GENERAL ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 85 



yards of the island, when they rose gradually to the eleva- 

 tion of their nests. Towards night the flocks grew larger, 

 as the birds that had been over to San Quentin Bay for the 

 day's fishing began to arrive. These birds after fishing until 

 sunset along the southern shore of the bay, gather in large 

 flocks, and most of them fly directly up the bay, or almost 

 at right angles with the course taken by those birds that 

 fly directly towards the island. For some time I was at a 

 loss to know where these flocks were going, as I knew that 

 tliere was no resting place in that direction; but I found that 

 after reaching the head of the bay, ten miles from the feed- 

 ing grounds, they turned through a pass between the hills, 

 and after flying five miles over land, reached the ocean at 

 a point opposite the island, having flown eighteen or twenty 

 miles to reach a point ten miles distant, rather than fly two 

 miles over a range of hills one hundred feet high. Above 

 ten per cent, of the birds, however, were wise enough to 

 take the shorter route. 



Hundreds of pounds of small fish were scattered all 

 about the colony, in little bunches or singly, having been 

 disgorged entirely undigested. I could not see that the 

 young were making any use of these provisions, nor did any 

 of the birds of the island except the gulls. They were proba- 

 bly designed, however, for the nearly fledged young that 

 were still unable to fish for themselves. 



One apparently fat and healthy adult female, which I saw 

 frequently during my stay at the island, had splintered the 

 upper mandible so that it hung down upon her breast in two 

 or three long strips, waving and flapping as she flew like 

 pieces of shingle; she had probably struck a hidden rock in 

 diving for fish. 



I did not find the pelican nesting on San Geronimo Island, 

 fifty miles south of San Martin, but at Todos Santos Islands, 

 opposite Ensenada, I am told that a few birds nest ever}' 

 year. 



Mr. A. M. IngersoU informs me that about twcDty-five 

 nests are to be found on one of the Coronados Islands. 



