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Volume VI January-Febr-uary, Number 1 
Bird Life among the Galapagos Islands 
BY R. H. BECK 
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOIIRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 
W HILE looking at the chart today to see how far we were from San Fran- 
cisco I happened to compare our position, Latitude 19° 24' N., Long. 
116° 12' W., with that of last year on the 19th of July and found that 
we were within five miles of our noon position on that date. We were then re- 
turning from the Galapagos Islands and the word Galapagos brought to mind a 
half promise I had made (wasn’t it last January?) that some day when not too busy 
I would write a note or two about the trip. Today I can hardly claim to be too 
busy, tho there are three boobies lying on the table waiting to be skinned. They 
can wait till tomorrow. 
To the bird collector who is accustomed to the comparative wildness of most 
California birds, the Galapagos Islands provide an interesting change in the curi- 
osity, and disregard for man, of their feathered inhabitants. To the ‘cainerist’ who 
has been used to spending hours and sometimes days trying to photograph a mock- 
ing bird on its nest, the unusual opportunities that here present themselves for 
bird photography are to be long remembered with pleasure. I call to mind now 
my troubles on Tower Island in getting a picture of a Nesomimus baiiri at her nest. 
No sooner had I placed the camera in position and waited a moment for the frolic- 
some parent to get properly stationed than up flew two more mockers who pro- 
ceeded to investigate the camera and incidentally the nest of their neighbor. Of 
course this intrusion was not to be allowed by any bird of spirit so I had to wait 
while she, with the assistance of her spouse, who had been busy chasing off an im- 
pudent Geospiza pachyryncha, cleared their tree of the intruders. She then kindly 
consented to my wishes and after posing in .several positions I selected one that 
