SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF EXPLORATIONS BY THE U. S. FISH 

 COMMISSION STEAMER ALBATROSS. 



[Published by permission of Hon. Marshall McDonald, Commissioner of Fisheries.] 



NO. XIV.— BIRDS FROM THE COASTS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA 

 AND ADJACENT ISLANDS, COLLECTED IN 1888-'89, WITH DESCRIPTIONS 

 OF NEW SPECIES. 



BY 



Chas. H. Townsend, 



Resident N'atumlist of the Steamer Albatross. 



During the cruise of the Albatross from San Francisco to the Gulf of 

 California, in the winter of 1889, anchorages were made at many islands 

 off Upper and Lower California. Although these calls were for the 

 l)uri)ose of drawing seines along the beaches, or conducting other 

 fishery investigations, valuable specimens of plants and land animals 

 w^ero usually secured. The islands at which collections were made 

 are: San Clemente, San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Kosa, and 

 Santa Cruz, off California, and Guadaloupe, Cerros, Clarion, Socorro, 

 San Benedicte, Carmen, George, and Angel Guardia, off" Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Collections were also made at many places on the main-land. 

 The naval officers attached to the vessel rendered valuable assistance 

 to the naturalists in these gatherings, and the sailors when granted 

 shore liberty and furnished with collecting outfits seldom failed to 

 return well laden. BYequently more specimens were brought on board 

 than the naturalists found time to preserve, as they were employed in 

 caring for the fishes and other marine specimens yielded from the regu- 

 lar dredging and fishing operations. 



The islands of the Santa Barbara group have hitherto been very 

 imperfectly explored with regard to their fauna. Clarion and San 

 Benedicte Islands, of the Rcvillagigedo group, had never before been 

 visited by naturalists. Socorro, an island of the game group, and one 

 abounding in peculiar apecies of vertebrates, had not been visited 

 since the type opecimens were collected by Grayson, about the year 

 1870. The flora cfaL the Rcvillagigedo Islands is practically unknown, 

 as the Albatross brought back only a small collection of flowering 

 plants. 



A rich field awaits the naturalist who can explore these islands 

 carefully. A large snake inhabits Clarion Island, but I was unable to 

 secure the single specimen I saw. 



Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII — No. 799. 



