JoNES^ ON June on the Washington Coast. 127 



stories of the vast numbers of birds which pass during the 

 vernal migrations, and of strange night cries which we later 

 learned to be those of Cassin's Auklet. During the remainder 

 of the day and until nine o'clock the next we found twelve 

 Black Oyster-catchers, many Baird's Cormorants making nests 

 among the rocks below our reach, four pairs of Rusty Song 

 Sparrows, four Black Swifts flying about over the island, 

 five or more pairs of Barn Swallow^s nesting in the grottoes of 

 the rocks and in caves, three Rough-winged Swallows, a single 

 Sooty Fox Sparrow in full song, a single Northwest Crow, 

 six Harlequin Ducks swimming about and feeding on the 

 ocean side in places protected by the outlying rocks from the 

 violence of the waves, numerous Glaucus-winged Gulls and 

 Pigeon Guillemots, and a single Western Gull, all flying 

 about. During the night we heard the weird call of Kseding's 

 Petrel. Doubtless the Glaucus-winged Gulls nest somewhere 

 about this island, but we were unable to find nests. A dense 

 fog which amounted to rain a part of the time prevented much 

 work on the parts of the island where the vegetation was more 

 than knee-high and made the quest for burrows of the 

 Petrel and Auklet in the turf fruitless. 



Not until nine o'clock had the fog lifted sufficiently to make 

 it safe to venture out upon the water. Once afloat and well 

 away from this inhabited island birds became numerous in 

 individuals though few in species. A flock of Northern 

 Phalaropes, thirty or more individuals, swept past on their 

 way northward. Wherever rocks were approached there two 

 or more Black Oyster-catchers were standing guard and pro- 

 testing our further advance. Glaucus-winged Gulls, Pigeon 

 Guillemots, Baird's Cormorants, and Tufted Puffins were 

 everywhere flying about or resting on the ocean. Loons and 

 Herons were occasionally seen. 



Some faint suggestion of the appearance of this bold coast 

 can be conveyed by photographs, but one must navigate the 

 waters in which they lie seated in the bottom of an Indian 

 canoe to appreciate their magnificence, their ruggedness, and 

 their numbers. Rocks which are uncovered onlv in the trough 



