The Farallon Cormorant 



really are, for fear of drawing down the wrath of our Italian friends who 

 have (upon what grounds I know not) arrogated to themselves the right 

 to all the fishes which swim in the sea. But here is a concrete example 

 from foreign waters. Mr. Howard W. Wright, visiting San Martir 

 Island, off the coast of Lower California, in July, 1913, estimated its shag 

 population (chiefly P. a. albociliatus) at 1,800,000, allowing three young 



to each pair of adults. 1 

 ^i^r, .,. — jj "We became very much 



interested in estimating 

 the amount of fish these 

 birds consumed per day. 

 We noted the amount 

 each young cormorant 

 threw up when molested, 

 and found on several 

 occasions a bunch of fish 

 as big as a man's two 

 fists. This mass was 

 generally composed of 

 surf-fish, smelt and sar- 

 dines. I have heard 

 other estimates of from 

 three to six sardines a 

 day for a cormorant, so 

 I consider a half pound 

 of fish a day very con- 

 servative [undoubtedly 

 too conservative — a 

 pound a day would be 

 nearer right, would it 

 not?]. Allowing half a 

 pound of fish a day for 

 each of 1,800,000 birds, 

 the entire population 

 would consume about 

 four hundred tons a day, 

 or about ten thousand 

 tons a month ! The fishing was done in San Quentin Bay exclusively, 

 but in that bay and in Hassler's Cove, on the island, fish were found 

 very plentiful, and always hungry, showing that the birds do not 

 seriously lessen the number of fish." 



1 Reported by Mr. Wright in "The Condor," Vol. XV., Noy., 1013, pp. 207-210. 

 I940 



Taken on Anacapa Island 



Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



NEST AND EGGS OF FARALLON CORMORANT 



