14 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



a sudden rise of water due to melting snow in the mountains. The water was 

 distributed for miles over the level country near New Hope, and produced a con- 

 dition very favorable to many species of water birds. Probably Sterna forsteri 

 nested abundantly, but no attempt to prove this was made, because of the dif- 

 ficulties in the way. 



June 8, 1912, Mr. J. Eugene Law and the writer observed a number of these 

 splendid terns flying over the overflowed sloughs four miles east of White's 

 Bridge. They were flying singly and at no great height, frequently poising for a 

 drop to the surface of the water. In each case the bird was flying northward and 

 was not long in sight. 



Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmelin). 



The Black Tern is of regular occurrence during the summer wherever suit- 

 able places can be found. June 28, 1902, great numbers of them hovered, scream- 

 ing, over the thousands of acres of overflowed land near New Hope. From their 

 actions I felt certain that they were breeding, but had no means of investigating. 



Mr. Chester Lamb found this species breeding near Laton, in the southern 

 part of the county, May 31, 1910, and collected from a small mud island a set 

 of three eggs, together with an elaborate wild-oat nest. This nest, he stated, was 

 far more bulky than the frail accumulation of dry grass that composed the nests 

 of a colony of Black Terns that he found near Los Banos, in Merced County, 

 during the preceding week. 



May II, 1908, I heard the cry of this species near Clovis and was surprised 

 to see three of the birds flying over the vineyards, far from any pond. They 

 tacked, dipped, and flapped along, making their way with nighthawk-like flight 

 against the strong wind that then prevailed. 



May 30, 191 2, a colony of these handsome little terns was occupying a 

 broken-down patch of last year's tules in an overflowed pasture near Firebaugh. 

 With a glass several of the birds could be seen sitting on nests amid the floating 

 dry tules. A swiftly flowing canal intervened and time did not permit of an at- 

 tempt at a closer inspection of the nests. As there were several acres of these 

 tules it is probable that quite an extensive colony was nesting there, but not over 

 half a dozen birds were in sight at one time as they skimmed over the shallow 

 water. 



Sometimes in late July a number of these terns may be seen around some of 

 the ponds southwest of Fresno where they are not known to breed. As the birds 

 are usually in the mixed plumage of the immature it seems probable that these are 

 young-of-the-year that are shifting for themselves and have wandered away 

 from the place where they were raised. 



Farallon Cormorant. Phalacrocorax auritus albociliatus Ridgway. 



Cormorants are of common occurrence during the winter on the large 

 sloughs southwest of Fresno. I have observed them perched on dead branches 

 above the water in true cormorant style, or swimming with their bodies sub- 

 merged and only the long snake-like necks appearing above the water. When 

 disturbed they would often dive and remain under water for several seconds, to 

 appear again many yards from where they went down. 



These cormorants disappear during the summer, doubtless to join a breed- 



