164 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



heron was more than common at San Clemente. I 

 counted half a dozen going up the north side and heard 

 their harsh guttural protest as they clumsily rose and 

 flew away. They were invariably standing on the 

 rocks at sea level. Numerous sm.all shore birds were 

 seen in our trips alongshore. 



In 1909 our camp was made in two canons. Mos- 

 quito was used as the mess canon; the canon to the 

 north, or Camp Pinchot, as our sleeping quarters. In 

 the morning, as we went up and down, it was interest- 

 ing to note the tracks of birds and other animals. 

 Here a goat had come down to drink of the sea; a 

 gull had walked up to a dead seal; crab tracks, the 

 delicate imprints of a fox, and then all about the fine 

 traceries of the feet of stilts, wandering tattler, spotted 

 sandpiper, sno\vy plover, black turnstone, and many 

 more. The sands, and often the surface of the dunes 

 at the northwest end, were pages of books by which 

 the stroller with even a suspicion of bird lore could 

 guess at the story of the night. 



To the bird-lover these islands are very interesting, 

 as the birds which habitually live here have in some 

 instances changed in the struggle for existence, and 

 adapted themselves to the conditions which prevail. 



The story of bird migration along this coast is a 

 romance and a tragedy. Tvvice a year vast swarms of 

 birds migrate up and down. Minute humming-birds 

 go from South America to the Arctic Ocean. If caught 

 in an early southeaster in October they are borne out 

 to sea and find refuge on the various islands. I have 

 seen a flock of ducks at San Clemente in September 

 whirling about in the fog, doubtless lost and confused. 

 In Southern California the birds follow the mountain 



