CALIFORNIA WATER BIRDS. 219 



quent numbers were therefore three and four, probably 

 the ordinary clutches. 



" Sardines "* were lying in little bunches near the 

 nests, apparently placed there as food for the birds that 

 were setting. 



The smell from the accumulated excrement was sick- 

 ening. The sides of the rock were so daubed that it 

 appeared to be white toward the top. Flies swarmed 

 about the rookery. 



It was not until I fired my gun that the brooding birds 

 began to desert their eggs. The Baird's Cormorants 

 were the first to go. Many of the Brandt's Cormorants 

 lingered on the edge of the rock while I walked about 

 among the nests, only a few steps away. Finally all were 

 driven to the water, where they formed a great raft. 

 They began to return as soon as I left the top of the 

 rock. 



The rookery at Seal Rocks was much larger than the 

 one at Pt. Carmel. The rocky islet upon which it was 

 located is considerably greater in size and much lower in 

 elevation than the Pt. Carmel islet. From the mainland, 

 less than a hundred yards distant, no nests were in sight, 

 all being on the side toward the ocean, hidden from view 

 by a sort of dividing ridge. The Del Monte drive passes 

 along the shore directly opposite the Rocks. It is a 

 much frequented roadway, and the summer visitors have 

 greatly persecuted the birds with firearms, forcing them 

 to seek shelter for their nests behind the protecting rock. 



My first visit to the rookery was made July '2d. As at 

 Pt. Carmel, a landing could be effected only on the shore 

 side of the islet. The resident population was composed 



* Dr. Charles H. Gilbert kindly identified the "sardines" taken from 

 the gullets of the Brandt's Cormorants during the summer of 1892. They 

 proved to be a species of Rock Cod — Sebastodes paucispinis. 



