THE BIRDS OF THE ISLANDS 165 



ranges and the coast lines, and many are the bird trag- 

 edies before the winter or summer Hmit is attained. 



I am confident that nearly the same birds are found 

 at the different islands, though San Nicolas, being so 

 far offshore, is the most neglected; but any one who 

 has been at sea remembers the numbers of birds which 

 alight on vessels many miles from shore. Santa Cata- 

 lina particularly has a large concourse of birds — all 

 those of San Clemente, and many more. In winter 

 the sea birds are particularly plentiful; auklets, puffins, 

 pehcans, grebes, murrelets, and loons are often seen 

 together, some following up the large schools of sar- 

 dines. The extraordinary dives these loons make are 

 interesting. I have often seen them swimming along 

 the bottom of Avalon Bay, through the window of 

 a glass-bottomed boat, the bird apparently fifty feet 

 down. The parasitic jseger is an interesting bird, seen 

 at times here and at the Santa Barbara group, where 

 all the gulls, six or seven varieties, are found. 



At Santa Catalina, Anacapa, and Santa Cruz the 

 royal tern is one of the most attractive birds in winter, 

 graceful and picturesque. The least tern is common. 

 This charming bird once nested at Santa Monica, and 

 I found its eggs in nests made of the little shell donax. 

 The black-footed and the short-tailed albatross are 

 seen at all the islands at times, but are not common, 

 and I have seen the man-of-war bird at Avalon. At 

 Santa Cruz and Anacapa the cormorants breed. On 

 Anacapa in spring there is a vast roost of brown peli- 

 cans; they also nest at the Coronado Islands. Ducks 

 are not common at the islands as there are no lagunas; 

 but I have seen flocks of geese, ducks, and even white 

 pelicans at Santa Cruz. At Santa Barbara, Larco, a 



