68 



THm OOL.OOI8T. 



^C^Jj ^<^^ 



ing an island only to discover that no 



jagged, precipitous coast. 



landing was possible because of tbe 



One of the more interesting sights 

 was that encountered at one of the 

 islands forming the group called Los 

 Hermanos. Here the steep heights 

 were people by millions of tern, their 

 nests being so thick that it was im- 

 possible to walk around without tread- 

 ing upon their eggs. Their constant 

 cries rent the air, making a deafening 

 din, while their swooping bodies made 

 a dizzy cloud against the sun 



"It was on one of these islands that 

 Mr. Ferry battled his way to the peak 

 through the stubborn cactus. There, 

 hundreds of feet above the sea, with 

 no living object in sight but the birds, 

 he stood alone where probably no hu- 

 man foot had ever stepped before. 



"Then I suddenly felt the power of 

 loneliness," he said in speaking of the 

 experience. "The water about the is- 

 land was so deep that it had not been 

 possible to anchor, so the schooner 

 had put us off in a boat and was cruis- 

 ing about. I saw her in the distance, 

 heading away from me, and in that mo- 

 ment I was almost overpowered with 

 the terror of isolation. 



"Perhaps the most beautiful sight 

 we saw was a flock of flamingoes 

 early one morning. We knew of a 

 marshy cove where they were nesting, 

 and before sunrise we put out in the 

 boat and approached. As we neared 

 the spot the sun rose above the east- 

 ern horizon, staining the sky a deep 

 roseate hue. Just at that moment the 

 flock of flame-colored birds rose and 

 flitted across the sky, profiled against 

 the east." 



During the thirty days on board the 

 schooner Mr_ Ferry traveled some 1,- 

 200 miles, visiting the islands spread 

 from Curacoa to Margarita. The is- 

 lands visited were Bonaire, Aves, Las 

 Roques, Orchilla, Tortuga, Blanquilla, 



Los Hermanos, Los Testigos and Mar- 

 garita. 



Although the trip was shorter by 

 two months than was planned the mu- 

 seum authorities feel that it was un- 

 usually successful. 



The Western Winter Wren in Wash- 

 ington. 

 A number of my coi'respondents in 

 the eastern United States tell me the 

 Winter Wren (Olbiorchilus hiemalis) 

 spends the winter in their locality, but 

 that the nests have invariably escaped 

 detection. Therefore a few notes from 

 my personal experience covering 

 twelve years with the Western form 

 (Olbiorchilus hiemalis pacificus) may 

 possibly be of assistance as well as 

 interest. 



In the vicinity of Tacoma these little 

 wrens are fairly abundant at all seas- 

 ons of the year. They frequent much 

 the same locality in winter as they do 

 in summer, and we may be fairly safe 

 in considering them as resident where- 

 ever found. Their favorite resorts are 

 deep gulches at the bottom of which 

 runs a fresh water stream, or else we 

 may find them in some dark, heavily 

 timbered piece of woodland. As a 

 rule they prefer a rather wet locality, 

 but this is by no means essential; in- 

 deed I have found the nest on a dry 

 hillside at a long distance from water. 



With regard to their nesting sites, 

 I know of no other bird that can at 

 ail compare with this wren in archi- 

 tectural versality_ The nest may be 

 found almost anywhere from one to 

 twelve feet above the ground, so long 

 as it is in a suitable locality. Perhaps 

 fifty per cent of the nests I have seen 

 were built amongst the upturned roots 

 of some large fallen tree. A crevice 

 formed by some displaced rock is 

 smoothed out by the bird and a face- 

 wall of green moss and dead twigs 

 built completely over the opening. An 



