpet with multiple keyholes. With the
Park's protection, the black abalone is again becoming plentiful at the
Point. The red abalone, a larger species, is not common, although during
heavy winter storms they are sometimes dislodged and cast ashore.

True limpets are common. On Conglomerate Point the plate, shield,
dingy, rough, and file limpets are found. Shells of the white cap, pure white
and conical, are often washed up on the beach. The animals dwell under
rocks. Above the limpets in the spray zone are the littorines, already noted.

In the tide pools the commonest sea snails are the black and brown tur-
bans, upward of an inch and a half high, usually aggregated in cracks of
the rocks. On the turbans will often be found adhering the slipper shell,
Crepidula. The blue top, Calliostoma, is sometimes common. More colorful
however are the slugs, or nudibrachs, which are devoid of shell and vary
greatly in size and tint. One of the showiest is the yellow to orange sea
lemon, Anisodoris, likely to be found among laminarian kelps ; Triopha
shows orange marking against white; while the small Ilopkinsia is bright
rose. Some of the small aeoHd nudibrachs, under a magnifier, are among
the most beautiful of all animals.

The chitons (ki-tons) or "sea cradles" have the habits of limpets, but
instead of a single shell they have eight separate shells, each one perfectly
articulated to the next, like a coat of mail. They cling tenaciously to rocks,

LIFE BETWEEN THE TIDES 77

but are found in a great variety of places. Katherina and Nuttallina live
on more or less exposed surfaces; the strikingly beautiful lined chiton on
more sheltered ones. Many remain attached to the under side of stones, as
the blue and gray chitons, foraging at night. While some chitons are less
than half an inch long when adult, the giant chiton, dark red in color, may
attain a foot or even more. It is found among kelps in the deepest pools
and the shell is completely hidden by a tough plush-like skin. The chitons
feed on minute plants and kelps rasped into the mouth by the file-like
tongue.

Although worms are legion, they are not likely to engage the attention,
except the feather duster which lives in a tough, parchment-like tube which
adheres to the rocks. The color of the feathery gills is purple, wine color,
tawny or whitish. Small serpulids with brilliant red feathery gills and
twisted lime tubes are frequently very numerous. Predaceous crawlers are
hidden in sponges, mussel beds, sand, rock crannies, coming out mostly at
night. Ribbon worms swallow segmented worms and the latter devour
smaller worms and Crustacea. The giant Nereis which reaches a length of
three feet has not been taken on the Point but undoubtedly occurs hidden
within deep burrows, among loose rock.

The foregoing is but a sketchy picture of Point Lobos intertidal life,
touching only a few of the more colorful bits of a surprisingly rich detail.
Point Lobos has a heritage which should be carefully preserved for the
benefit of those who love the sea and for the student to study in undis-
turbed conditions. There are few regions of the world with a better endow-
ment of natural resources.

For those who seriously desire to become acquainted with the principal
types of animal life there are available two excellent books : Between Pacific
Tides by E. F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin, and Seashore Animals of the
Pacific Coast by M. E. Johnson and H. J. Snook.

CHAPTER X

HrSTORY AT POINT LOBOS*

Centuries ago — back, perhaps, a thousand years or more — Point Lobos
was occupied by Indians. Though archaeological remains are somewhat
scanty (mainly shell deposits and bedrock mortars), the evidence shows that
the Point was often visited by the aborigines and that more or less per-
manent settlements were established near the mouths of San Jose Creek
and of Gibson Creek, the only places in this vicinity where fresh water
was available. Definite Indian mounds are at these two sites, which were
obviously of a more permanent character than the other shell areas within
the park. They were at least spring and summer residences of groups which
probably had winter villages somewhere inland, in more sheltered valleys.
So far as known, there are no aboriginal hut rings, burial grounds, or
petrographs in the park area.

Temporary or "intermittent" camp sites of Indians are found at 19
places along the six miles of shore line. Most of these appear to have been
little more than overnight fishing stations, which were revisited year after
year by Indians from the interior, to gather harvests of abalones, mussels
and other mollusks. There are five localities on the point where mortar
holes for grinding seeds and acorns — probably of the coast live oak — occur
in association with the shell deposits.

From examination of the mounds, shell deposits and other remains, it
seems not unlikely that many of these were several centuries old when
Europeans first reached the California coast. It is not definitely known
whether the Indians were more closely related to those of the San Fran-
cisco Bay region, or to the Channel Islanders, or whether they formed a
distinctive group with the adjacent mainland peoples.

Knowledge of the ancient habitation of this area has been greatly in-
creased by an Archaeological Reconnaissance of Point Lohos Reserve, writ-
ten by Waldo R. Wedel, formerly Research Assistant in Anthropology,
University of California, Berkeley.

Early explorers saw Point Lobos from the sea. Though many details of
their voyages are obscure, and are in dispute, it is probable that Cabrillo
and Ferrelo viewed this headland in 1542. It is certain that Sebastian
Viscaino passed close by several times, in 1602-3. When his ships entered
Carmel Bay, some of the Spaniards encamped near the mouth of Rio del
Carnielo, which Viscaino named in honor of three Carmelite friars who
accompanied him. Possibly the commander, or at least some of his men,
actuality set foot upon Point Lobos.

The exploring party of Don Caspar de Portola marched by here in
October, 1769; and Sergeant Jose Francisco Ortega, the "pathfinder" of
the expedition, made a careful study of the coastline south of Carmel River.
For a time Portola 's men were camped upon the banks of San Jose Creek,
and his livestock grazed upon the lush grasses there.

• By Aubrey Drury, Secretary, Point Lobos Association (1927-1933) ; President, California
Historical Society (1949-1951) ; and Vernon Aubrey Neasham, Regional Historian, Na-
tional Park Service, 1938-1952 ; Historian, California Division of Beaches and Parks, 1953.

(78)

HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 79

In 1771 Mission San Carlos (Carmel Mission) was established near
Carmel River, with Point Lobos in view to the southwest. Padre Junipero
Serra, who was a great walker, doubtless visited the Point many times.

The native vaqueros of Carmel Mission ran large herds of cattle in the
Point Lobos area from an early date, and the padres claimed the land on
behalf of their Indians. Cattle grazing was the first real use made by the
Spaniards of this region. Old records tell of the Mission herders lassoing
bears upon the banks of San Jose Creek, while driving their cattle.

It is likely that the name Point Lobos {Lohos Marinos, sea lions) was
given in Spanish times.

After 1833, when the Missions of California began to go through the
process of secularization — that is, when their lands were thrown open to
ownership and settlement by private citizens — properties which had been
under the control of Carmel Mission went through the same process as the
others. Juan B. Alvarado was given a grant on September 30, 1834, which
may have included a portion of the lands in the vicinity of Point Lobos.
When Teodoro Gonzales, on September 2, 1835, applied for the rancho of
Sur Chiquito, the map which he submitted shows that the grant for which
he applied definitely included Point Lobos.

The grant w'hich remained valid, however, was that given to Don Mar-
celino Escobar, a prominent official of Monterey, on April 16, 1839. This
baronial domain of the Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, consisting roughly
of two leagues, w^as bounded on the north by the Carmel River, on the east
by the mountains, on the south by Palo Colorado Canyon, and on the west
by the Pacific Ocean. From this grant, which was confirmed in 1840, are
traced all chains of title to Point Lobos.

More than 115 years have elapsed since the original grant was made
by the Mexican Government in 1839. Since that time, until the State secured
ownership, scores of claimants tried to prove the legitimacy of their claims.
The record of litigation, as traced by historic researchers, is both complex
and confusing.

Two of Don Marcelino's sons, Juan and Augustin, seem to have obtained
possession of the rancho shortly after the grant to their father. However
that may have been, they deeded it to Dona Josefa de Abrego on August
26, 1841. That seiiora, holding power of attorney from her husband to
buy and sell land, paid two hundred and fifty dollars, one-half in silver and
one-half in merchandise, for the rancho.

