176 



THE 00L06IST 



fact that a clutch of eggs of any one 

 of our smaller Herons contains a 

 greater number of eggs than does a 

 clutch of any of the largest species; 

 in the latter they run from two to 

 four and in the former from five to 

 six. 



In closing the present brief article, 

 it will interest many ornithologists 

 and others to learn that Mr. Mcllhenny 

 has established at New Iberia, Louis- 

 iana, "The Louisiana Gulf Coast Club"; 

 it commands a reservation of some 

 100,000 acres, and has 75 miles of Gulf 

 Coast line. It is the largest tract of 

 land in the United States devoted to 

 wild life conservation as well as to a 

 resort for sportsmen. There are some 

 wonderful publications issued by this 

 Club, the illustrations of which are 

 extremely interesting, and it under- 

 takes to supply these gratis to appli- 

 cants, requests being mailed to the 

 Chicago office, 623 South Wabash 

 Avenue. Those interested in the pro- 

 tection of our birds should surely send 

 for these publications. 



RECENT EXPEDITION TO LOS 

 CORONADO ISLANDS, MEXICO 



By Alfred Cookman, M. S., Depart- 

 ment of Science, San Diego High 

 School,' San Diego, California 



On April 29th, the writer and his 



wife and a troop of Boy Scouts 



steamed out of San Diego harbor for 



a cruise to the Coronado Islands, Old 



■ Mexico. There are four small islands 



; located 25 miles southwest of San 



"Diego and twelve miles off the Lower 



California peninsula in the Pacific 



Ocean. The largest island "Dead 



Man's Island" lies further south, and 



North Island "Corpus Ohristi" is five 



miles to the north. The remaining 



two are mere mountain peaks barely 



protruding out of the sea. 



The Coronado archipelago are the 



protruding peaks of an otherwise sub- 

 merged mountain chain that was once 

 integral with the main land some 

 time during the tertiary or quater- 

 nary periods. They are the famous 

 breeding grounds of the California 

 Brown Pelican (Pelicanus calif orni- 

 cus), the Socorro Petrel (Oceanodro- 

 ma socorrensis), the Farallon Cor- 

 morants (Phalacrocorax auritus albo- 

 ciliatus), Brandt Cormorant (Phal- 

 acrocorax penicillatus), the Xantus 

 Murrelet (Brachyramphus hypoleu- 

 cus), the American Raven (Corvus 

 corax sinuatus) and the San Nicho- 

 lac Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus 

 pulverius). Western Gulls are every- 

 where on the islands. They breed 

 here in great colonies among the ice 

 plants on the leeward side of the 

 islands and among the jagged rocks 

 near the summits. 



On the way over to the islands 

 several of the Boy Scouts became ex- 

 ceedling ambitious to study the 

 marine gardens judging from the fre- 

 quency in which their heads were con- 

 tinually over the side of tihe boat. 



We arrived on South Island at noon. 

 Our little Launch steamed into the 

 cove in due time. A shout burst 

 forth from the boys' throats. We 

 landed on the leeward ledge at the 

 south side of the cove. This is the 

 only safe landing place on the is- 

 land. Everywhere the surging sea 

 is pounding away at the cliffs and it 

 would be suicidal to attempt to land 

 a skiff on the port side or at south 

 point. Seal lions are numerous and 

 they enjoy the rough, surging sea on 

 the port side. They would go tobog- 

 ganing into the sea when our boat 

 would circle the island and when the 

 captain blew the whistle. The adults 

 would leave their babies on the 

 guano-covered ledges under the stare 

 of the noon-day sun. 



Our first interest upon landing was 



