PATROLLING THE BEACH 



die antlers of a deer, it is shed in the autumn-time, to be 

 renewed the following spring. The back is plain bluish black, 

 and the under parts are grayish and white. Two narrow tufts 

 of white feathers spring from the sides of the head, one ex- 

 tending in a line back of the eye, and the other back from the 

 corner of the mouth. A bird of this species, which I found 

 about the middle of March, had a dark yellow bill with a 

 narrow line of black on the ridge of the upper mandible. The 

 feet were pale blue in color with webs and toe-nails of black. 

 There is an odor of musk about this species similar to that of 

 the fulmars and petrels. 



Cassin's auklet, a demure little creature in black and gray, 

 inhabiting the Pacific Coast as far north as Alaska, is another 

 frequent victim of the storms. The gulls, too, with all their 

 ease and grace upon the wing, share a like fate, and I find on 

 my list of storm victims a number of species which have been 

 washed ashore. 



Having walked the length of the exposed beach we turn 

 our faces homeward, and are almost lifted along on our way 

 by the favoring wind. All about is desolation — the gray sky, 

 the leaden water, the shining white rollers and the dreary 

 sand, with only the roar and boom of the breakers sounding 

 their endless moan. A few drops of water on our faces give 

 warning that the storm is not over, and we quicken our pace 

 toward the station. The Seal Rocks stand out black against 

 their frame of crashing surf. The curtain of mist closes down 

 closer about us. Our tramp on the beach is at an end, and 

 already the incoming tide has washed away our footprints 

 from the hard, wet sand ; but the memory of the day will linger 

 long in the mind, with the salt sea smell, the wonders of bird 



[33] 