The next step in the process of conveyance remains somewhat of a
mystery — at least the deeding of the rancho to a group of soldiers of the
Monterey presidio on January 16, 1843, by Doiia Josefa. It seems that
they paid nothing for it, and yet the records leave no doubt that she
deeded it to them. There is a legend of a gambler losing the rancho at cards.
Is this where the story comes in? Did Doiia Josefa, acting in the power of
attorney for her husband, Don Jose de Abrego, turn the property over to
the soldiers in payment of her husband's gambling debts to them? That
story has been told of Don Marcelino, but, if holding a half-truth, it would
appear that it was Don Jose who gambled and lost a rancho and not Don
Marcelino.

The soldiers of the presidio, about 10 in number, held the land in their
names until June 7, 1844, when they turned it over to their superior officer,
Colonel Jose Castro, prominent in the annals of California history for his
opposition to the American invasion. As late as 1 848, Castro was given quit-
claim deeds by the soldiers concerned.

80 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

All this time, durinji' the Mexican period, it is certain that cattle raising
was carried on in the Point Lobos area. Escobar's grant, in 1839, specifi-
cally mentions cattle grazing.

The annexation of California by the United States, in 1848, resulted
in the setting up of a land commission to review all private claims in Cali-
fornia. Thus it was that Jose Castro filed his petiton as claimant to the
Eancho San Jose y Sur Chiqnito on February 2, 1853. The Board of Land
Commissioners rendered a decree rejecting Castro's claim on August 28,
1855, thereby rendering invalid, seemingly, the original claim of 1839.
Castro's claim was appealed to the United States District Court, where it
remained for years in doubt.

Almost a year before the rejection of the Castro claim by the United
States Land Commission, General Castro sold his claim to Joseph S. Emery
and Abner Bassett for $750. It was they who were to carry on the fight
for the rancho. Before the final decision of the court, Bassett died, in 1874,
leaving his estate to his wife and eight children. The undivided one-half
of the 8,818.56-acre Kancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, claimed by Bassett 's
heirs, was appraised at $15,000.

Thus far, the title claim to the Escobar grant is simple and can be
followed without much difficulty. Other claims were put forward at an
early date, however, which bade fair to entangle the Castro claim in an
impossible maze. Conflicting deeds and squatters' rights all came into the
picture.

The earliest conflicting claim was that of the Escobar heirs. Only two
of the children, Juan and Augustin, had deeded the rancho to Dona Josefa
de Abrego in 1841. There M'ere other sons and daughters, and later grand-
children, who claimed a portion of Don Mareelino's grant. Those heirs
agreed, on March 25, 1859, to give to one Delos R. Ashley, an attorney,
one-half of the rancho if he would get it back for them. Later, in 1860
and 1861, these same heirs sold a portion of what they claimed to Mathew
G. Ireland, who had on March 12, 1859, bought a quit claim deed from
the Abrego family. December 1, 1877, found one-ninth of the rancho "sold"
by the Escobar heirs to Adam Joseph Kopsch. In addition to the above
claims, a Sidney S. Johnson claimed that Emery and Bassett had agreed
earlier to give him one-third of the rancho. The squatters' claims were
almost too numerous to mention.

Thus, by 1880, when a suit was filed in the United States District Court
to settle the respective claims, the following claimed the land : Joseph S.
Emery, one-half ; the Bassett Estate, one-half ; Sidney S. Johnson, one-
third ; W. Van Dyke, the successor of Kopsch, one-ninth ; the heirs of D. R.
Ashley, one-fourth ; W. T. Baggett, who had bought one-half of the Ashley
interest, one-fourth ; and Joseph W. Gregg, who had bought the Ireland
claim of about 1,000 acres north of San Jose Creek.

The final agreement, recorded on June 5, 1882, which was subject to the
confirmation of the Castro claim by the United States, found the claimants
receiving the following percentages : Ashley heirs, one-ninth ; W. T. Bag-
gett, one-ninth ; J. S. Emery, two-ninths ; Bassett Estate, two-ninths ;
Sidney S. Johnson, two-ninths; and W. Van Dyke, one-ninth. Gregg's
claim to the land north of San Jose Creek was later recognized, as were
the claims of some 27 others, mostly squatters.

HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 81

An agreement had been reached, then, between those who claimed por-
tions of the Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito. Only the confirmation of
the Castro claim remained in the way of those claimants having the por-
tions which the}' claimed. As yet, with the exception of Gregg and the
squatters, there seemed to be only undivided interests.

The Castro appeal was finally won, in 1882, in the case of "The United
States of America versus Joseph S. Emery, Nathan W. Spaulding, with
the will annexed of Ahner Bassett, as successors in the interest of Jose
Castro, deceased, the claimant herein." The title was confirmed on Decem-
ber 24, 1885, and the patent was signed by President Grover Cleveland
on May 4, 1888.

During much of this period of litigation. Point Lobos was a center of a
picturesque maritime industry. Carmelito Cove, though small, offered a
base of operations for whaling, which began there in 1861 or 1862. Some
20 Portuguese used the cove as their base. Whalers Knoll, above the old
quarry, was used to sight the whales. When captured and killed, a whale
was brought to the derricks and tackles in the cove, where it was cut up
in the water. Iron caldrons set in stone were used in boiling the whale oil.
The lurid flames and smoke of the quays, the shrilling of seagulls, the
shouting of men, and all the attendant excitement were in marked contrast
to the peaceful locale — the small frame cottages of the whalers; the pigs
and goats and cows browsing roundabout, and the neat little gardens, w^hich
were planted mostly to corn and pumpkins. Today, all that remains of
the whaling industry, which was abandoned about 1884, is the hulk of one
of the whale boats, the derrick rings in one of the rocks, a 90-foot whale
skeleton, two of the iron caldrons, one of the whalers' cottages, some evi-
dence of old oil spilled upon the ground, and a stone wall used as pro-
tection from the wind upon the lookout knoll.

Shortly after the signing of the patent pertaining to Rancho San Jose
y Sur Chiquito, by President Cleveland, those who claimed the rancho, with
the exception of Gregg and the squatters, banded together and on Septem-
ber 6, 1888, sold their interests to the Carmelo Land and Coal Company,
a corporation, for the sum of $1. They, of course, held shares in the
company equivalent to their interests in the land. Thus, for the first time
in almost half a century, the Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, including
Point Lobos, came under one ownership.

In the early 1880 's it was determined that the hills back of the Point
contained coal deposits, considered valuable. The forming of the Carmelo
Land and Coal Company in 1888, by the owners of the Rancho San Jose y
Sur Chiquito, marked the beginning of an extensive development. A rail-
road already had been built, which connected the mine with the county
road, and a coal chute was added by which the coal could be transferred
from the road to the north side of Carmelo Cove. The annual report of
the State Mineralogist in 1890 tells us that more than 720 feet of the coal
mine tunnel had been retimbered, and that the coal in three distinct veins
varied in thickness from two to nine feet. A hoisting engine, built at the
cost of $10,000, was to be used in bringing the coal to the surface. Chinese
laborers were emploj^ed to do the actual coal mining.

Because of the expense of operation, and market conditions, the coal
mine was idle by 1896, and has remained so, for the most part, to the
present day.

82 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Another type of mining at Point Lobos was the quarrying of granite.
The old quarry remains as evidence that a great amount of rock was taken
out. The old United States Mint in San Francisco and the jail at Cclton
Hall, Monterey, were built from Point Lobos granite, according to the
oldtimers.

A little prospecting and mining for gold at Point Lobos caused a flurry
now and then. As early as 1863, the San Carlos Gold Mining Company was
incorporated by prominent citizens with capital stock of $50,000 to develop
gold properties there, but it was not successful. In 1907, prospectors were
given legal permission to enter Point Lobos and explore for mineral wealth.
That was the last recorded attempt at such exploitation.

The silver treasures of the sea had more significance. It has been men-
tioned that the Indians fished at Point Lobos. Later explorers also fished
there. Chinese, among them some who mined for coal, went to Point Lobos
to fish. The United States Surveyor General's 1885 map of the Rancho
San Jose y Sur Chiquito shows several Chinese fishermen's huts near the
beach of Carmelo Cove, as well as one just south of the present Reserve
boundary.

Japanese fishermen were brought to Point Ijobos later, in the 1890 's,
to help develop an abalone canning industry here. LTsing long hooks and
nets, the Japanese at first fished mainly near the shore in water not more
than 10 feet deep. Later, diving suits were used, both from the shore and
from boats in deeper water.

