THE OOLOGIST. 



193^ 



shells I dischai'ged a load of No. 2\s at 

 it. It rose but after tlyiug perhaps 

 fifty feet, fell, and I standing there 

 alone by the moaning see watched my 

 prize as it I'ose and fell on the billows, 

 — drifting out to sea. 



T. Gilbert Pearson, 

 (Museum), 

 Guilford College, N. C. 



The Ashy Y^ir^MOceanodroma homochroa) 

 on the Farallones- 



Having seen and read very little In 

 the OoLOGiST concerning the habits 

 and breeding of that rare and beautiful 

 bird, the Ashy Petrel, 1 venture my ob- 

 servations. 



The morning of July 5th found my 

 cousin, F. N. Kirsohbaum and mj^self 

 expectantly awaiting the departure of 

 the tug-boat Active at the wharf in San 

 Francisco. We gazed with admiration 

 on the restless little boat as it rose and 

 fell with the tide; and as the sun sent 

 his first golden rays glittering over the 

 waters, from behind the P^astern hills, 

 we boarded the tug and were soon 

 ploughing our Avay through the peace- 

 ful waters of the Bay of ISan Francisco 

 towaid the Golden Gate, on a trip to 

 the Farallone Islands. Never shall I 

 forget the beauty of that scene — the 

 smoking of the ferry-boats as they pre- 

 pared for another day's labor; the rapid 

 skimming of some liglit fishing boat 

 across our wake, and above all the 

 beautiful quiet of the early morniug 

 hours. 



But, as is the case of most amateur 

 seamen beauties soon depreciated in 

 value, as the form of the grim monster 

 Seasickness came into view. The re- 

 mainder of our voyage may have been 

 lined with the most charming and 

 picturesque scenery' for aught wt; knew, 

 but of it we saw nothing. J^vi-ntuallv 

 we arrived at tiie Farallones, and I for 

 one could imagine the feelings of jioor 

 Robin.son Crusoe, as I stepped seasick, 

 ;iiiil ijizzy, upon the barren rocks This 



feeling however, soon vanished aud 

 left me fitted to eujo}' the beauties of 

 the Islands. 



We remained si\ days on the Faral- 

 lones, during which time we collected 

 manj' sets of eggs of the more common 

 varieties, but it is of the Ashy Petrel 

 that I wish to speak in detail. This is 

 by no means a common resident, al- 

 though I am convinced that these 

 Islands are the the breeding place of a 

 liberal number. During my stay on 

 the Islands I examined 18 nests, of the 

 Ashy Petrel, 6 containing eggs; 7 con- 

 taining young; and the remaining 3 

 containing only the broken shells, the 

 young birds having left the nests. 



My first observations were from a 

 nest at the extreme end of a cave, 

 damp and moss. grown, shown me by 

 the genial Lighthouse Engineer, Mr. 

 Winthar, . The egg was lying on the 

 damp ground with absolutely'' nothing 

 for a nest. It was discolored by the 

 moss on which it lay, and in .some man- 

 ner had become batlly cracked. It was 

 advanced in incubation and could not 

 be blown. 



Directly above the entrance to this 

 cave, in the crevice of a large rock we 

 noticed a forked tail protruding. Hast- 

 ily ascending and I'eaching into the 

 crevice, we inilled out a Petrel. Much 

 to our disappointment and disgust, the 

 hole proved to contain a promising 

 young bird. It was from the old bird 

 that I received a good deal of instruct- 

 ion in regauj. to collecting the eggs of 

 this species" Let me say in the oegin- 

 ning that if you are not possesse.l ot a 

 moderately sensitive nasal apparatus, 

 you can invest your time more prolita- 

 Ijly in collecting the other varieties of 

 eggs, for "smelling" the Ashy Petrel is 

 the only way you can liud its nest. 



Imagine a collector ai'i'ayed in a pair 

 of overalls, crawling along .some 

 rougii and ancient stone-wall on the 

 Farallones, aud inserting his nose at 

 frequent intervals between the rocks, 



