The Farallon Cormorant 



is really not a conspicuous nesting site. The colony which occupies 

 the south exposure of the summit of Roundtop fluctuates in size from 

 year to year, having suffered severely of late from the depredations of 

 the Western Gulls. When I visited the place in May, 191 1 , it had dwindled 

 to about forty pairs. 



Since the desertion of the famous Seal Rocks, off Golden Gate Park, 

 by the Steller sea-lion, they have been occupied by a populous colony 

 of "Farallons." Scarcely a more conspicuous or instructive example 

 of the home life of sea-birds could be presented than is there afforded 

 to the countless throngs who visit the Cliff House every summer. In 

 particular, the nesting of 1915 was spectacular, and those tourists who 

 came provided with good binoculars needed no after sight of the excellent 

 habitat group prepared by Messrs. Rowley and Fair for the Museum of 

 the California Academy of Science. 



The Farallon Cormorant is even better known as a habitant and 

 visitant of interior waters than as a sea-bird. It occupies rookeries 

 in Tule Lake, Eagle Lake, Clear Lake (in Lake County), and along the 

 flooded banks of both the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. Most 

 notable, perhaps, is its occurrence on Salton Sea. The trough of the de- 

 pression formerly known as Salton Sink was occupied by a heavy growth of 

 mesquite. The great body of water formed by the overflow of the Colorado 

 River in 1905-1907, which attained a maximum depth of nearly a hundred 

 feet, overwhelmed this 1 forest, but the water is now subsiding at the 



Taken on the Sallon Sea 



Photo by the Author 



A FLEET OF SUBMARINES 



A CORMORANT RIDES VERY LOW ON THE WATER 



1946 



