The Farallon Cormorant 



rate of four or five feet 

 per annum, and the mes- 

 quites, now denuded of 

 leaves and minor twigs, 

 are reappearing in suc- 

 cessive ranks, below Mec- 

 ca. The Cormorants are 

 thus assured fresh and 

 not easily accessible nest- 

 ing sites every year. 



We found a thrifty 

 colony of some four hun- 

 dred pairs here in 1913. 

 Nest building had evi- 

 dently been begun not 

 later than the 10th of 

 January, while on the 

 31st of that month, 

 amidst much stir of traf- 

 fic, croakings, bellow- 

 ings, flappings, and lug- 

 ging of sticks, we found 

 about one-third of the 

 nests already occupied 

 by sitting birds. The 

 birds fled in a body upon 

 our approach (in a leaky 

 boat rescued from last 

 year's beach-line, a half- 

 mile inland, and duly 

 calked with collectors' cotton) ; but upon our promise of good behavior, 

 backed by consistent quietness, they ventured back by twos and threes 

 and small platoons. 



Your Shag is no ballet dancer. Water is her native element, and she 

 is not ungraceful in the air, but lighting on a sprangly mesquite bough 

 is a more difficult matter. As the contact is about to be made, the per- 

 former is convulsed with an agony of apprehension. The tail-brake is 

 set hard, the wings are back-firing, the splay feet are held tense, while 

 the acuteness of anxiety is most convincingly shown by the rigidity of 

 the hyoid apparatus which makes an acute angle in the throat. As 

 often as not, the bird misses her footing and scrambles madly, while her 

 disconcerted neighbors roar protest. 



Taken on the Salton S< 



Photo by the Author 



PUTTING ON THE BRAKES 



1947 



