6o 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



THE STORMY PETREL. 



A thousand uiiles from land are we, 

 Tossing aljout on the stormy sea — 



From billow to Ijounding billow cast, 



Like fleec}- snow on the stormy blast. 

 The sails are scattered abroad like weeds, 

 The strong masts shake like ([uivering reeds; 



The mighty cables and iron chains. 



The hull — which all earthly strength disdains — 

 They strain and they crack, and hearts like stone 

 Their natural, hard, proud strength disown. 



Up and down! — up and down! 



For them base of the wave to the billow's crown, 



And amidst the flashing and feathery foam 



The Stormy Petrel finds a home, — 

 A home, if such a place niav be 

 For her who lives on the wide, wide sea. 



On the craggy ice, in the frozen air, 



.\nd only seeketh her rocky lair 

 To warn her young and teach them to spring 

 At once o'er the waves on their stormy wing! 



O'ef the deep! — o'er the deep! 



Where the whale and the shark and the sword fish 

 sleep — 



Out-flying the blast and the driving rain. 



The petrel telleth her tale — in vain; 

 For the mariner curseth the warning bird 

 Which bringeth him news of the storm unheard! 



Ah! thus does the prophet of good or ill 



Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still; 

 Yet he ne'er falters — so, petrel spring 

 Once more o'er the waves on thy stormy wing! 



Barry Cornwai^i^, in Old Magazine. 



The Farallons in 1856. 



THIv Ornithologist who has visited the 

 Farallon Islands never tires of telling 

 of the wonders of its bird-life in the 

 breeding season, glimpses of memorys' 

 pictures which are startlingly vivid and 

 never to be forgotten. Although much 

 has been written from the Ornithologists' 

 and collectors' standpoints of this interest- 

 ing group of picturesque rooks in the sea, 

 (for there is nothing there but rock, piled 

 up by volcanic action into forms grotesque) 

 still the subject is not stale, nor is it likely 

 to prove unprofitable. 



The half-tone illustrations, from photo- 

 graphs, which embellish this article, are 

 probably sui)erior in their way to any that 

 have yet a])peared in descriptions of the 

 Farallons and their bird-life. The photo- 

 graph of the Murre rookery is one of 

 striking interest, and reveals more than 

 could be told in many words, of this great 



summer home of myriads of sea fowl. In 

 this small picture the reader may count 

 over 600 California Murres and Cormorants 

 with the unaided eye. An admirable pho- 

 tograph is shown of a grotip of monster 

 sea lions, illustrating also the topography 

 of the lower portions of vSouth Farallon; 

 while in another view the reader is intro- 

 duced to "Sugar Loaf," on whose steep 

 crags and rounded top thousand."^ of Murres, 

 Gulls and Cormorants congregate to lay 

 their eggs. The casual egg collector who 

 visits the island never attempts to disturb 

 the birds on this great foam washed rock. 

 They are never molested save, occasionally, 

 by the intrepid "egg pickers," who scale 

 Sugar Loaf with ropes to collect the Mtirres' 

 eggs for the San Francisco market. Here 

 one of their number, a few years ago, fell 

 into the sea and lost his life in a daring 

 climb. 



In "Hutching'^. California Magazine," 

 for August, 1856, appears a qtiaint account 

 of a visit to the Farallon Islands, and as it 

 has an added interest as being, perhaps, 

 the first account of the bird-life on the 

 Farallons, I quote liberally from the article. 



"The Farallones is the name of the 

 rocky islands lying in the Pacific Ocean, 

 about twenty-seven miles west of the 

 Golden Gate, and thirty miles from San 

 Francisco. These islands have become of 

 some importance, and of considerable in- 

 terest on account of the vast quantity of 

 eggs that are there annttally gathered, for 

 the California market; these eggs having 

 become an almost indispensable article of 

 spring and summer consumption to many 

 persons. 



"By courtesy of the Farollone Egg Com- 

 pany, through their president. Captain 

 Richardson, the schooner Louise was 

 placed at our service, and, in company with 

 a small party of friends, we were soon upon 

 the deep green brine, plowing our way to 

 these 'Isles of the Ocean.' 



"To the dwellers of an inland city there 

 is music in the ever restless waves, as they 



