BREWSTER : BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 35 



and afterwards referred by Mr. Bryant to S. sula. I am informed by Mr. 

 Rid'^wav, however, that the bird is really 5. brewsteri, and that there is no 

 valid record of the occurrence of either S. leucogastra or S. sula in Lower 

 California. 



Mr. Frazar met with S. brewsteri only once — at San Jose del Cabo, on Sep- 

 tember 10 — when several were seen Hying past over the sea, and one, which 

 came in over the sand-hills, was shot. This bii-d, although in worn plumage, 

 is immature, the entire head and throat being grayish brown, and the under- 

 parts posterior to the breast mixed white and grayish brown. 



Colonel Goss, by whom the species was first distinguished and named, found 

 about seven hundred individuals breeding on San Pedro Martir Isle during 

 the latter half of March, 1888, and gives the following description ^ of their 

 nesting habits and eggs : — 



" Tlie birds were not wild, but their nesting places as a whole were not in as ex- 

 posed situations as those of the Blue-footed; they seemed to prefer the shelves and 

 niches on the sides of the rocks. They lay two eggs, and in all cases collect a few 

 sticks, seaweed, and often old wing or tail-feathers ; these are generally placed in a 

 circle to fit the body, with a view, I think, to keep tlie eggs that lie upon the rock 

 from rolhng out. There is but little material on or about the isle out of which a 

 nest can be made. 



" The birds must commence laying as early as tlie 10th of February, for I found 

 in many cases young birds from half to two thirds grown — white, downy little fel- 

 lows with deep bluish black skins — that, in places where they can, wander about 

 regardless of the nests where they were hatched. Average measurement of 

 17 sets of their eggs, 2.44 X 1.60. In color and form, as well as in size, they are 

 similar to the eggs of tlie Blue-footed, in fact so near alike that when placed 

 together tliey cannot be separated with any feeling of certainty ; therefore in col- 

 lecting I was careful to mark each set before they left my hands." 



In 1889 Mr. Townsend obtained two specimens on the Georges Islands, where 

 he found the species breeding in abundance.^ It also nests on Benedicto and 

 Socorro Islands.^ 



There can be little doubt that the Blue-footed Gannet (.S*. nehouxAi), which 

 breeds numerously on the islands of San Pedro Martir and Tiburon on the 

 eastern side of the Gulf of California, visits the waters about the southern 

 extremity of the Peninsula more or less frequently, but there is no present 

 evidence to show that this is actually the case. 



1 Auk, V. 1888, 24.3. 



2 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIII. 1R90, 138. 

 s Anthony, Osprey, III. 1898, 4-6. 



