May., 1902. 1 
THE CONDOR 
55 
a difficult problem to reach the rocks at 
all. Our only method was by launch- 
ing a boat in the surf and rowing out, 
then the equal difficulty of landing and 
getting to the top of the rocks. After 
waiting for about a week we were en- 
abled to make two trips to the rocks. 
Most of our observations were made on 
the rock furthest out at sea known as 
Shag Rock, as it was the most accessible 
and larger than the others. We as- 
cended one of the other rocks but found 
the same species breeding there. 
A couple of days at such a bird 
metropolis is a novel experience for a 
sented itself ; looking down the rocky 
slope up which we had come we 
counted hundreds of nests of Brandt 
cormorant scattered over the entire 
length ever)" few feet apart. To the 
north was a large slope of about 150 
yards covered with a rich growth of 
yellow-flowered weeds, among which 
many gulls had placed their nests. The 
whole distance was perforated with the 
burrows of petrels and puffins. The 
south side was a sheer precipice and 
hundreds of feet below the waves 
dashed against the granite foundation. 
But their sound was lost in the ceaseless 
PHOTO BY 0OHLMAN. 
BRANDT CORMORANTS NESTS FROM TOP OF ROCKS. 
person; one who has not been among 
the sea-birds cannot imagine the sight 
that presents itself. Our time was too 
short to make many observations of 
value or to seciire a good series of plio- 
tographs. At every turn scenes of 
bird life that would have made interest- 
ing pictures presented themselves, but 
the difficulties in the way of success 
were almost as numerous. 
When we reached the top-most point 
of Shag Rock an interesting sight pre- 
cries of great numbers of sea-fowl that 
we had aroused by our presence. They 
crowded about in the air, circling over 
and darting past oiu heads, watching 
every move we made. It gave us a 
wierd feeling and we felt like getting 
out of the disputed territory. 
Of the three species of cormorants we 
found on the rocks Brandt {P/ialacro- 
corax penicillatus) was by far the com- 
monest. The nests of the great colony 
on Shag Rock showed that they had 
