166 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



fisherman, had for years a tame white peHcan. The 

 bird would leave at the mating season and return. 

 If I am not mistaken he still has this singular pet. 

 Nearly all the ducks of the East are found on the main- 

 land coast. I once saw a wood duck at Santa Cruz, 

 and the American egret and the snowy heron. Birds 

 following up the coast would be much more likely to 

 arrive at the Santa Barbara Islands than at Santa 

 Catalina. The number of shore birds — sanderlings, 

 godwits, sandpipers, and snipes — found along the 

 sandy beaches is remarkable. But the most ex- 

 traordinary bird aggregation I have seen was at the 

 islands off Sonora, Mexico, where every yard had its 

 birds. 



The wandering tattler is common at all the islands, 

 and at Santa Cruz I saw a curlew — another visitant. 

 On all the islands the mourning dove is found, and the 

 great band-tailed pigeon, which I have often seen on 

 the mesa after a snow-storm in the mountains, is seen 

 at times at Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa. A number 

 of small hawks occur at the various islands, and the 

 belted kingfisher is common. 



If a careful list of the small birds seen in one year 

 at Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa were 

 made, it would be a large one and would include 

 many of the small birds of the adjacent mainland, as 

 kingbirds, flycatchers, phoebes; Costa's, Anna's, rufous, 

 Allen's, and calHope humming-birds; shrikes, bluebirds, 

 swallows, wrens, warblers, and others. At times, in 

 summer, the islands stand out with such distinctness 

 that they offer alluring resorts for birds. Again the 

 severe sand-storms may blow birds offshore, and the 

 heavy southeasters doubtless send many to sea. And 



