300 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



shores are seen to be high and precipitous. A third 

 of a mile from it to the southwest is another small 

 island two hundred and fifty-seven feet high; and one- 

 fourth of a mile from the northwest end to the west 

 is a smaller one rising one hundred and twenty-five 

 feet. This island is almost bare in summer, with no 

 water, but after the winter rains grasses and other 

 verdure appear. It is an interesting place for the 

 bird-lover, as many sea birds, — for example, tufted 

 puffins, — nest here. Baird's cormorant lays here in 

 inaccessible places; and there are extensive rookeries 

 of Brandt's cormorant, just above the water-line at 

 the foot of the cliffs, as I found them at Santa Cruz. 

 The big filthy nests were so near the water that many 

 drowned young were seen. The black petrel doubtless 

 breeds here in the auklet burrows, and the Farallone 

 cormorant, the eggs being found on May 15. All the 

 gulls, the brown pelican, and the murrelets are found 

 on the little island, and the pigeon guillemot, according 

 to Mr. Gaylord, nests in the caves on the north side 

 of the island. One of the most interesting birds here 

 is Cassin's auklet, which I have caught in Avalon 

 Bay. The southwest side of the mesa from top to 

 summit, according to Gaylord, is crowded with their 

 burrows. The birds are not seen during the day, not 

 coming ashore until about eight o'clock at night. 

 There are no trees even by courtesy, but mourning 

 doves, bald eagles, horned larks, ravens, Western 

 meadow larks, house finches, Santa Barbara song 

 sparrows, myrtle warblers, magnolia warblers, Town- 

 send's warblers, hermit warblers, pileolated warblers, 

 rock wrens, and russet-backed thrushes were observed 

 here by Mr. Horace Gaylord on the Pasadena Academy 



