'SO 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



upper and lower basins of the lake. It formed 

 a background for the forest and the rookery, 

 and overlooked the whole country there. This 

 prominent peak is the old volcano, Mount Ko- 

 nocti, so well known as " Uncle Sam," and 

 spoken of by Bayard Taylor as one of the finest 

 points of sight in the world. We landed on 

 a gravelly beach (the only one for several 

 miles), among some willow bushes and poplar 

 trees. 



A number of Cormorants fluttered excitedly 

 from the poplars and flew away in a frightened 

 manner. Under these trees we found pieces 

 of carp that the birds had dropped, and the 

 whole place had a vile smell. About two hun- 

 dred yards beyond us were two trees covered 

 with Cormorants. Both of these trees stood 

 apart from the great body of the forest, and one 

 of them was dead, only the trunk remaining, and 

 that, though bleached, was charred deeply on one 

 side. 



The other had some bunches of leaves about 

 the body and a few more trailing from the ends 

 of some branches, but the upper parts were 

 white, seemingly dead, but really covered with 

 the limy excrement of the birds. 



South of these trees, in the edge of the for- 

 ests, were several others containing nests, but 

 none having the bare appearance of the two de- 

 scribed. There were probably a hundred nests 

 in this rookery, all built in the very highest 

 places in the trees. I found no nest lower than 

 seventy-five feet from the ground, while the 

 average height was about eighty feet. These 

 measurements were made with a tapeline from 

 the tree top. One tree, which contained a few 

 nests, looked to be considerably over a hundred 

 feet high, though I did not climb it to verify 

 my estimate. 



As we approached we could hear the birds 

 making a sound almost identical with the bark 

 of the sea lion, though not so loud. 



Before we got up to the trees most of the 

 birds left the nests, but returned soon. We 

 brought down a few specimens with a rifle and 

 found them not altogether homely. The white 

 nuptial crests, which distinguish this species 

 from P. dilophus^ were quite prominent. One 

 bird, on being winged, fought vigorously, snap- 

 ping at sticks with his strong-hooked beak until 

 dispatched. 



Of the two trees described, the dead one con- 

 tained a single nest, and the other one nineteen. 

 As I climbed the latter tree all the Cormorants 

 left their nests and perches and went wheeling 

 about until I descended, when they immediately 

 settled down on their empty nests, seemingly as 

 contented as ever. Of the nineteen nests in this 

 tree all but one contained complete sets of 

 eggs, the usual number being four, though sets 



of three and of five were common. All of the 

 sets were incubated slightly, although not 

 enough to cause trouble in the blowing. 



The nests were solid, well-built affairs, hav- 

 ing a width of from fifteen to twenty inches, 

 and a depth of about six or eight inches. They 

 were built of oak twigs and the stalks of marsh 

 weeds as a base (some of the oak twigs having 

 leaves on them), and dead tules and other 

 green weeds from the lake for a lining. Some 

 had a further lining of green oak leaves. The 

 birds continue to put on nest materials after the 

 eggs are laid. Some birds could be seen flying 

 around with great ribbon-like tules streaming 

 from their bills. 



The egg of the Cormorant is too ^yell known 

 to need description beyond a few measurements, 

 but one thing I found peculiar about these eggs. 

 Those taken on April 29 were very dirty, while 

 the ones taken from the same nests three weeks 

 later, though in about the same stage of incuba- 

 tion, were remarkably clean. Of thirty speci- 

 mens measured the average is 2.55x1.54 

 inches. One large set measured 2.64x1.62, 

 2.75x1.62, 2.74x1.60, 2.73x1.60. The smallest 

 set measured averaged 2.50x1.50, while one egg 

 of another set was 2.30x1.50. I found, much 

 to my discomfort, an army of ants climbing the 

 tree. They were after the bits of fish the birds 

 had dropped. Masses of fish were lying about 

 that looked as if they had been chewed by the 

 birds and then dropped. 



Under the trees were pieces of carp dropped 

 from above. Some pieces were from fish that 

 rnust have been fifteen inches long. The carp 

 constitutes probably the sole food of these Cor- 

 morants. They are easily taken by them for 

 they run up by thousands into the tules, where 

 they can be heard making a queer sucking 

 noise as they feed on the vegetation. 



There is at least one more large rookery of 

 Cormorants on this lake. On the south side of 

 the " Narrows," the channel connecting the 

 upper and lower portions of the lake, I discov- 

 ered an immense rookery in the low pines situ- 

 ated on a low slope at the water's edge. This 

 rookery occupies a place half a mile long. I 

 merely saw it, as I was with an excursion party 

 going round the lake. 



CORYDON ChAMBERLIN. 



San Jose, September 5, 1895. 



We have been reading an editorial in one of our 06- 

 logical exclianges, and lilie ArtemusWard, when Mark 

 Twain gave him his famous description of the work- 

 ings of a mine, we know less at the end than at the 

 beginning. It seems to be dogmatical and categori- 

 cal, but by all the dogs and cats in Christendom it is a 

 puzzler! It's all Greek to us, though to others it may 

 be Latin. 



