Merced Co., California Engels 1935 Nov. 7, 1935. Left Berkeley about 5:30 this afternoon with Roger Sperinkle in the Museum Reo truck. Drove here (Merced) via Tracy + Modesto, arriving about 9:30 p.m. Evening clear + cold. Put up in a cabin at Cronke's Auto Camps. Nov. 8, 1935: This morning we drove out of Merced toward El Vado, about 53½, leaving near 8: o'clock. The land hereabout is very flat, as far as one can see to the south, west + north. To the east the Sierra foothills were barely visible in the haze. Stopped by the roadside, 6.2 miles SSE of Merced, and both Sperinkle + I set out traps for pocket gophers. I made 10 sets, 2 of them doubles. The ground is very hard, black + lumpy; it was not easy digging. While making one set I heard something behind me, turned, + saw a gopher pushing his head out of an open hole in a clump of grass about 15 feet away. There was no dirt about this opening. Later I set a trap there. Pocket gopher workings were very numerous along the roadside + in the fields all around here. Scattered along the roadside we saw many tufts of cotton, apparently blown around from nearby cotton-fields, one of which we saw some 3-4 miles SSE Merced. Saw a Spilogeia by the road, but thoroughly smashed, + we did not pick it up. One Citellus sitting on a fence-post. Birds seen along the road included Shrikes, English Sparrows,