Cogswell 1950 "Journal" Lake Van Norden, 6760-6800 ft.(including meadow just E. of it), S. of Norden & Soda Springs, in Nevada & Placer Cos., Calif. -- in Summit Valley 2-3 mi. W. of Donner Pass. VEG. TYPES: open lake (artificial, with water partly drained out each year); short sedge, grass, & forb meadow; riparian thickets (Salix sp.); conifer forest bordering all these (Pinus murrayana, Abies concolor, the latter mostly back from the lake a bit more; small clumps of Populus tremuloides on few slopes nearby). As the water receded in August, extensive amphibious vegetation was stranded & provided habitat for foraging sandpipers & blackbirds. VISITS: June 18, 20 (twice); July 4 (twice), 18, 19; Aug. 1 (twice), 15 (twice), 20, 22, 26. Also numerous other trips by car past the north shore, on a few of which I recorded notes on a few birds. (See also "Soda Springs", near the L. Van Nørden dam). Little Truckee River valley, 5800-5880 ft., W. & N. of steel bridge on Truckee-Stampede Valley road, Sierra Co., Calif. -- 3 mi. E, 5 mi. N Hobart Mills, Nevada O. VEG. TYPES: on flood plain (less than 1/8 mi. wide) -- dense, but short (grazed) grassland, with scattered riparian thickets (Salix sp.) and cut-off pools with sedge-marsh borders; on adjacent uplands -- low Great Basin sagebrush formation (Artemisia tridentata, plus few other shrubs); stream is slightly turbulent here, flowing over mostly cobblestone-sized substrate; higher slopes to SW & N of the valley are covered with arid conifer forest (mostly Pinus jeffreyi, but with at least a few Juniperus sp/?? along its border to N) VISITS: July 27; Aug. 5 (from road only), Aug. 17. (first & last of these were searches for Sage Hens). Little (or Lower) Washoe Lake, 5020 ft., N end Washoe Valley, SW Washoe Co., Nev. -- just E US Route 395. VEG. TYPES: shallow lake without outlet (dried up to only narrow ditch in 1949) with sparse growth of tall sedges (Scirpus sp.) in south "arm" & along NE shore, much Polygonum amphibium in shallower portions and Potamogeton sp. in deeper parts (espec. late in summer, when remnant of lake was entirely weed filled). tree clumps SW & NE of lake (Populus fremontii); grassland narrowly along valley just W & S of lake; all other adjacent slopes covered with Great Basin sagebrush formation (Artemisia tridentata, here very tall, much less Chrysothamnus, Purshia, etc.) VISITS: June 27; July 12, 26; Aug. 9, 23.