Vol. XIV 
1897 General Notes. 205 
On the beach I found three nests containing one egg each; two nests 
containing two eggs each; three nests containing three eggs each; total 
thirty-five nests, two empty, one containing a chick, six containing one 
egg each, nine containing two eggs each, fifteen containing three eggs 
each, and one containing four eggs, and one dropped egg, — seventy-four 
eggs all told. 
The nests on the uplands were in almost every case placed near or at 
the base of the scattered boulders, and on the beach on the sea weed. 
The colony consisted of perhaps two hundred Terns, the majority 
Roseates; but as the Terns on the three islands all gathered over one 
when walking about the island, and others are off fishing, a correct 
estimate is impossible. As far as I could ascertain there were no Arctics 
(Sterna paradisea) breeding on the islands. 
The whole Weepecket colony, including the three islands, had therefore 
forty-two nests and eighty-nine eggs on them. 
In ‘The Auk,’ Vol. IX, 1892, page 226, in an article entitled ‘ Habits of 
the American Herring Gull (Larus argentatus smithsonianus) in New 
England,’ by Mr. George H. Mackay, there is an account of a nest of the 
Herring Gull having been found on the middle Weepecket Island, though 
I believe this record may be questioned. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Edward Sturtevant I was enabled to land 
on these islands. — REGINALD HEBER Howe, Jr., Longwood, Mass. 
The Nostrils of Young Cormorants.— Acting upon a suggestion 
recently made by Mr. Frederic A. Lucas (Auk, XIII, p. 172), I examined 
on July 16 a very large colony of Farallone Cormorants nesting on San 
Martin Island, Lower California, to ascertain, if possible, at what age 
the nostril becomes closed. 
This colony had been so often disturbed by the guano schooners that 
even at this late date many nests contained fresh eggs; while young 
birds, ranging from those but just hatched to nearly full grown, were 
found by thousands. 
In the newly hatched young, which were blind, the nostril was a mere 
slit, scarcely noticeable, but those a few days old showed a well devel- 
oped orifice, which exhibited no sign of closing in the largest young 
I could find, nearly as large as their parents, but not half fledged. 
As the Cormorants were driven from their nests a horde of screaming 
Western Gulls, which followed us all about the island, swooped down 
upon the nests carrying off eggs or young, as they might happen to 
contain. A preference was shown for squabs but a few days old, which 
were instantly swallowed whole. 
So great was the destruction caused by our presence that I withdrew 
from the nesting ground sooner than I otherwise would have done. 
At some distance from the Cormorant rookery I found a three-quarters 
grown Western Gull endeavoring to swallow a young Cormorant that 
had doubtless been brought by the old Gulls from some of the nests I 
had but just visited. —A. W. Antruony, Sanz Diego, Cal. 
