hummer is always with us, building in the vines beside our window, feeding 

 from the blossoms in our hands, a veritable treasure of the household. In 

 summer our joys are increased by the coming of a still smaller treasure, 

 Allen's hummer. I should not be just to you did I not hold you till the 

 golden dusk trembles with the strangely plaintive song of the golden- 

 crowned sparrow. 



THE GREATEST BIRD ROOKERY IN 



THE WEST 



MILTON S. RAT 



FEW people are aware perhaps that but thirty miles from that busy 

 metropolis, San Francisco, lies one of the greatest bird rookeries in 

 the world, that of the Farallon Islands. The sea-birds which make 

 these isles their summer home are the following: California murre, 

 western gull, Farallon cormorant, Brandt cormorant, Baird cormorant, 

 tufted puffin, Cassin auklet, pigeon guillemot. Leach petrel, and ashy petrel, 

 while the land-birds are limited to the rock-wren and house-finch. The 

 murre not only outnumbers all other species on the islands, but all of them 

 combined. The largest rookeries on the main island are in Great Murre 

 Cave and at Tower Point, on East End, on the rocky shelves and terraces 

 below l^ain Top Peak, and on the dizzy sides from sea to summit of the 

 Great Arch on West End. The birds also breed abundantly all along the 

 ridge and in numberless grottoes along the shore, while the surrounding 

 islets are covered with them in countless thousands. 



Great Murre Cave, which runs in from the ocean on Shubrick Point, 

 with its vast bird population, is a wonder to behold. All ledges and projec- 

 tions, as well as the cave floor, were murre-covered, and on our approach 

 the great colony became a scene of animation, with a vast nodding of dusky 

 heads and a ringing concert of gurgling cries. The birds, at first in tens, 

 and then in twenties, flew out, or, by sprawling and flapping over the rocks 

 and into the foaming surf, gained the open sea. Some were terribly thrown 

 about in the breakers, but apparently received little injury. On our entrance 

 the main body took flight with a mighty roar of wings, and so close did 

 they fill the cave that it behooved us to get behind boulders for safety. 

 Many birds still remained in the cave, retreating deep into the branching 

 recesses, or sheeplike huddled into the corners, where they could be picked 

 up by the hand. The multitudes which took wing would wait, scattered 

 over the water about a quarter of a mile from shore, until the commotion 

 was over, and would then come trooping back to the cave. 



The two species of petrel and the Cassin auklet, while very interesting 

 types of bird life, are more or less nocturnal in their habits, and one might 

 visit the islands and never become aware of their presence. For lack of 

 space, that curious bird, the puffin, and the pigeon guillemot also, must be 

 fiassed. 



No visit to the islands would be complete, however, without seeing the 

 great cormorant colonies. The cormorant is that jet-colored bird with a 

 long neck which usually goes by the name of "coot." As stated, three 

 varieties, easily distinguished, breed on the islands. Brandt's cormorant, 

 the largest variety, is also the commonest. We gained our first view of the 

 rookery on West End when we crossed the ridge on the morning of May 

 30th. Right below us, with scarcely foot-space between the nests, was the 

 great city of cormorants. I counted one hundred and fifty-six nests, and 

 on June 3d they had increased to one hundred and eighty-seven, and they 

 were still building. The weeds that trail over the rocks form most of the 

 nest material, and these becoming more or less dry by the end of May are 

 easily detached by the birds. 



7 



