114 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
our goodly craft. The spirit of pervading quiet settled down over the face of 
the brooding waters. 
However, shortly before midnight, a stiff wind came out of the northwest 
freshening up the w T aves and adding tone to the erstwhile quiet aspect of the 
night. This soon increased to a gale accompanied by a heavy sea. On all 
sides the threatening wind beat into a driving spray the curly white crests of 
the salty w r aves. Our course was to the northwest in the face of the wind. 
No headway could be made by tacking, owing to the strong adverse wind 
and the heavy sea, which not only drove the boat leeward but also dashed over 
the boat, saturating everybody and everything except the provisions that 
were safely stored away under the hatches. The anchor was dropped at 
about 3 A. m. in some sixty feet of water and at a distance of a mile or so 
west of the south end of Antelope Island, and the boat was bailed out prepar- 
atory to snatching a little sleep. 
Towards morning the wind quieted down and the party arose and made 
a few feeble and sluggish attempts towards the prevention of getting any 
colder. The prevailing opinion at first was that w 7 e had frozen during the 
night, but this illusion proved to be produced by the stiffness of our clothing, 
due to its being impregnated with salt from the previous night’s saturation. 
As there were few or no facilities for exercise, the situation resolved itself into 
each of us telescoping as far as possible into his clothes, mudturtle-wise, and 
awaiting the rising sun. How welcome were the pink tints reflected from the 
western peaks can be imagined only by those who were members of the party. 
The sun finally came over Antelope Island very slowly, and with it a slight 
breeze so that we were able to make our way to this island. 
A brief examination was made of the vicinity of our temporary camp but 
nothing of any ornithological interest was found. After a stay of perhaps 
two hours, we embarked at about 10 a. m. for Hat Island, some thirty- 
eight miles away. We encountered a slight northerly breeze so our progress 
was slow. A few solitary gulls, several small flocks of from four to twelve 
Eared Grebes feeding on the floating refuse of the lake, an occasional Great 
Blue Heron, and several flocks of the White Pelican were seen. Now and then 
the peep of a hummingbird, presumably the Black-chinned, was heard in the 
air above. We also saw two cormorants in the distance flying close to the 
water, according to their custom. At about three o’clock in the afternoon 
a stiff northeast wind sprang up, and we made very good time toward Hat 
Island. Wh'en in the current from Bear River, some ten miles from the island, 
we saw a large number of gulls feeding in the water, presumably upon the 
food material brought in from Bear River. Towards evening many isolated 
gulls overtook us while they were returning from foraging expeditions to the 
mainland. 
The nearer the island the more numerous and vociferous did the bird life 
become. At 7 :35 the sun sank into the red and golden west and in about 
half an hour we passed into the quiet lee of Hat Island. Here we were greeted 
by the nasal squawks and aerial courtesies of literally thousands of gulls that 
arose from the island and wheeled around over our boat. Words are inade- 
quate to convey any impression or to give a concept of the vastness of their 
numbers. They seemed to literally jostle one another in the air as they 
clouded the sky with their mass. They were suggestive of a huge swarm of 
bees or the clouds of Passenger Pigeons that Audubon describes. When in 
