178 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



out on the ocean, however, produce quite heavy seas at 

 times, necessitating some skill in the management of a 

 row-boat when there is a strong breeze. The tides are 

 not an obstacle. There is no wind during the forenoon 

 until after nine o'clock, when a breeze usually springs 

 up. The fishermen take advantage of this wind, and at 

 midday the fleet stands in to the land. The curious palm 

 sails of the Chinese and the lateen sails of the Italians 

 give a picturesqueness to the scene, transporting the ob- 

 server in imagination to far-distant countries. 



The observations recorded on the following pages were 

 made during the summers of 1892 and 1894; the first 

 season covering the interval between June 20th and Au- 

 gust 23d, and the second season between June 15th and 

 August 28th. In June and July of 1892 my attention 

 was partly directed to the land birds, but in 1894 ™y 

 whole time was devoted to the water birds, and I was 

 therefore able not only to verify but to extend the ob- 

 servations of the first season. 



In 1892 I confined my efforts, so far as the water birds 

 were concerned, chiefly to the bay, but in 1894 my work 

 was carried on mainly on the ocean proper. The Hop- 

 kins Seaside Laboratory at Pacific Grove was my base 

 of operations both seasons. The directors — Dr. Charles 

 H. Gilbert and Dr. O. P. Jenkins — courteously placed at 

 my disposal one of the rooms of the laboratory, where I 

 prepared my specimens. Each morning I had my boat- 

 man row out to the ocean to a whistle buoy anchored in 

 deep water about a third of a mile northwest from the 

 outlying rocks at Pt. Pinos. Here I would spend an 

 hour or two watching migratory birds round the Point. 

 Afterward I would move down the coast in the boat, 

 sometimes nearly as far as Pt. Cypress, or go out from 

 three to ten miles from land, usually returning to the Sea- 