The abalone cannery was established upon the site of the old whaling
station, near the foot of the quarry cliffs. Heaps of abalone shells, brilliant
in their varied colors, remain today as reminders that many cases of canned
abalone must have been shipped to the Orient, for that is where most of
them found their way. The packing of abalone here came to an end in
1928. Cannery buildings which remained were torn down by the state
authorities, after acquisition of the Reserve, to restore conditions as they
had been.

Other advantages of the region received attention. The coal company
subdivided part of Point Lobos in 1890-91, when an attempt was made
to establish a residential and resort community known as Point Lobos City,
and later as Carmelito, fronting Carmelo Cove, with 25-foot and 50-foot
lots. Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson was the owner of one of these and her
sister, Mrs. Sanchez, was also an owner here. Quite a number of lots were
sold, but the projected village did not become a reality. Fortunately,
Carmelito remained a ghost town. A rigid gridiron pattern of streets was
laid out, as shown by the revised plat of the town filed on May 29, 1891.
The main street was called Bassett Avenue, and other streets bore the
names of Emery, Doble, and Baggett. In the map filed, a reservation
marked Point Lobos Park was indicated on the outmost cypress point.

In 1896, Joseph Emery met A. M. Allan in Oakland, and interested him
in Point Lobos. Allan possessed considerable practical knowledge of coal
mining, and that was a factor which brought him here. He purchased the
properties of the coal company in the Point Lobos area, including about
640 acres, on January 14, 1898.

Allan held the land in his name (which appears in the records both as
Allan and Allen) after a series of suits with various parties, including
members of the Carmelo Land and Coal Company and the Monterey

HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 83

County supervisors. Most of the lots of Carmelito (but not all) were pur-
chased by Allan.

Allan, who made his home at his ranch house at Point Lobos from 1897
until his death in 1930 at the age of 70, was born in Pennsylvania. His
first job, when 12 years old, was as a mule driver in a Pennsylvania coal
mine. He worked for an education, and was graduated from the University
of Illinois in 1884. Later he became a race track architect and constructor.
In some of this activity he was associated with Lucky Baldwin, notably in
building the early Santa Anita track. Allan came to California to build the
Ingleside track and he also constructed tracks at Tanforan and Emeryville,
in the San Francisco Bay region, and Ascot Park, Los Angeles. He was an
elder in the Presbyterian Church. Besides managing his holdings here,
Allan was a banker and head of a fish canning company.

During the Allan regime, dairying and a limited amount of farming
were part of the economic background of the Point Lobos area. Across the
road from the Reserve there stands a dairy operated by Allan heirs. Fruit
trees remain about some of the old houses. Lumbering, on a very small
scale, had some part in the activities of the neighborhood. Gibson Creek,
forming the south boundary of the Reserve, gets its name from a Mr. Gib-
son, who hauled redwood posts out of that canyon, above the part now in
state ownership.

As Carmelito Cove offers deep water and is the only good landing place
for several miles along the rugged coast (it had been reputed the haunt
of smugglers in old Spanish times), rum runners, during the prohibition
era of the twentieth century, made some use of that cove and even built a
road to facilitate their landings of contraband cargo. Below the quarry are
the remains of one of the rum-running boats, silent witness to the prowess
of the United States Coast Guard.

lender the Allan ownership. Point Lobos was maintained intact, without
further subdivision. Visitors had resorted to the Point for outings even
as early as the Mexican regime ; and now they came in increasing numbers
to see the famous cypress trees and the scenic shore. A toll-gate was estab-
lished, carriages and automobiles paying toll for admission. Care of the
cypress trees became a primary concern of the owners. Artists and scien-
tists resorted to the Point, as did thousands of other lovers of nature. With
the development of motion-pictures, a number of producing companies
came here "on location" — the first in 1916.

The proposal that Point Lobos should be made a public reserve was
broached at the time Carmelito was laid out. The subdividers, as has been
noted, marked the outer cypress-crowned headland Point Lotos Park. Later
it was declared bv some that this property had been given to the public
at that time— 1891.

Dr. David Starr Jordan, in an official report of 1880, informed the Gov-
ernment that the Carmel Bay area, including Point Lobos, was in his opin-
ion the most picturesque spot on the Pacific Coast. Early in the present
century a meeting was held in the little museum at Pacific Grove, with a
number of scientists and Sierra Club members present, and the preserva-
tion of Point Lobos and Cypress Point as national parks or reserves was
discussed.

In August, 1909, G. Frederick Schwarz, noted forester who had made
a study of the Monterey cypress groves, wrote to A. M. Allan suggesting,
"You might perhaps see your way clear to add your beautiful cypress

84 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

holdiiipfs at Point Lobos to those at Pescadero Point, if the latter were
established as a State Park."

Impetus was given the discussion of a park here when, in 1919, the
Carmel-San Simeon highway was started, and increasing travel came this
way.

There grew out of the Save-the-Redwoods movement a state-wide park
program for California. This was developed from a meeting in San Fran-
cisco. January 5, 1925, at which time Point Lobos was prominently men-
tioned as an area which should be included in a State Park System. The
Save-the-Kedwoods League had several times definitely considered the
possibility of preserving a representative grove of Monterey cypress, as at
Point Lobos.

A meeting of members of the league and other citizens was held in the
Palace Hotel, San Francisco, on December 9, 1926, to advance the acquisi-
tion of Point Lobos as a public reserve. As a result of this meeting, Duncan
McDuffie, on behalf of the group, later in December, engaged Frederick
Law Olmsted, internationally known landscape architect, to make an in-
vestigation and report as to the areas most worthy of preservation. The
report rendered on April 15, 1927, formed the basis of future plans.

In his official report on the establishment of state parks in California
(the State Park Survey), published in 1928, Frederick Law Olmsted de-
clared the Point Lobos project to be of primary importance, terming the
point "the most outstanding example on the coast of California of, pic-
turesque rock and surf scenery in combination with unique vegetation,
including typical Monterey cypress."

The method whereby Point Lobos was acquired by the State was devised
by Newton B. Drury, then acquisition officer for the State Division of
Parks, and Secretary of the Save-the-Redwoods League. It was developed
that, under provisions of the State Park Bond Act, in accord with pro-
cedure validated by the Attorney General of California, matching funds
were available for purchase of the Point Lobos area. These matching funds
from the state park bond issue, to offset a like amount from private sources,
were released as a result of the gift of the Prairie Creek Redwoods to the
State, through the instrumentality of the Save-the-Redwoods League. It
was pointed out that the amount expended from the State Park Bond Issue
on the Prairie Creek Redwoods project was less than the one-half stipulated
in the State Park Bond Act, so that there remained a "matching credit"
which could be applied to the issuance of bonds for the purchase of Point
Lobos. The acquisition of the Prairie Creek area was greatly aided by
generous gifts from Edward S. Harkness.

On October 19, 1932, the State Park Finance Board authorized issue of
state park bonds for the purchase of approximately 400 acres at Point
Lobos. Transfer of title to the State was made on February 8, 1933. The
amount involved was $631,000. According to agreement with the Allan
family, a portion of the Cypress Headland was to be considered a gift,
and dedicated as a memorial to A. M. Allan, and his wife, Satie Morgan
Allan.

It was recognized that the acquisition of Point Lobos as part of the
State Park System presented an unusual opportunity for its "preservation
and protection as a reserve, accessible to the public in such ways as permit
its enjoyment without impairing its excellence — safeguarding for all time
its unique inspirational, educational and scientific interest." Such was the

HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 85

prog:ram of the Point Lobos Association, which from 1927 to 1933, under
the leadership of Mrs. Robert Hunter, devoted study to means of conserva-
tion.

Carryinfj on this proo-ram, the organization meeting of the Advisory
Committee on Protection and Use of Point Lobos (a committee of the
Save-the-Redwoods League) was held on November 29, 1933, at the Cus-
todian's Lodge, Point Lobos.

A master plan for Point Lobos Reserve, developed over a number of
years, was adopted by the State Park Commission, of which William E.
Colby then was chairman.

