July, 1902. 
'I'HK CONDOR 
99 
l)9-d photographer, and was published iu The 
Condor for Noveniher-Deceniher 1901. We 
would suggest to Bro. Reed that some one has 
deceived him. In fact all publishers find it a 
necessity to discriminate closely in this day of 
too-frecpient fraud photography, and if we mis- 
take not, among the hundreds of bird pictures 
published in various periodicals during the 
past year, are a number suggestive of the fact 
that the subject had lost all interest in mun- 
dane things long before it made its advent be- 
fore the camera. 
In the minutes of the May meeting of the 
Northern Division published in The Condor for 
May the paper entitled “The American Ornith- 
ologists’ Union of 1840-45’’ should have been 
credited to Mr. Witmer vStone. Mr. H. W. 
Fowler kindly secured and presented the pai)er 
before the Club, much to the enjo3'ment of 
those present. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Ai.bemaree; Id., Galapagos, April i, 
via Ecuador and San Francisco, June 30. 
Editor The: Condor: 
We are just down from the top of the island 
where we’ve been skinning for a few da\’s; 
scaring wild cattle and dogs, getting rained on 
and looking at a sulphur factor}’ have been sec- 
ondary amusements. The little shot pistol is 
all right in this countrv either for birds or cat- 
tle. Have been using it altogether except on 
flamingos. There we used a shot-gun and 
secured several. Saw their ne.sts of mud from 
which the young had just walked. The most 
complete one was only six inches high on a 
rock in a lagoon. Several other nests in poor 
shape were within a foot and a set of four stilts 
was twenty feet away on the same rock but a 
foot above water. 
The stilts nest here commonly judging by 
their actions. The flamingos were moulting 
and four of those shot had no primaries. They 
seem to shed them altogether. I noticed the 
birds did not fly, but walked about in the 
lagoon in which was six inches of water and 
two or three feet of mud. One of the mo.st in- 
teresting things lately noticed in the bird line 
is the extreme tameness of the hawks up at the 
ranch. The natives hang up their meat out- 
side the hou.se, by the fire, or any place handy 
and if it isn’t watched the hawks are liable to 
eat it all before leaving. I saw a native knock 
two on the head with a short stick while they 
were eating his meat. 
Yesterday two of us were skinning a tortoise 
under a tree, throwing the meat a few feet 
away and soon there were ten hawks within 
fifteen feet of us in the grass eating the meat, 
while eight or ten more sat in the trees either 
too full to eat or waiting for a chance. The 
.small (I'eospiza fulio n/osa which is the most 
common bird in the grou]) is a great friend of 
the tortoise on the island. I have seen over a 
dozen different birds hopping about on different 
tortoise’s backs, necks and heads. It is an 
easy way to get the grass seeds of which they 
are fond. The 1)irds pick the seeds off the 
tortoise’s head and no.se while the neck is 
extended and on no occasion did the tortoi.se 
.seem annoved. I saw a bright red Pyrocejdialus 
taking a ride on a tortoise’s back the other day. 
He rode several feet before flying off. There 
are some large tortoise on this island about 500 
pounds in weight at a low estimate. We hope 
to get one or two alive before leaving this 
island. 
On Tower Island we struck a petrel colony, — 
a colony like those you read about. We saw 
.some thousands of them flying about a cliff and 
thev were evidently .seeking nesting sites, as 
manv of them would dart iiito a crack or 
crevice in the lava. I spent half a day bruising 
my hands on the rocks trying to find eggs. 
Found several shearwaters’ eggs but no petrels. 
Among the thousands of birds seen not a single 
O. gracia/is or O. cryptoleitcura was observed, 
all of them being F. tethys. 
I mentioned in a former letter that I had 
never seen but one young booby in a nest, tho’ 
many with two eggs. Since then I have noted 
several Neboux’s boobies with two young ones, 
all sizes up to a month old at least. Have seen 
two or three sets of three eggs of Neboux’s 
boobies out of perhaps 100 nests examined. 
The.se boobies, the males especially, have a 
most comical manner of walking about while 
guarding the nesting site. It consists of a very 
high ste]) with a critical inspection of the 
ground before him, tail pointing skyward and 
peculiar looking eyes and mien, are some of 
the characteristics. I think we have one or 
two photograjdis showing some of the poses. 
The frigate birds interest me greatly. 1 
have not yet been able to get a photograph 
showing the fulle.st sized pouch of the breeding 
male. Have seen dozens when without the 
camera or when in too much of a hurry to 
.secure what was wanted. They are tame as 
other birds. I caught one on Tower Island 
with inflated pouch and did my best to dimin- 
ish its size but failed. The males .secure nearly 
all the ne.sting material, bringing it to the 
fetnale who watches the ne.st and places the 
material. If a nest is left by both birds for 
half an hour no nest is there on their return, 
the males from the other nests having taken all 
of it. The loving care.ss and tender cooing of 
the males seem more fitting to a gentle dove 
than to these pirates who get mo.st of their food 
from the boobies. 
Buenos tarde. 
R. H, Beck. 
