178 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIII 
advances I was able to make friends with two of the most devoted mothers, and I 
could pause unquestioned within two feet of either. 
Owing chiefly to depredations, nesting, at the time of our visit, May 21st, 
exhibited every stage from fresh eggs or empty nests to those containing 
young several da5^s old. Our own judicious conduct disappointed the gulls, who 
stood about expectantly, awaiting their turn. No general exodus occurred at 
any time, but it was easy to note losses due to Larine vigilance during our absences. 
Only one bird, which we called “the bride” , retained the earlier nuptial plumes. 
She was exceedingly wary, and her single egg having been abstracted by gulls, she 
and her mate deserted the colony outright. 
In striking contrast with their kindred, the White-crested Cormorants {P. a. 
cincinatiis) of the upper coasts, which invariably use sticks, these Farallon Shags 
employ only weeds and grass in nest construction. The chief ingredient is a coarse, 
yellow-flowered composite, known locally as Farallon Weed, and the resulting 
crater-shaped nest is not materially different from that of a Brandt Cormorant. 
11. Phalacrocorax penicillatus. Brandt Cormorant. Fortunately for them- 
selves these shags are exceedingly wary. It was only by stealth that the Academy 
staff could secure the necessary specimens for their group work, and a gun-shot 
always meant suspension of nest-building operations for a day or two thereafter. A 
few pairs occupied the old site on the northwestern slopes of Maintop, and a single 
egg was seen, May 21st; but the succeeding ten days witnessed a notable increase 
in their numbers. By June 1st they were all fairly at it, some 600 of them, and 
bound to succeed if not further molested. 
This colony evidently occupied, last season, the extreme western end of the 
island, in the vicinity of the “great arch”, as a number of wind-dried squab car- 
casses attested. Brandt Cormorants have no such strong local attachment as birds 
of the P. aiiritus group, and are quite ready to shift camp for prudential, or it may 
be for sanitary reasons. 
12. Phalacrocorax pelagicus resplendens. Baird Cormorant. These wiry 
little Shags were fairly well distributed along sufficient declivities throughout the 
West End. Nest-building was in progress at the time of our arrival, but no eggs 
rvere seen during our stay. 
13. Phalaropus fulicarius. Red Phalarope. A page from my note-book 
under date of May 25th may be of interest; 
“Oh, bring me a new dictionary! At least a dozen fresh-minted adjectives I 
require, caressives, diminutives, and felicitatives. Four Arctic emigrants, ticketed 
for waters in and about Peary’s Pole, have adopted me for their god; and there is 
nothing they will not do for me, save keep outside the minimum focal length 
(about 2/4 feet) of mj^ camera. Three Red Plialaropes, all females, I take 
it, although none of them is in highest plumage, and one Northern, also a female 
just under “high”, are pasturing at my feet in a brackish pool some twenty feet 
long, ten wide, and two deep. The waters of the pool teem with a minute red- 
dish crustacean (?), shaped like an ant, less than a thirty-second of an inch in 
length, and incredibly nimble. The insects progress by leaps, and are visible only 
at the moment of arrival. Yet these birds gobble them up one at a time with un- 
erring accuracy, and with a rapidity which is nothing short of marvelous. The 
Reds work habitually at the rate of five dabs per second, i. e. 300 a minute; while 
the Northern, with a longer beak and a much daintier motion, works only half as 
fast. The birds are fast livers and they void the cloaca at intervals of two or three 
minutes, roughly guessed. The excreta are chiefly of a vivid rose-red color with 
