276 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



to sea-birds, which hypothesis was strengthened by my 

 hearing a far greater number of these night-fliers nlong the 

 beach than on the top of the island, where the dead one was 

 found. In the afternoon on which I left the island, large 

 flocks of Shearwaters were seen a few miles from shore, all 

 of which were on the wing, not much above the waves. 

 Some or all may have been of this species. 'As the schooner 

 neared Los Coronados Islands (about twenty miles south- 

 west of San Diego), large flocks were seen on the water but 

 rose long before the boat reached them. 



3. Oceanodroma leucorhoa, 



LEACH'S PETBEL. In the latter part of January, I was 

 encamped for a few days upon a narrow shelf of rock below 

 the top of a steep hillside, which formed a quiet lee where 

 some slight protection could be had against the gale. No 

 ornithological work was possible, and nothing could be 

 done for the three days of the storm's continuance but to 

 hug the camp fire. At midnight of the last day, my com- 

 panion awakened me to announce that some " little owls" 

 were flying about. Every few minutes a bird would pass 

 the small circle of light or hover for an instant in the glow 

 above the fire, while from the enveloping darkness their 

 calls and replies could be clearly heard. There seemed to 

 be four or five close by, but so quick were they in their 

 movements, with flight as erratic as that of a bat, that I 

 found it impossible to shoot them. The next night, I set a 

 steel trap, but the bait, consisting of a Junco, remained un- 

 touched. The birds came about my camp only on the 

 darkest nights or, if any were flying during moonlight, they 

 were entirely silent. After the setting of the moon, how- 

 ever, even though as late as four o'clock in the morning, 

 they would make their appearance with their peculiar call. 

 The note I find hard to describe; perhaps I may best char- 

 acterize it by saying that they seemed to call hurriedly, 

 "here's-a-letter," " here's-a-letter," and tb^u from the dark- 



