VOl i906 in ] Bailey, Notes on Birds of Western Mexico. 369 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM WESTERN 

 MEXICO AND THE TRES MARIAS AND ISA- 

 BELLA ISLANDS. 



BY H. H. BAILEY. 



Having heard from my friend, the late Walter E. Bryant, of a 

 number of business propositions in his section (Western Mexico) 

 I decided to take a trip down and look them over and also do a 

 little collecting. After a hasty gathering together of things for the 

 trip I sailed for San Bias, Mexico, February 11, 1905, on the Pacific 

 Mail Steamer 'City of Sydney,' and arrived at Mazatlan February 

 17. Mazatlan and the Tres Marias Islands were of particular 

 interest to me from an ornithological standpoint. It was here 

 that the well known ornithologist, the late Col. A. J. Grayson, 

 collected, and later published the first information regarding the 

 ornithology of the Tres Marias Islands and Isabella Island, all of 

 which I hoped to visit before returning to the States. 



The rocks forming part of the harbor entrance of Mazatlan, 

 with a number of others lying to the north of it, were covered with 

 Heermann's and Western Gulls and California Brown Pelicans, 

 while numbers of boobies, which I afterwards found to be the 

 Blue-footed Booby, were fishing in a little channel forming a slight 

 break in the north side of the harbor proper. A full day was spent 

 here while the steamer took on and discharged cargo, and from an 

 old darky boatman that spoke English, I learned that it was easier 

 to get to Isabella Island from San Bias than from Mazatlan. 

 Isabella Island was passed on the way down to San Bias, which 

 was reached the next day, February 19. The steamer anchored 

 about two miles off shore, which was reached by a small twenty- 

 foot boat run by the natives. From a native who spoke a little 

 English, I learned that the Plateno Rancho and Don Walterio, as 

 they called Mr. Bryant, were ten miles away, across a small bay, 

 reached in a ten-foot dugout or canoe. So, after some trouble in 

 finding a man to take me over, I bundled my luggage into a canoe 

 and set sail. On arrival at the ranch landing, some two hours 

 later, I found one of the fiercest looking crowds lined up to greet 



