Vol. xxxvin 



1020 



Fisher, In Memoriam: Lyman Belding. 39 



to prepare for the trip, but reluctantly gave up the voyage after 

 meeting several sealers back from the island who told him of the 

 withdrawal of the Mexican garrison and of the general unsatis- 

 factory condition there. 



He then went to the Cerros Island, the second objective, but it 

 was found quite destitute of birds. After a stay of twelve days he 

 went to Scammons Lagoon for the purpose of collecting on the main- 

 land, but the surf was so dangerous he did not try to land. It was 

 here that A. W. Anthony's schooner was wrecked in 1898. 



From this point Mr. Belding followed the coast northward, stop- 

 ping at Santa Rosalia and San Quentin Bays. It was a long dis- 

 tance from anchorage at the mouth of the Bay to the collecting 

 grounds, so that the results were disappointing to Mr. Belding. 

 On this trip he collected specimens of a cormorant which later was 

 named the lesser white crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax a. albo- 

 ciliatus) besides a new lizard or two on Cerros Island, and during 

 the latter part of the voyage secured a specimen of the then unde- 

 scribed Frazer's Oystercatcher (Hcematopus frazeri). At San 

 Quentin Bay he first secured a specimen of the bird that Mr. 

 Ridgway later named Passerculus beldingi, in his honor. 



The winters of 1881-82 and 1882-83 found him in the Cape region 

 of Lower California where he collected from La Paz to Cape San 

 Lucas, excepting December, 1882, and a part of April, 1883, when 

 he was at Guaymas. He enjoyed collecting in the Cape region, 

 though he endured severe hardships due to the scarcity of water in 

 that semi-desert area. 



He considered that he had made the mistake on the first trip, of 

 collecting too great a variety of things of which he knew little or 

 nothing, instead of confining his energies entirely to birds, thus 

 making a second trip unnecessary. In 1881, he took two nests and 

 eggs of Costa's Hummingbird at La Paz, the first eggs of the species 

 ever taken. He found San Jose del Cabo the best field in the low 

 country, and the Victoria Mountains the best in the higher parts. 

 He wondered why the sharp-eyed Xantus had not discovered Geo- 

 thlypis beldingi along the San Jose River where he spent much time, 

 and he doubted whether he was ever in the Victoria Mountains, or 

 he would have found Junco bairdi and other common birds of the 

 region. 



