Biological Papers. 243 



The Quillayute Needles reserve is in the vicinity of LaPush, Wash. . 

 The Flattery Rocks reserve, which also includes the Point of 

 Arches group and Tatoosh island, at Cape Flattery, extends along 

 the coast from the vicinity of the Ozette Indian village, some 

 eighteen miles up the coast from LaPush, to Cape Flattery and the 

 entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The islands of these re- 

 serves are the residual part of a sunken part of the continent. The 

 country rock of the Copalis group is Cretaceous; of the Quillayute 

 Needles group, lower Pliocene to possibly Miocene. The main 

 Flattery segregation is likely cretaceous, and the Point of Arches 

 is still older, while Tatoosh island belongs to the Clallam formation 

 of rocks of the strait region and is Oligocene-Miocene in age. 



The islands of this coast were all islands at least even as early 

 as in Pliocene times. In the Pleistocene they were submerged. 

 When, again, they lifted their heads above the surf after the trou- 

 bled glacial epoch, each one had a Pleistocene cap of gravel and 

 sand. Weathering, however, has removed this cap from all but the 

 largest islands. It is in this Pleistocene cap that many of the bur- 

 rowing fowls have their hidden homes. 



Below is a description of the various islands of the respective 

 reserves, beginning with the reserve farthest to the north : 



FLATTERY ROCKS RESERVE. 



The Flattery Rocks reserve comprises the following islands and 

 groups of islands : Tatoosh island, Fuca's Pillar group. Point of 

 Arches group, and Flattery Rocks proper. 



Tatoosh island is situated at the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, 

 on the western or American side. It is a low-lying, flat-topped, 

 grass-bush-covered island, composed of conglomerate rocks, while 

 near it are many pinnacles and points composed of the same rock 

 formation. The main island is occupied by the government light- 

 house and wireless station at the entrance of the strait. 



Plica's Pillar group lies in longitude 124° 43' 30" west, latitude 

 48° 22' 30" north. They contain a series of precipitous rock-points 

 and pillars off Cape Flattery, of which Fuca's pillar is the most 

 prominent. Most of the islands of the group are too much worn 

 down to admit of safe nesting. The pillar and its immediate neigh- 

 bors and the adjacent mainland promontory furnish good nesting 

 places. These points and pillars, together with the adjacent head- 

 land, have been honeycombed and countersunk in a maze of places, 

 hence are the best of nesting places. 



The Point of Arches group is in longitude 124° 43' west, lati- 

 tude 48° 15' north. The islands of this group extend from the shore 



