1917 BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ISLANDS 39 



^lay 1, 1908. H. Wright (32) records a few pairs nesting on the cliffs of Ana- 

 capa, July 5, 1912. At Santa Cruz Island a small number nest near Scorpion 

 Harbor, and they probably ])reed on or near Santa Rosa Island, but as there 

 has been so little work done in this locality, this is merely a supposition on my 

 part. On Prince Islet. San Miguel, G. Willett (7.9) found several large rooker- 

 ies. In tlie morning of June 15, 1910, he passed a colony of about a hundred 

 nests with eggs, but in the afternoon the gulls had left not a dozen eggs. He 

 took a set of six there. 



I believe that as a rule these birds begin nesting slightly in advance of the 

 Farallon Cormorant. The nest is a rather compact but not bulky affair of sea 

 weed, and is always placed in colonies on a low cliff or shelf of rock, from fif- 

 teen to a hundred or more feet above the water. From three to five eggs, and 

 very rarely six, constitute a full set. At the approach of an intruder the young 

 exhibit great stupidity, the half grown ones unconcernedly walking off a higli 

 ledge to fall on the rocks below, mortally disabled. During the winter they Avill 

 often gather in flocks numbering thousands of individuals, to roost at night in 

 some favorite spot, dispersing in the morning in quest of food. I have seen an 

 incredible number in the early morning leaving a sand flat on which they had 

 spent the night. 



40. Phalacrocorax pelagicus resplendens Audubon 



Baird Cormorant 



GracuJus violaceus var. hairdi (/) Cooper, Proc. Calif. Acad. Scl., tv, 1870, p. 79. 



Phalacrocorax pelagictis resplendens (2) Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water Birds N. 

 Am., II, 1884, p. 162. (3) Blake, Auk, iv, 1887, p. 329. (/,) Streator, Orn. & Ool., 

 XIII, 1888, p. 54. (.J) Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Scl., i, 1897, p. 26. (6) Grinnell, Pas- 

 adena Acad. Sci., ii, 1898, p. 9. (7) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 3, 1902, p. 16. (S) 

 Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 83. (9) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 126. (10) Osburn, 

 Condor, xi, 1909, p. 137. (11) Willett, Pac. Coast Avif.. 7, 1912, p. 20. (12) Wright 

 and Snyder, Condor, xv, 1913, pp. 87, 90. (13) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, 

 p. 30. 



Phalacrocorax violaceus (/'/) Streator, Proc. Sta. Barbara Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1887, p. 23. 



Phalacrocorax pelagicus (lo) Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvi, 1898, p. 362. 



Baird Cormorant (16) Beck, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, i, 1899, p. 85. (/7) Willett, Condor, 

 XII, 1910, pp. 170, 172. 



Plhalacrocorax]. pelagicus resplendens (18) Breninger, Auk, xxi, 1904, p. 219. 



Phalacrocorax resplendens (19) Willett, Condor, xii, 1910, p. 173. 



Fairly plentiful resident among the islands, thougli not nearly as numerous 

 as the last two forms. Rather rare in the southern part of the territory covered 

 by this paper, but increasing in numbers towards the northern part. H. "W. Hen- • 

 shaw (2) found them congregated in great numbers on the channel islands in the 

 early days, but since that time they must have decreased, for at present I do 

 not think that anyone could describe their numerical standing in such words. 



I know of one rookery on the Coronados of perhaps a dozen scattered nests, 

 and there may be others. C. B. Linton (8) records seeing a few pairs in breed- 

 ing plumage near Mosquito Harbor, San Clemente, daring ]\Iarch, 1907. Near 

 a large detached rock off the southwest end of the same island. D. R. Dickey and 