Among the values to which due attention has been given are those of
the human interest which inheres in this area because of its historic back-
ground. Not only is this preserved in place names and in local associations,
but also in a number of unobtrusive reminders that the uses of Point Lobos
and the adjacent area have been varied. But, fortunateh', the economic de-
velopment, definitely terminated many years ago, was never intensive, and
pertained principally to picturesque industries such as whaling, fishing
and herding which affected the aspect of the countryside very little indeed.
As most of the economic activities were concentrated in one place, Carmelo
Cove, the woods and meadows of Point Lobos have remained much as they
always were, though enriched with tradition and historic interest.

APPENDIX
I

SCIENTIFIC NOTES ON THE MONTEREY CYPRESS *

Cupressus macrocarpa Hartweg (Monterey cypress). Littoral tree, 15 to
80 feet hiofh with trunk 1 to 3 feet in diameter, the branches spreading
and forming a regular conical crown or exceedingly distorted and irreg-
ular; ultimate branchlets numerous, fine and subterate, densely clothed
with triangular scale-like leaves; leaves | to 1^ inches long^ staminate
catkins ovate or subglobose, 1 to 2 lines long, borne at the ends of the
ultimate branchlets; ovalate catkins greenish, composed of about 5 pairs of
broadly ovate thinnish scales ; cones dull brown, broadly oblong or sub-
globose, 1 to If inches long; scales flat-topped, with a central curved thin-
edged ridge-like umbo; seeds 1 to 2 lines long, narrowly wing-margined
but irregularly shaped from crowding in the cones and with a minute,
white, lanceolate attachment scar at base.

The Monterey cypress inhabits the ocean shore and forms two groves,
one at Cypress Point near Monterey and the second at Point Lobos. It is
the most restricted in distribution of any California tree and of any
coniferous species in the world. The wind-broken and most admired indi-
viduals stand in exposed places on the bluffs or cling to the very face of
the rocky <3liffs within reach of the flying ocean spray. In such situations
they are carved into picturesque and oft-times singular shapes remarkable
for the density of the masses of foliage presented towards the ocean and
the flattened or board-like character of the supporting trunks. A little back
from the shore, where the trees protect each other, they assume regular
forms, as regular as those of trees in cultivated plantations. Most of these
protected trees have very open crowns and finger-pointed main branches.

The effect of the wind upon the trees growing in exposed situations is
by reason of their moist habitat due less to effect of excessive transpiration
than to mechanical strain. One may see two trees standing side by side
of equal height and equally exposed, one a young tree with slender, pointed,
symmetrically pyramidal crown, the other an old tree, its trunk shorn of
branches and rising to a battered but thick flat-topped crown.

Unsymmetrical trees, whose configuration is due in the main to wind,
fall roughly into three types:

1. Trees possessing much thickened lower branches and irregular crowns.
2. Trunks, mainly dismantled of branches, ending above in a flat hat-like
crown of compactly woven branchlets. 3. Trees crouching together in small
companies and building up to leeward an even, dense- wall of foliage.

As a result of wind strain on top, or load of one-sided crown, trunks
often become heavily buttressed or swollen unsymmetrically at base. Ex-
cessively buttressed trees usually stand in the most exposed places. On the
other hand, trees standing equally near the shore line exhibit trunks not
buttressed. Buttressing is also more or less correlated with root development.

• An abridged extract from "The Silva of California" — W^illis L. Jepson, Pages 155 to 158.
(Berkeley : The University Press, 1910.)

(86)

APPENDIX 87

In cultivation the Monterey cypress has long been a favorite shelter
and hedge plant in California and is easily propagated by seed which is
readily germinated within two or three weeks in open-air nursery beds.
Each cone produces about 150 seeds. The seedlings grow with weed-like
rapidity. Practically all cypress hedges in California are of this species.
It lends itself to the art of the formal gardener, by whom it is almost
always clipped into regular forms or even into most fantastic figures. It is
a successful windbreak and is much used for that purpose since it will
grow an erect body in places where the wind promptly controls other
species. As an ornamental tree it has also been widely planted, but has
comparatively little to recommend it save its rapid growth and dense crown.

The present exceedingly limited area of its natural home must have
been caused by change in climatic conditions, since the tree itself is vig-
orous and readily adapts itself to cultivation in many parts of the world.
Its seeds are light and easily dispersed; they germinate promptly under
favorable conditions; the seedlings grow rapidly and show vigor. Never-
theless this species could never extend itself over the dry Coast Range hills
unaided. Grown in the interior their constitutional vigor seems weakened
by the dryness of the hot valleys and they succumb to the attacks of borers.

The age of Monterey cypress in the native groves is not readily deter-
minable since the trees, on account of their rarity and interest, are not cut
either for fuel or lumber. One fallen tree savm through to remove it from
a roadway was 98 years old and had a trunk two feet in diameter. Since
the tree grows rapidly it would seem fair to hazard the opinion that 200
to 300 years represents the extreme age of the older trees. The advertise-
ment of them in seaside literature as 1,000 to 2,000 years old does not, as
far as the writer is able to determine, rest upon any actual data, and prob-
ably represents a desire to minister to a popular craving for bigness and
extremes.

Ilartweg found Cupressus macrocarpa near Carmel in 1846 and on his
specimens the species was founded. Seed, however, was collected at an
earlier date and sent to England, the seedling trees being called Cupressus
lamhertiana. For nearly a century the Monterey cypress has been planted
in England and various parts of Europe, and has also been carried to
Australia and southprn South America. In New Zealand it is widely planted
as a shelter plant, but, as in California, it is short-lived except on deep
soil near the coast.

In horticulture ? number of color, leaf and branch forms have been de-
veloped; in one (var. luies) the tips of the branches are light yellow or
golden, changing to green in the second year; in another (var. Crippsii)
the leaves are spreading instead of appressed with the tips of the youngest
growth light yellow; in a third (var. lamhertiana) the habit is spreading.
The var. farallonensis Masters is perhaps a cultural form whose origin is
unknown. It certainly could not have been derived from the barren, rocky
Farallon Islands, as stated by Dr. Masters.

The wood is heavy, hard, strong, and close-grained, the basal parts of the
trunks in particular furnishing highly ornamental patterns.

POINT LOBOS RESERVE

PLANTS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE t

Scientific name Common name Family

Ahronia latifolia Esch Yellow Sand Verbena Nyctaginaceae

Abronia umbellata ham Common Sand Verbena Nyctaginaceae

Achillea millefolium L Yarrow Compositae

Agoseris apargioides Greene Sand-hill Dandelion Compositae

Agrostis diegoensis Vasey Thingrass Gramineae

Agrostis exarata Trin Spike Redtop Gramineae

Agrostis hallii Vasey Gramineae

Aira caryophyllea L Hair-grass Gramineae

Alchemilla arvensis* {h.) Scop Lady's Mantle Rosaceae

Allocarya chorisiana (Cham.) Greene

var. myriantha (Greene) Jepson Boraginaceae

Am sinckia intermedia ¥ . &M Fiddle-neck Boraginaceae

Anagallis arvensis* L Poor Man's Weather Glass Primulaceae

Anagallis arvensis* L. var. coerulea Ledeb Primulaceae

Anthemis cotula* L Mayweed Compositae

Apiastrum angustifolium Nutt Umbelliferae

Arabis glabra (L.) Bernh Tower Mustard Cruciferae

Arceuthobium campylopodum Engelm Pine Mistletoe Loranthaceae

Artemisia californica Less California Sagebrush Compositae

Artemisia pycnocephala DC Compositae

Artemisia vulgaris L. var. heterophylla

(Nutt.) Jeps California Mugwort Compositae

Aster chilensis Nees Common Aster Compositae

Aster radulinus Gray Broad-leaf Aster Compositae

Astragalus menziesii Gray Rattle-weed Compositae

Atriplex calif ornicn Moq Seaside Saltbush Chenopodiacene

Atriplex leucophylla Dietr Chenopodiacene

Avenafatua* L Wild Oat Gramineae

Baccharis douglasii DC False Everlasting Compositae

Baccharis pilularis DC Coyote Brush Compositae

Baeria hirsutula Greene Compositae

Baeria uliginosa (Nutt.) Gray Compositae

Bowlesia lobata R. & P UmbeUiferae

Brassica arvensis* (L.) B.S.P Charlock Cruciferae

Brassica campestris* L Common Yellow Mustard Cruciferae

Briza minor* L Quaking Grass Gramineae

Brodiaea capitata Benth Blue-Dicks Liliaceae

Brodiaea hyacinthina (Lincl.) Baker White Brodiaea Liliaceae

Brodiaea ixioides {Ait. {.) Wats Golden Brodiaea Liliaceae

Brodiaea terrestris Kell Liliaceae

Bromus carinatus K. & A California Brome Grass Gramineae

Bromus hordeaceus* L Soft Cheat Gramineae

Bromus rigidus* Roth Ripgut-grass Gramineae

Bromus sterilis* L Gramineae

Calandrinia caulescens H. B. K Red Maids Portularaceae

Callitriche marginata Torr Callitrichaceae

Calochortus albus Dougl White Globe Lily Liliaceae

Calochortus nniflorus H. & A Liliaceae

Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Moench Shepherd's Purse Cruciferae

