84 



THE OSPREY. 



California department. 



Donald A. Cohen, Editor, Alameda, Cal. 



□ N the Farallone Islands, in the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, 3(» miles from San Fran- 

 cisco, lives the lig-ht-house keeper 

 and his assistants, who are nearly all men 

 of families. These people have for a long- 

 time felt the need of having- a teacher 

 for the young- g-eneration ( quite a number 

 by the way), but, owing- to the isolation 

 of the "country" and the cheerless life of 

 a Farallone Islander, no one cared to 

 live there to teach. It was very well 

 at first: the g-liding- over the waves and 

 swells in a tug^ boat, the landing- in a 

 small boat tossed about in a choppy cove 

 and if the voyag-er had been sea-sick the 

 feeling was probably removed by a sous- 

 ing- breaker before the landing- was made. 

 Then there was the thrilling- sig-ht of 

 myriads of sea birds that scrambled and 

 flew and shuffled and filled the air with 

 various cries. The natural scenery of the 

 island as well as the lig-ht houses, appur- 

 tenances and dwellinc^s were also interest- 

 ing- and the people hospitable and pleas- 

 ant. But when the novelty had worn off 

 the thought of living on an island with 

 about three acres of tolerably level g-round 

 among piles of rocks and crag-s, where 

 the soil is either too rocky, or too rich 

 with guano to raise veg-etables, with a 

 back-ground of ocean and sky, had the 

 effect of deterring- most people from tak- 

 ing- up a residence there. Perhaps 

 a month would go by without a tug- boat 

 or other craft bring-ing new faces, news- 

 papers, letters from home, and fresh 

 "grub"; the light . house tenders only 

 making- periodical visits to stations several 

 times a year. The monotony of such a 

 life might be occasionally broken by the 

 sight of some passing- vessel, but the 

 never-ceasing- roar of the waves dashing- 

 against the rocky shore created a still 

 more lonely feeling-. 



Cory Chamberlin, a member of the 

 Cooper Ornithological Club, held a teach- 

 er's certificate and answered a call from 

 the "natives" to disseminate knowledge 

 to the young- Farallonians, and perhaps, 

 to learn more for himself of the avifauna 

 there. He may have found it too lone- 

 some a life as he soon chang-ed for a posi- 

 tion on a man-of-war. 



According^ to the Constitution of the 

 State of California the Farallone Islands 

 are part of the 1st ward of San Francisco, 

 and the islanders, all who can, come to 

 town on election day to vote. In reply 

 to their appeals, the supervisors of their 

 district decided to furnish them with a 

 school teacher to be paid by the San 

 Francisco Board of Education. At the 

 beg-inning- of the year, a young- lady was 

 sent to the islands and she thinks she 

 will be content with the k)nely life in a 

 g-reat ocean, and we hope she will and 

 wish her g-ood luck, and may add that 

 her pupils can g-ive her points when it 

 comes to ornitholog-y. 



THE monthly meeting- of the Cooper 

 Ornitholog-ical Club of California, 

 was held at San Jose, January *),with 

 a larg-e attendance of members, includ- 

 ing- several from the Southern California 

 Division. A few visitors were present, 

 among them Mr. Steinbeck, of Hollister, 

 who is accredited with having taken as 

 many Golden Eag-les' eg-gs as any man in 

 the State. Mr. Steinbeck's name was 

 proposed for membership. Officers were 

 elected for 1897 for President, Mr. 

 Walter E. Bryant, present incumbent; for 

 Vice President, Mr. H. B. Ka^ding-; for 

 Secretary, Mr. C Barlow, present in- 

 cumbent; for Treasurer, Mr. D. A. Cohen. 

 The usual committees on publication, 

 programme, etc., were appointed by the 

 chair, and a committee, consisting of 

 Messrs. J. W. Mailliard and H. B. K^d- 

 ing- for San Francisco County, and H. R. 

 Taylor and D. A. Cohen for Alameda 

 County, were appointed to confer with 

 authors of bills now before the Legisla- 

 ture for the better Protection of Game 

 and Song- Birds and if possible, to pre- 

 vent the indiscriminate robbing- of birds' 

 nests. Interesting papers were read by 

 members. The next meeting- will be held 

 February 6, in Alameda. 



Ducks have been shot in fair numbers 

 by pleasure seekers, while commission 

 men say that consig-nments from market 

 hunters have been very lig-ht lately. 

 During^ the two weeks of any clear 

 weather since Christmas g-ood sport has 

 been found among- the Quail, while "Jack- 

 snipe" are yet scattered over considerable 

 territory where late rains have made good 

 boring- grounds. 



