Sept, 1912 
NOTES FROM TODOS SANTOS ISLANDS 
189 
all after a bird was fairly launched. 'Slowly, as darkness approached, the pelicans 
left towards the north, singly or in twos and threes. 
Heteractitis incanus. Wandering Tattler. Lone birds were rather com- 
mon. 
Arenaria melanocephala. Black Turnstone. Present in small flocks. 
Haematopus frazari. Frazar Oystercatcher. Rather common and found 
usually together with the following in small flocks of from two to six individuals. 
Haematopus bachmani. Black Oystercatcher. Outnumbering the last 
about two to one. April 13 I met one of these birds flying north some six miles 
from the coast. 
Halixetus leucocephalus. There was a nest of this species, as there has 
been for a great many years, part way up a cliff with very much of an over- 
hang at the top. As far as I can ascertain no one has ever been able to see the 
inside of this nest. It probably contained eggs at this date, but I was told that a 
taxidermist who had visited the islands the week before had killed one bird and 
wounded the other. 
Falco peregrinus anatum. Duck Hawk. The resident pair did not seem 
to hunt in the immediate vicinity, but when foraging for food one would start 
out over the sea towards the northeast and be away about an hour and a half 
before returning with what I took to be a Cassin Auklet. This fact is another 
indication that no small pelagic birds breed here, for if such had been the case, 
the falcons would have done more patient waiting on the commanding promon- 
tories, as I have seen them do in other localities where the anklets breed. I 
found the nest of this pair April 16, situated on a “sugar loaf” three hundred 
feet above the sea. The four eggs, incubated two thirds, were placed in a small 
hollow formed by the birds, in the soil of a deep ledge, with no protection from 
above. The ascent was not by any means easy but was negotiated without the 
aid of a rope. This was the most graceful and fearless pair of Duck Hawks 
that I have ever seen. They paid not the slightest attention to me, in plain view 
below the nest, but when I approached with evil intent began tactics that made 
me thankful for my hat. Although they actually only brushed my head with 
their wings, this was enough, as both hands and feet were occupied in climbing. 
I watched one bird return to the nest with food on several occasions, and each 
time its mate flew to meet it with a great outcry, turning belly upwards in mid- 
flight to receive the food, too lightly and gracefully for description. Twice she 
let the morsel drop, purposely, I am convinced, tumbling and diving after it to 
recover herself and her meal fifty feet above the water. Again I saw one go 
headlong into a slow-moving flock of gulls just for the fun of surprising them, 
only to flee, shrilly screaming in mock fright before a pursuing Larus. 
Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. Osprey. But one pair of these birds were 
present, in possession of one of the five old nests. One of the birds was usually 
to be seen perched on the edge of the nest, but no eggs had as yet been deposited. 
Intermittently for several weeks preceding and succeeding this time, I was visit- 
ing points along the coast from twenty miles above to thirty miles below En- 
senada. In all I stopped at fifteen different places, making four round trips, 
and, in our boat, skirting within a couple of hundred yards of the shore between 
points. Several dozen old nests were encountered within this territory but not 
a single bird of this species did I see, with the exception of the above pair. I 
cannot account for this in any way, for the old nests prove that they were abund- 
ant at no distant date, and they are now subject to no more persecution than 