Cardamine oligosperma Nutt Bitter-cress Cruciferae

Carer montereyensis Mkze Monterey Sedge Cyperaceae

Castilleia latifolia H. & A Seaside Painted-Cup Scrophulanaceae

Castilleia parvifolia Bong. var. douglasii

Jepson Indian Paintbru.sh Scrophulanaceae

Ceanothus thyrsiftorus Esch Blue Blossom Rhamnaceae

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus Esch. var. griseus

Xrel Blue Blossom Rhamnaceae

CentauVea melitensis* L - - . . Napa Thistle Compositae

Centaurium exaltatum (Griseb.) Wight.

var. davyi Jepson Canchalagua Gentianaceae

Centunculus minimus L Chaff weed Primulaceae

Cerastium viscosum* L Mou.se-ear Chickweed Caryophyllaceae

Chenopodium album* L White Pigweed Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodium californicum Wats Soap Plant Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodium rubrum* L Red Goosefoot Chenopodiaceae

t By Herbert L. Mason, July 1, 1935.
• Plants not native to the region.

APPENDIX 89

PLANTS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE-Continued

Scientific namt Common name Family

Chlorogalum pomeridinnum (Ker.) Kunth Soap Plant Liliaceae

Collinsia bartsiaefoUa Benth Scrophulariaceae

Conium maculatum* L Poison Hemlock Umbelliferae

Convolvulus arvensis* L Bindweed Convolvulaceae

Convohmhi.i occidcntalis Gray var. cyclo-

stegius (House) Jepson Convolvulaceae

Corethrogyne filagini folia (H. & A.) Nutt Compositae

Corethrogyne leucophylla Menzies Compositae

Cornus californica G. A. Mey Creek Dogwood Cornaceae

Cotula coronopifolia* L Brass Buttons Compositae

Cotyledon casepitosa Haw Crassulaceae

Cotyledon fcrinosa Baker Bluff Lettuce Crassulaceae

Cryptantha leiocarpa (F. & M.) Greene.. Nievita Boraginaceae

Cupressus macrocarpa Hartw Monterey Cypress Cupressaceae

Cuscuta californica Choisy California Dodder Convoh^ulaceae

Danthonia americana Scrib Oat Grass Gramineae

Danthonia californica Boland Oat Grass Gramineae

Daucus pusillus Michx Rattlesnake Weed Umbelliferae

Deschampsia holciformis Presl California Hair-Grass Gramineae

Dichondra repens Forst Convolvulaceae

Diplacus aurantiacus (Curtis) Jepson Bush Monkey Flower Scrophulariaceae

Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene Salt Grass Gramineae

Derdaria irdegrifolia Nutt Milk-maids Cruciferae

Dryopteris arguta (Kaulf.) Watt Coastal Wood Fern Pteridophyta

Echinocystis fabacea Naud Common Man-root Cucurbitaceae

Elymus condoisatus Presl Giant Rye-grass Granineae

Elym.us glaiicus Buckl Western Rye-grass Gramineae

Elymus triticoides Buckl Beardless Rye-grass Gramineae

Ericameria ericoides (Less.) Jepson Mock Heather Compositae

Erigeron glaucus Ker Seaside Daisy Compositae

Eriogonum parvifolium Sm Wild Buckwheat Polygonaceae

Eriophyllum confertiflorum Gray Compositae

Eriophylhnn staechadifolium Lag Lizard Tail Compositae

Erodium cicutarium* L'Her Red-stem Filaree Geraniaceae

Erodium moschatum* L'Her White-stem Filaree Geraniaceae

Eryn/jium armatum C. & R ^. Coast Eryngium Umbelliferae

Eschscholtzia californica Cham California Poppy i- Papaveraceae

Euphorbia crenulata Engelm Spurge Euphorbiaceae

Festuca brojyioides* L Fescue Gramineae

Festuca myuros* L . Rat-tail Fescue Gramineae

Filago californica Nutt Compositae

Fragaria californica C. & S Wood Strawberry Rosaceae

Franseria bipinnatifida Nutt Compositae

Galium aparine* L Goose Grass Rubiaceae^

Galium cnlifornicum H. &A Bedstraw Rubiaceae

Gaultheria shallon Pijrsh Salal Ericaceae

Geranium dissectum* L Common Geranium Geraniaceae

Gilia muUicaulis Benth Gilia Polemoniaceae

Gilia peduncularis Eastw Polemoniaceae

Gnaphalium bicolor Bioletti Compositae

Gnaphalium chilense Spreng Cotton-batting Plant. Compositae

Gnaphalium decurrens Ives var. californi-

cum Gray California Everlasting Compositae

Gnaphalium purpureum Jj Purple Cudweed Compositae

Gnaphalium ramosissimum, Nutt Pink Everlasting Compositae

Godetia bottae Spach Godetia Onagraceae

Grindelia robusta Nutt. var. platyphylla

Greene Gum Plant Compositae

Gymnogramme triangularis Kaulf Gold Fern Pteridophyta

Habenaria michaeli Greene Rein-orchis Orchidaceae

Hazardia squarrosa Greene Compositae

Hemizonia corymbosa (DC.) T. &G Tarweed Compositae

Hemizonia corymbosa (DC.) T. & G.

vsLT. angustifolia (DC.) Jepson Tarweed Compositae

Heuchera micraniha Dougl Alum-root Saxifragaceae

Heuchera pilosissima F. & M Hairy Alum-root Saxifragaceae

Hordeum gussoneanum* Pari Mediterranean Barley Gramineae

Hordeum jubatum L Squirrel-tail Barley Gramineae

Plants not native to the region.

