A Trip to the Farallones, 



plunder. Ropes, to which the men 

 could cling as they advanced, were 

 secured to the rocks in the more peril- 

 ous places. The government has now 

 wisely put a stop to this traffic, which 

 was rapidly depleting this locality of its 

 sea birds. 



As we started off, following the 

 course of the eggers, the gulls were 

 by far the most conspicuous and noisy 

 birds seen. Their most common note 

 may be expressed by the syllables 

 quock'kuck'kuck-kuck^ uttered very rap- 

 idly in a low, guttural tone. Some- 

 times it was varied thus — kuck-kuck- 

 kuck-ka — the quality of tone being the 

 same as in the first instance. Fre- 

 quently a higher cry would be 

 heard which may be indicated by the 

 letters ki'-aa, with a strong accent on 

 the first syllable. Again, one would 

 utter a rattling, guttural cry, which 

 sounded like a man being throttled. 

 The young were quite common about 

 the rocks, white in color, spotted all 



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