238 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



numbers. Here are shrikes, butcher-birds, robins, and 

 we may perchance catch a gUmpse of the white- 

 booted, racket-tailed humming-bird, and others of its 

 kind, darting from flower to flower. Flocks of dove 

 and quail rise as we approach, showing this upland 

 region to be a rare field for the sportsman. The caiion 

 widens out at the centre, then becomes narrow again, 

 descending through the rocks to the sea on the south 

 coast, through a delightful region, ending in a sandy 

 beach. Half-way down is a little hamlet, with peach 

 trees gnarled and ancient, planted by some unknown 

 settler, where lunch is enjoyed, and where the goat 

 and quail hunters often make their headquarters. 



This mountain island is attractive to the botanist. 

 Over four hundred different plants are found here, — ■ 

 many that are rare on the mainland, and some unique. 

 Here Mrs. Wheeler, now the curator of the Chamber 

 of Commerce exhibit in Los Angeles, studied and 

 entertained noted botanists, and added much to the 

 sum of botanical knowledge, no one having truer sym- 

 pathy with the island life. Professor T. J. Brandegee 

 also studied and investigated here, stating that the 

 islands, from the remarkable rarity of their flora, re- 

 minded him of some Atlantis. Professor Brandegee 

 made a list of the plants of the island, noting five hun- 

 dred and twelve species, twenty-six of which have not 

 been seen on the mainland, twelve of the latter being 

 known only on the islands of Lower California. 



One of the unique plants on Santa Catalina is a 

 dogwood, discovered by Mr. Pofley, which bears his 

 name (Cornus polleyii). He also discovered here the 

 five-leaved oak {Rhus diversiloba), and the California 

 holly {Heteromeles arbutifolia), from which is made the 