90 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

PLANTS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE-Continued

Scientific name Common name Family

Hordeum murinum* L Wall Barley Gramineae

Hordeum nodosum L Meadow Barley Gramineae

Hypochoeris glabra* L Smooth Cat's Ear Compositae

Hypochoeris radicata* L Hairy Cat's Ear Compositae

Iris doxcglasiana Herbert Mountain Iris Iridaceae

Juncus bufonius L.-l Toad Rush Juncaceae

Juncus occidentalis (Cov.) Wiegand Western Rush Juncaceae

Junus phaeocephalus Engelm Brown-headed Rush Juncaceae

Koeleria cristata (L.) Pers Gramineae

Lathyrus strictus Nutt Purple pea Leguminesae

Layia plaiygohsa (F. & M.) Gray Tidytips Compositae

Lepidium bipinnatifidum* Desv Wayside Pepper-grass Cruciferae

Lepidium nitidum Nutt Common Pepper-grass Cruciferae

Lepturus cylindricus (Willd.) Trin Gramineae

Linanthus androsaceus (Benth.) Greene Polemoniaceae

Linaria canadensis (L.) Dum. var. texana

(Scheele) Pennell Toad Flax Scrophulariaceae

Lithophragma heterophylla T. & G Saxif ragaceae

Lolium multiflorum* Lam Perennial Rye-grass Gramineae

Lomatium parvifolium (T. & G.) Jepson__ Hog-fennel Umbelliferae

Lotus americanus (Nutt.) Bisch Spanish Clover Leguminosae

Lotus benthamii Greene Leguminosae

Lotus eriophorus Greene Leguminosae

Lotus formosissimus Greene Witch's Teeth Leguminosae

Lotus micrardhus Benth Leguminosae

Lotus SCO parius (Nutt.) Ottley Deer-weed Leguminosae

Lotus strigosus (Nutt.) Greene Leguminosae

Lotus subpinnatu^ Lag Leguminosae

Lupinus arboreus Sims Yellow Lupine Leguminosae

Lupinus nanus Dougl Leguminosae

Lupinus varicolor Steud Leguminosae

Luzula campestris (L.) DC. var. congesta

Buch Common Wood Rush Juncaceae

Lythrum californicum T. & G Common Loosestrife Lythraceae

Lythrum hyssopifolia L Grass Poly Lythraceae

M adia dissitiflora (Nutt.) T. & G Gum-weed Compositae

Malva rotundifolia L Dwarf Mallow Malvaceae

Marrubium vulgare L Common Horehound Labiatae

Medicago hispida Gaertn Bur Clover Leguminosae

Melica imperfecta Trin Gramineae

Melilotus indica All. , Yellow Sweet Clover Leguminosae

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L Ice Plant Aizoaceae

Mesembryanthemum edule L Hottentot Fig Aizoaceae

Mic.rocala cjuadrnnf/ularis (Lam.) Griseb Gentianaceae

Microseris higclorii Gray Compositae

Montia minor C. Gmel Water Chickweed Portulacaceae

M ontia perfoliata (Donn) Howell Miner's Lettuce Portulacaceae

Myrica californica Cham Wax Myrtle Myricaceae

Nemophila aurita Lindl Fiesta Flower Hydrophyllaceae

Nemophila heterophylla F. & M Small White Nemophila Hydrophyllaceae

Nemophila mrnzirsii H. & A Baby Blue-eyes Hydrophyllaceae

Oenanihe snrmrntosa Presl Umbelliferae

Oenothera micrarUha Hornem Onagraceae

Oenothera ovata Nutt Golden Eggs Onagraceae

Oenothera spiralis Hook Curly Pod Onagraceae

Orobanche calif ornica C . &S Broom-rape Orobanchaceae

OrthocMrpus purpurascens Benth Escobita Scrophulariaceae

Orlhocarpus pusillus Benth Scrophulariaceae

Osmaronia cerasiformis (T. & G.) Greene Oso Berry Rosaceae

Oxalis pilosa Nutt Yellow Sorrel Oxalidaceae

Pentacaena ramosissima K. & A Sand Mat Carv-ophyllaceae

Phacelia distans Benth Phacelia Hydrophyllaceae

Phacelia malvaefolia Cham Stinging Phacelia Hydrophyllaceae

Phalaris californica H. & A . California Canary Grass Gramineae

Pholiurus incurvus (L.) Schinz. & Thell Gramineae

Photinia arbutifolia Lindl Toyon Rosaceae

Phyllospadix scouleri Hook Surf Grass Naiadaceae

Pinus radiala Don Monterey Pine Pinaceae

* Plants not native to the region.

APPENDIX 91

PLANTS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE-Continued

Scientific name Common name Fam,ily

Plantago bigelovii Gray Plantaginaceae

Plantago ereda Morris Plantaginaceae

Plantago major* Jj Common Plantain Plantaginaceae

Plantago maritima L Goose Tongue Plantaginaceae

Platystemon californicus Benth Cream Cuss Papaveraceae

Plectritis macrocera T. & G Valerianaceae

Poa annua L Annual Bluegrass Gramineae

Poa douglasii Nees Gramineae

Polycarpon depressum Nutt Caryophyllaceae

Polypodium vulgare L. var. kaulfusii

(DC. Eat.) Fer California Polypody Polypodiaceae

Polypogon monspeliensis* (L.) Desf Beard Grass Gramineae

Populus trichocarpa T. &G Black Cottonwood Salieaceae

Potentilla californica (C. & S.) Greene Rosaceae

Poteniilla frondosa Greene Rosaceae

Potentilla glandulosa Lindl Rosaceae

Psilocarphiis tenellus Nutt Compositae

Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn var.

pubescens Underw Bracken Polypodiaceae

Pterostegia drymarioides F. & M Polygonaceae

Quercus agrifolia Nee Coast Live Oak Fagaceae

Ranunculus californicus Benth California Buttercup Ranunculaceae

Raphanus sativus* L Wild Radish Cruciferae

Rhamnus californica Esch Coffee Berry Rhamnaceae

Rhus diiersiloba T. &G Poison Oak Anacardiaceae

Ribes menziesii Pursh. var. hystrix

(Eastw.) Jepson Canyon Gooseberry Saxifragaceae

Ribes samguineum Pursh. var. glutinosum

Loud Flowering Currant Saxifragaceae

Rosa californica C &S Cai^ornia Rose Rosaceae

Rosa gymnocarpa Nutt. var. pinetorum

(Heller) Jepson Wood Rose Rosaceae

Rubus vitifolius C. &C California Blackberry Rosaceae

Rumex acetosella* L Sheep Sorrel Polygonaceae

Rumex crispus* L Curly Dock Polygonaceae

Rumex pulcher* L Fiddle Dock Polj'gonaceae

Rumex salicifolius Weinm Willow Dock Polygonacei.-

Sagina occidentalis Wa,ts Western Pearlwort Carophyllaceae

Salix lasiolepis Benth Arroyo Willow Salieaceae

Salix scouleriana Nutt Scouler Willow Salieaceae

Salvia columbariae Benth Chia Labiatae

Samhucus glauca Nutt Blue Elderberry Caprifoliaceae

Sanicula arctopoides H. & A Footsteps of Spring LTmbelliferae

Sanicula laciniata H. & A Coast Sanicle Umbelliferae

Sanicula menziesii H. &A Gamble Weed Umbelliferae

Saxifraga virginiensis Michx. var. cali-
fornica Jepson Saxifrage Saxifragaceae

Scirpus carinatus (H. & A.) Gray Dwarf Club-rush Cyperaceae

Scirpus cernuus V'ahl Slender Club-rush Cyperaceae

Scleropoa rigida* (L.) Griseb Gramineae

Scorzonella paludosa Greene var. integri-

folia Jepson Compositae

Scrophularia californica Chem California Bee Plant Scrophulariaceae

Selaginella bigelovii Underw Selaginellaceae

Sidalcea malvaeflora Gray Checker Boom Malvaceae

Silene gallicn* L Windmill Pink Caryophyllaceae

Silene multinervia Wats Coast Catchfly Caryophyllaceae

Si^yrinchium helium Wats Blue-eyed Grass Iridaceae

Smilacina amplexicaulis Nutt Fat Solomon Liliaceae

Solanum douglasii Dunal Nightshade Solanaceae

Solanum nigrum* L Black Nightshade Solanaceae

Solidago californica Nutt California Goldenrod Compositae

Soliva sessilis R. & P Compositae

Sonchus oleraceus* L Sow Thistle Compositae

Spergula arvensis* L Corn Spurrey Caryophyllaceae

Sperguluric. macrotheca (Kornem.) Heynh. Sand Spurrey Caryophyllaceae

Spergularia rubra* (L.) J. & C. Presl.

var. perrennans (Kindb.) Rob Caryophyllaceae

Plants not native to the region.

02 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

PLANTS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE-Continued

Scicnlific name Common name Family

Stachys californica Benth Hedge Nettle Labiatae

Statice arctica Blake var. californica Blake Sea Pink Plumbaginaceae

Stellaria media* (L.) Cyr Common Chiekweed Caryophyllaceae

Stephanomeria virgata Benth Summer Chicory Compositae

Stipa pulchra Hitchc Purple Needlegrass Gramineae

Sym phoricar pos mollis Nutt Dwarf Waxberry Caprifoliaceae

Thelypoflium lasiophyllum (H. & A.)

