A Trip to the Farallones, 



erect and their heads held high. The 

 extreme toughness of the egg insures it 

 against harm upon the naked rock, and 

 the striking diversity in markings, I 

 suspect, aids the mother bird in distin- 

 guishing her treasure from that of her 

 neighbor. The eggs are extremely 

 pointed, thus lessening the danger of 

 their rolling off the cliifs, and they are 

 most commonly colored a pale sea green, 

 variously marked, splashed and scrawled 

 with black and brown. 



Three species of cormorants breed 

 upon the Farallones, the commonest 

 being Brandt's, which nests in large 

 colonies. It may be known by the 

 peculiar white, stijff growth of feathers 

 on the sides of the neck, in strong con- 

 trast to the iridescent greenish or bluish- 

 black plumage. Baird's cormorant is 

 much smaller than Brandt's, and the 

 iridescent effect of the plumage is much 

 more lustrous. There is also a patch 

 of white on the flanks which serves as 

 a distinguishing mark, and two crests, 

 80 



