42 



OEmTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-No. 3 



The California Guilleniot or Murre (LomvUi 

 troile. californica) is the commonest bird of the 

 islands. Many thousands of them are seen 

 every year on the Farralones in spite of the 

 relentless persecution of the egg-pickers, con- 

 tinued year after year since the early days of 

 California. Over thirty thousand dozen were 

 once gathered annually for the San Francisco 

 markets, but the eggs are now not held in such 

 higli esteem and a smaller number is gathered 

 than formerly. When hen's eggs came to Cali- 

 fornia around the Horn the "Farralone eggs" 

 were much sought after, some selling for as 

 n)uch as a dollar a dozen. 



When I arrived at the island I was filled with 

 astonishment at the vast number of guillemots, 

 gulls, puffins and other birds, which being dis- 

 turbed from their positions on the rocks by our 

 approach, flew into the air in masive flocks, and 

 created a perfect din by their startled cries. I 

 had been prepared to see a great many birds but 

 had never even in imagination, pictured such a 

 multitude of sea-fowl together as I then saw 

 around me. 



The California Guillemot {Lomvia troile caJL 

 furnica) lays its large pear-shaped egg on the 

 bare rocks in any position, and colonies of 

 them are to be seen sitting together, covering 

 their eggs. The guillemot are such clumsy 

 birds on land, and are so tame in the breeding 

 season, that they can often be caught alive by 

 hand. Their great enemy is the Western Gull, 

 (Larus occidentaJis) for the latter is a ruthless 

 l)irate and steals and eats the eggs of other 

 birds, especially the guillemot's, at every op- 

 portunity. A murre is sometimes attacked by 

 the gulls; one on each side, and so harassed 

 until one of the gulls gets the egg, which he 

 divides with his fellow pirate. 



The Westei-n Gull (Larus occidentalis) builds 

 its nest of dry weeds on the rocks, at any eleva- 

 tion, and deposits usually three eggs, some- 

 times but two. One gull will not eat the 

 eggs of another, but sometimes when its own 

 nest has been despoiled, it steals the eggs of its 

 neighbor. They are very fearless when in de- 

 fence of their nest, and swoop down with pierc- 

 ing cries close to the heads of those who come 

 near their nests. I found no other species of 

 gull nesting on the island. 



Another bird, rather common, is the Tufted 

 Puffin {Lunda cArrhata) , 'known on the island as 

 the Sea Parrot. They are probably the most 

 curious sea-bird on the coast. I was at a loss 

 to see why they had such large and powerful 

 beaks until one day an enraged bird covering 

 an egg, took firm hold of my finger and then I 



knew that with its big grooved bill as a weapon 

 of defence, the bird was a <langerous adversary, 

 even for man. They lay one lai-ge egg in a bur- 

 row or hole in the rock, in which are carelessly 

 scattered coarse Av\ weeds. They have their 

 favorite l)reeding places or rookeries, where 

 numbers await the diligent coll^^ctor; but he 

 must be a cool-headed climber, for many of the 

 eggs are laid in dangerous places and over three 

 hundred feet above the sea. 



Cassin's Auk {Ptycorhamphus aleiiticus) which 

 lays its bluish-white egg in a burrow like that 

 of the Puffin, is a nocturnal bird, and so is sel- 

 dom seen, except when pulled out of its hole 

 with an egg. Mingled with the incessant shrieks 

 of the gulls fli^ng in the moonlight overhead I 

 could hear their noisy, creeking notes nearly 

 every night. As many male auks as females 

 were found covering their single eggs, proving 

 that both birds take turns in incubating, as is 

 the case with the Comorants, Puffins and many 

 other sea-birds. 



The Pigeon Guillemots or Sea Pigeon (Uria 

 columbaj are graceful birds, and as they strong- 

 ly resemble, in certain particulars, both a Guil- 

 lemot and a Pigeon, are very well named. They 

 usually construct a round nest of small stones in 

 rocky cavity or concealed place under a boulder, 

 where two eggs are ordinarily deposited. It is 

 seldom that but one egg is laid. 



There are doubtless as many as a thousand 

 Rock Wrens (Salpinrtes absnletus) on South 

 Farralone, where they find many suitable plac- 

 es for their nests. I know of but one instance 

 where ten eggs were found in a nest, but the 

 number in a set is usually fi-om four to eight. 

 Often in one or two eggs in a set incubation is 

 quite far advanced while the rest are fresh. 

 The nests are not easily discovered, and even 

 with the pile of small rocks, with which the 

 Wren invariably decorate the neighborhood of 

 its nest, as a guide, I met with but few. 



I took a number of birds and eggs of the rare 

 Ashy Petrel {Cyorliorca humorhroa) and was in 

 nearly every case directed to the egg by the 

 pungent odor of the parent bird, which lay 

 coveiing its single delicate egg. The latter 

 were found in walls of stone, and in favorably 

 protected nooks among the rocks. The young 

 of the Ashy Petrel are covered with long slate- 

 colored down, which makes them appear larger 

 than the adult bird. 



Three species of Cormorants breed on the 

 Farralones : the Baird's {Fhalacrocorax violaceus 

 resplendens), Bnmdt'si (P penicillatus) and the 

 Farralone Cormorant. Baird's Cormorant lays 

 from three to five eggs in a quite compact nest, 