Greene Cruciferae

Tillaea erecta H. & A Crassulaeeae

Trientalis europaea L. var. latifolia Torr.. Star-flower Primulaceae

TrifoUum amplcctens T. & G Leguminosae

Trifolium harhigerum Torr Leguminosae

TrifoUum, gracilentum T. & G Pinpoint Clover Leguminosae

Trifolium, involucraiiim Ort Cow Clover Leguminosae

TrifoUum macraei H. & A Leguminosae

Trifolium microcephalum Pursh Leguminosae

TrifoUum tridcntatum Lindl Tomcat Clover Leguminosae

Uropappus linearifoUus Nutt Compositae

Vicia americana Muhl American Vetch Leguminosae

Vicia exigua Nutt California Vetch Leguminosae

Viola pcdunculata T. & G Yellow Pansy Violaceae

W oodwardia chamissoiliTa,c\i Chain Fern Polypodiaceae

Zostera marina L Eel Grass Naiadaceae

Zygadenus fremontii Wats Liliaceae

Liverworts-Hepaticae

Anthoceros sp Anthocerotaceae

Asterella californica (Hampe) Underw Marchantiaceae

Fossomhronin longiseta Aust Metzgeriaceae

Riccia cnmphelUana Howe Ricciaeeae

Riccia nigrcUa DC Ricciaeeae

Riccia sorocarpa Bisch Ricciaeeae

Sphaerocarpos sp Sphaeroearpaceae

Targionia hypophylla L Marchantiaceae

• Plants not native to the region.

Characteristic Intertidal Marine Animals of Point Lobos Reserve t

Phylum, and class Scientific name Common name^

Porifers Haliclona permollis Purple sponge

(sponges) Leuconia heathi

Leucosolenia eleanor

Lissodendoryx noxiosa Yellow sponge

Ophlitaspongia pennata Red sponge

Rhahdodermella nuttingi Vase sponge

Plocamia karykina Red sponge

Coelenierata

Hydrozoa Aglaophenia struthionides Feather hydroid

(hydroids) Garveia annulata Golden hydroid

Eudendrium californicum

Anthozoa Anthopleura xanthogram.m.ica Large green anemone

(Corals and sea Corynaclis species

anemones) Epiaclis proUfera Brooking anemone

Evactis artemisia Gregarious anemone

Urticina crass icornis Large red anemone, sea

dahlia

Balanophyllia elegans Solitary coral

t By W. K. Fisher.

^ Other than shells and crahs, few invertebrates possess an actual common name; most of such names exist only In
books, not in the vernacular.

APPENDIX 93

Characteristic Intertidal Marine Animals of Point Lobos Reserve— Continued

Phylum and class Scientific name Comm.on nam,e^

Plalyhelminthes

Turbellaria Leptoplana acticola

(flat worms) Planocera californica

Nemertea

(ribbon worms) Amphiporus himacnlaius

Emplectonema gracile
Lineus vegetus
Paranemertea peregrina

Bryozoa

(Moss animals) Bugula californica

Eurystomella bilahiata
Flxistra lichenoides
M emhranipora memhranacea
Phidolophora pacifica
Annelida

(Segmented worms). Amphiirite robusts Terebellid

Cirriformia luxuriosa Mermaid worm

Dodecaceria pacifica

Eudistylia polymorpha Feather duster worm

Halosydna brevisotosa Scaled worm

Nereis procera Green worm

Nereis vexillosa Mussel worm

Sabellaria californica Tube worm

Spirorbis spirillum Small tube worm

Thelepsus plagiostoma Terebellid

Siprmcidoidea

(bag worms) Dendrostoma petraeum Bushy-headed bag worm

Physcosoma agassizi Agassiz bag worm

Echinodermaia

Asteroidea Henricia leviiiscula Blood star

(Sea stars) Leptasterias aequalis Six-rayed starlet

L. pusilla Pigmy starlet

Patiria miniata Short-rayed star

Pisaster ochraceus Common star

Pycnopodia helianthoides Twenty-rayed star

Ophiuroidea Ophinplocus esmarki Smooth serpent star

(Serpent stars) Ophiopteris papillosa Papillose serpent star

Ophiothrix spiculaia Glassy-spined serpent

star

Echinoidea Strongylocentrotus franciscanus Giant urchin

(Sea urchins) S. purpuratus Purple urchin

Holothurioidea Cucumaria quinquesemita

(Sea cucumbers) Stichopus californicus

Arthropoda

Crustacea Balanus glandula Rock barnacle

(Crabs, shrimps) Mitella polymera Stem barnacle

Tetraclita squamosa rubescens Volcano barnacle

Orchestoidea californica Sand hopper

Lidyda occidentalis Rock crawler

Crangon denlipes Pistol shrimp

Cryptolithodes sitchensis Umbrella crab

Hapalogaster cavicauda Mossy crab

Pagurus samuelis Common hermit

Petrolisthes cinctipes Porcelain crab

Crustacea Cancer antennarius common crab

(Crabs, shrimps) C. productus red crab

Hemigrapsus nudus purple shore crab

Lophopanopeus healhi midget crab

Loxorhynchus crispatus masking crab

Miulus foliatus

Pachygraps us crassipes striped shore crab,

Sally Lightfoot

Paraxenthias taylori warty crab

Pugettia producti kelp crab

Scyra acutifrons sharp nosed masking crab

1 Other than shells 'and crabs, few invertebrates possess an actual common name; most of such names exist only in
books, not in the vernacular.

94 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Characteristic Intertidal Marine Animals of Point Lobos Reserve— Continued

Phylum and class

Scientific name

Common name^

Mollusca

Amphineura Cryptochiton stelleri giant chiton

(Chitons) Ischnociton magdalenensis gray chiton

/. reularis blue chiton

Katherina tunicata black chiton

Lepidochitona lineata lined chiton

Mopalia muscosa hairy chiton

Nuttallina calif ornica California chiton

Placiphorella velata veiled chiton

Gastropoda Acmaea digitalis (persona) dingy limpet

(Limpets, snaUs) A . limxitula (scabra) file limpet

A. mitra white cap

A. pelta shield limpet

A. scabra (spectrum) ribbed limpet

A. scutum (patina) plate limpet

Lottia gigantea owl limpet

Calliosioma dnnulaium ringed top shell

C. canaliculatum channeled top shell

Astraea inaequalis red top shell

Diadora aspera rough key-hole limpet

Fissurella volcano volcano shell

Haliotis cracherodii black abalone

Megathura crenukUa giant key-hole limpet

Tegula brunnea brown turban

Tegula funebralis black turban

Aletes squamigerus worm mollusk

Crepidula adunca hooked slipper shell

Littorina planaxis gray littorine

L. scidulata checkered littorine

Purpura foliata leafy horn mouth

Thais emerginata short-spired purple

Gadinia reticulata button shell

Anisodoris nobilis sea lemon

Archidoris monterey-ensis
Cadlina marginata
Diaulula sandiegensis
Glossodoris californicus

Hopkinsia rosacea rose nudibranch

Roslangia pulchra
Triopha carpenteri
T. maculata

Pelecypoda Hinnites giganteus rock oyster

(Clams, mussels) Mytilu^ californianus California mussel

Chama pellucida rock oyster

Pholadidea penita rock borer

Saxicava pholadis rock borer

Venerupis staminea rock cockle

Cephalopoda Paroctopus devil fish

(Squids, devilfish)

Tunicata

(Sea squirts) Amaroudum californicum

Clavelina huntsmani
Distaplia occidentalis
Eudistoma psammion
E. diaphanes
Perophora annectens
Polyclinum planum

Veriebrata

Pisces Apodichthys fl^ividus blenny

(Fishes) Caularchus meandrinus cling fish

Clinocottus Mnalis sculpin

Epigeichthys atropurpureu^ blenny

Montereya recalva sculpin

^ Other than shells and crabs, few Invertebrates possess an actual common name; most of such names exist only In
books, not in the vernacular.

