138 
Vol. XIII 
FROM riFLD AND STUDT 
Some Diving Notes on Cormorants. — On June 12, 1910, while collecting along a stretch 
of rocky coast line in a twenty foot skiff, with Joe Francisco, my boatman, I took some interest, 
ing notes on the diving of the Brandt Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) , and Baird Cor- 
morant (Plialacrocorax pelagicus resplendens) . 
We were one and one-half miles southwest from Trinidad, Humboldt Count}', California, 
and about one-half mile off shore. Mr. Francisco had set a net the night before, near a blind 
rock and in twenty fathoms of water. We were taking in the net when a Brandt Cormorant 
came to the surface in its meshes, then a second one and a third. Although the Baird Cormor- 
ants were common ever 3 -whcre on the ocean, there were none in the net. On closely qaiestion- 
ing the fisherman, he informed me Brandt Cormorants were caught almost daily in from five to 
thirty fathoms of water, while using the deep water nets, but were never taken in over forty 
fathoms of water; while the Baird Cormorant, (Iliad taught him the difference between the two 
species), were often taken in as much as eighty fathoms of water. 
1 saw several Baird Cormorants rise to the surface of the water with pieces of kelp in their 
bills, in places where Joe informed me the water was over eighty fathoms deep. Brandt Cor- 
morants were not seen far off shore, though they were common amongst the rocks near shore. 
Is it a superiority in diving, or a desire to obtain a certain kind of food that prompts the Baird 
Cormorants to go down deeper than Brandt Cormorants, while on their feeding grounds? — C. 1. 
Cl.\y. 
The Black Duck in California. — The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of 
California is the recipient of a specimen of the Black Duck (Anas rubripes) . It is evidently a 
female, though the sex was not recorded from dissection, and is excellently mounted. It was 
transmitted to the Museum by Mr. Vernon Shepherd, a taxidermist of ,San Francisco, who re- 
ceiveil the bird from a hunter by the name of Spooner, who shot it at Willows, (Ilenn County, 
California, February 1 , 1911 . The specimen is Xo. 17198 of the Museum’s department of birds. 
— _I. ('Trinnell. 
Golden Eagle and Dog. — The following eagle story was told to me b}' Mr. A. J. Xevrau- 
mont, of the California .Seed Co., .San Francisco, California, and both l\Ir. Xevraumont and his 
brother-in-law, who was with him at the time, are willing to take their oaths that it is true in 
every detail. And I might say parenthetically that they trust me implicitly to get the details 
straight. And I hope I do. 
On Christmas day, 1909, Mr. Xevraumont and his brother-in-law took a walk in the red- 
wood grove near San Rafael, Marin County, California, and had with them a small white ilog. 
As they were strolling along, enjoying the balmy softness of a California Christmas among the 
beautiful evergreen redwood trees they were startled by the soxind of rushing wings, and saw 
that an eagle was swooping down from some point of vantage upon the white dog. As the bird 
descended it touched a deail branch which broke off and came down on top of it just as it struck 
at the little ilog. The branch was so heavy and the blow from it was so great that the eagle 
was partially stunned, aiul Mr. Xevraumont managed to jump on the bird and save his dog 
from harm. He killed the eagle with a club, and showed it to several people. If he had known 
at the time that 1113 ' brother and I were interested in birds he would have presented it to iis, he 
sa 3 's, but being ignorant of our especial hobby he naturall}' did not do .so. From his description 
it must have been a Golden Eagle. I have seen this species on rare occasions in this count}', but 
never in the vicinit}' of .San Rafael. — Joseph MAiEEi.'tRD. 
A Method of Tree Climbing. — Collecting a set of four Pileated Woodpecker’s eggs from a 
stump five feet in diameter at the base; nest forty-five feet from the ground. 
First a rod of one-foiirth inch iron, thirteen feet long is bent as shown at a b c, Fig. 1, with 
loops at a, b, and c, and laid on the groimd around the tree. 
Second, a five-eighths inch rope twenty-five feet long, shown by d e, Fig. 1, wound spirall}- 
around the iron rod as shown, and with a loop at /, about six feet from end d, also laid on the 
ground. 
Third, six feet of clothes line tied around the waist ( ^Fig. 1.) and to the loops a and <: of 
the iron rod. 
The rope end d is carried around the body and fastened to the loop / with an}' suitable knot' 
and again at li as shown in B'ig. 2. The end e is also passed around the body and fastened at g, 
the knots at g and li being made as shown in Fig. 3. As the tree becomes smaller, while being 
ascended, the loop o, (Fig. 3) has to be shifted from h to h' and h" etc., (Fig. 2) the slack rope 
being taken up at (B'ig. 2) by pushing the part m through the loop o and pulling the end n 