APPENDIX 95

BIRDS OF POINT LOBOS RESERVE *

Common Loon — Gavia immer (Brunnich)

Pacific Loon — Gavia pacifica (Linnaeus)

Red-throated Loon — Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan)

Holboell Grebe — Colymhus grisegena Boddaert

Horned Grebe — Colymhus auritus Linnaeus

Eared Grebe — Colymhus nigricoUis (Brehm)

Western Grehe—Aechmophorus occidentalis (Lawrence)

Sooty Shearwater — Puffinus griseus (Gmelin)

Black-vented Shearwater — Puffinus opisthomelas Coues

Brown Pelican — Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus

Farallon Cormorant — Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson)

Brandt Cormorant — Phalacrocorax penicillatus (Brandt)

Pelagic Cormorant — Phalacrocorax pelagicus Pallas

Great Blue Heron — Ardea herodias Linnaeus

American Egret — Casmerodius alhus (Linnaeus)

Canada Goose — Branta canadensis (Linnaeus)

Black Brant — Branta nigricans (Lawrence)

American Golden-Eye — Glaucionetta clangula (Linnaeus)

White-winged Scoter — Melanitta deglandi (Bonaparte)

Surf Scoter — Melanitta perspicillata (Linnaeus)

Ruddy Duck— Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmelin)

Red-breasted Merganser — Mergus serrator Linnaeus

Turkey Vulture — Cathartes aura (Linnaeus)

Sharp-shinned Hawk — Accipiter velox (Wilson)

Cooper Hawk — Accipiter vooperii (Bonaparte)

Red-tailed Hawk — Buteo horealis (Gmelin)

Golden Eagle — Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus)

Marsh Hawk — Circus hudsonius (Linnaeus)

Duck Hawk — Falco peregrinus Tunstall

Pigeon Hawk — Falco columharius Linnaeus

Sparrow Hawk — Falco sparverius Linnaeus

California Quail — Lophortyx californica (Shaw)

Black Oyster catcher — Haernatopus bachmani Audubon

Killdeer — Oxyechus vociferus (Linnaeus)

Ruddy Turnstone — Arenaria interpres (Linnaeus)

Black Turnstone — Arenaria melanocephala (Vigors)

Wilson Snipe — Capella delicata (Ord)

Hudsonian Curlew — Phaeopus hudsonicus (Latham)

Spotted Sandpiper — Actitis macularia (Linnaeus)

Wandering Tattler — Heteroscelus incanus (Gmelin)

Western Sandpiper — Ereunetes mauri Cabanis

Red Phalarope — Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus)

Glaucous-winged Gull — Larus glaucescens Xaumann

Western Gull- — Larus occidentalis Audubon

California Gull — Larus californicus Lawrence

Ring-billed Gull — Larus delawarensis Ord

Bonaparte Gull — Larus Philadelphia (Ord)

Heermann Gull — Larus heermanni Cassin

Royal Tern — Thalasseus maxinnis (Boddaert)

California Murre — Vria aalge (Pontoppidan)

Pigeon Guillemot — Cepphus columha Pallas

Ancient Murrelet — Synthlihoramhpus antiquus (Gmelin)

Band-tailed Pigeon — Columha fasciata Say

Mourning Dove — Zenaidura macroura (Linnaeus)

Road runner — Geococcyx californianus (Lesson)

Barn Owl — Tyto alha (Scopoli)

Screech Owl— Of?/s asio (Linnaeus)

Great Horned Owl — Buho virginianus (Gmelin)

Burrowing Owl — f^pectyto cunicularia (Molina)

Black Swift — Nephoecetes niger (Gmelin)

White-throated Swift — Aeronautes saxatalis (Woodhouse)

Anna Hummingbird — Calypte anna (Lesson)

Rufous Hummingbird- — Selasphorus rufus ((imelin)

Allen Hummingbird — Selasphorus alleni Henshaw

Belted Kingfisher — Megaceryle alcyon (Linnaeus)

Yellow-shafted Flicker — Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus)

Red-shafted Flicker — Colaptes cafer (Gmelin)

Acorn-storing Woodpecker — Balanosphyra formicivora (Swainson)

Lewis Woodpecker — Asyndesmus lewis Gray

• Birds found in Point Lobos Reserve, 1934-35. By Joseph Grinnell and Jean LJnsdale.

96 POINT LOBOS RESERVE

Red-breasted Sapsucker — S!phi/rapicus varius (Linnaeus)

Hairy Woodpecker — Dryohales villosus (Linnaeus)

Downy Woodpecker — Dryohates piihescens (Linnaeus)

Nutta'll Woodpecker — Dryobates nuttallii (Gambel)

Arkansas Kingbird — Tyrannus verticalis Say

Cassin Kingbird — Tyrannus rociferans Swainson

Ash-throated Flycatcher — Myiarchus cinerascens (Lawrence)

Black Phoebe — Hayoriits nigricans (Swainson)

Say Phoebe — Sayornis saya (Bonaparte)

Traill Flycatcher — Empidonax iraiUii (Audubon)

Wright Flycatcher — Empidonax tcrightii Baird

W^estern Flycatcher — Empidonax difficilis Baird

Wood Pewee — Myiochanes virens (Linnaeus)

Olive-sided Flycatcher — Nuttallornis mesoleucus (Lichtenstein)

Horned Lark — Otocovis alpestris (Linnaeus)

Violet-green Swallow — Tachycineta thalassina (Swainson)

Tree Swallow — Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieillot)

Rough-winged Swallow — Stelgidopferyx ruficoUis (Vieillot)

Barn Swallow — Hirundo erythrogasier Boddaert

Cliff Swallow — Petrochelidon alhifrons (Rafinesque)

Purple Martin — Progne subis (Linnaeus)

Steller Jay — Cyanocitta steUeri (Gmelin)

California Jay — Aphelocoma calif ornica (Vigors)

Yellow-billed Magpie — Pica nuttallii (Audubon)

Crow — Corvus brachyrhynchos Brehm

Clark Nutcracker — Nucifraga columbiana (Wilson)

Chestnut-backed Chickadee — Penthestes rufescens (Townsend)

Bush-tit — Psaltriparus minimus (Townsend)

White-breasted Nuthatch — Sitta carolinensis Latham

Red-brested Nuthatch — ^itta canadensis Linnaeus

Pigmy Nuthatch — Sitta pygmaea Vigors

Brown Creeper — Certhia familiaris Linnaeus

Wren-tit — Chamaea fasciata (Gambel)

House Wren — Troglodytes aedon Vieillot

Winter Wren — Nannus hiemalis (Vieillot)

Bewick Wren — Thryomanes bewickii ( Audubon )>

Long-billed Marsh Wren — Telmatodytes palustris (Wilson)

Mockingbird — Mimus polyglottos (liinnaeus)

California Thrasher — Toxostoma redivivum (Gambel)

Robin — Turdus migratorius Linnaeus

Hermit Thrush — Hylocichla guttata (Pallas)

Russet-backed Thrush — Hylocichla ustulata (Nuttall)

Western Bluebird — Sialia mexicana Swainson

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher — Polioptila caerulea (Linnaeus)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet — Corthylio calendula (Linnaeus)

Pipit — Anthus spinoletta (Linnaeus)

Loggerhead Shrike — Lanius ludovicianus Linnaeus

Hutton Vireo — Vireo huttoni Cassin

Orange-crowned Warbler — Vermivora celata (Say)

Yellow W^arbler- — Dendroica aestiva (Gmelin)

Audubon Warbler— Dendrotco auduboni (Townsend)

Black-throated Gray Warbler — Dendroica nigrescens (Townsend)

Townsend Warbler — Dendroica townsendi (Townsend)

Hermit Warbler — Dendroica occidentalis (Townsend)

Tolmie W^arbler — Oporornis tolmiei (Townsend)

Yellow-throat — Geothlypis trichas (Linnaeus)

Pileolated Warbler — Wilsonia pusilla (Wilson)

English Sparrow — Passer domesticus (Linnaeus)

Western Meadowlark — Sturnella neglecta Audubon

Red-winged Blackbird — Ageldius phoeniceus (liinnaeus)

Bullock Oriole — Icterus huUockii (Swainson)

Brewer Blackbird — Euphagus cyanocephalus (Wagler)

Lazuli Bunting — Passerina amoena (Say)

Purple Finch — Carpodacus purpureus (Gmelin)

Linnet — Carpodacus mexicanus (Miiller)

Pine Siskin — Spinus pinus (Wilson)

Green-backed Goldfinch — Spinus psaltria (Say)

Spotted Towhee — Pipilo maculatus Swainson

Savannah Sparrow — Passerculus sandwich ensis (Gmelin)

Oregon Junco — Junco oreganus (Townsend) .

Chipping Sparrow — Spizella passerina (Bechstein)

White-crowned Sparrow — Zonotrichia leucophrys (Forster)

Fox Sparrow — Passerella iliaca (Audubon)

Lincoln Sparrow — Passerella lincolnii (Audubon)

Song Sparrow — Passerella melodia (Wilson)

O

91419 12-53 3M printed in California state printing office

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