98 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XI 
not estimate, the island being too rocky. Scattered thru this colony of pelicans 
were a good number of Farallone Cormorants’ nests with fresh eggs. We spent 
the day on North Island and returned at dark. We spent the rest of our time on 
South Island and Middle Island collecting, shooting, and taking notes. We did 
not consider North Island worth visiting again. 
Following is a list of birds seen on this trip, with a few notes: 
Ptychoramphus aleuticus. Cassin Anklet. A few were seen on the way down, 
and several colonies were found on North Island containing nearly full grown 
young. On the return trip I shot into a flock of fulmars, and to my surprise one 
of the birds which I shot for a fulmar, proved to be an auklet. They were 
mast into a compact flock with the auklet in its center. 
Brachyramphus hypoleucus. Xantus Murrelet. Only two seen — a female 
with a downy young, about two miles from shore. Several old nests were found 
with broken eggs, and two 
of them contained dead birds, 
killed probably by the cat 
which inhabits South Island. 
Larus occidentalis. Western 
Gull. Very common; they 
are very destructive to the 
colonies of the other birds, 
eating eggs and small young. 
They were a great nuisance 
around camp, as they were so 
bold that we had to box every- 
thing that was not canned, or 
they would make short work 
of it. In a recent Geographi- 
cal Magazine I read an inter- 
esting article about a colony of 
Brown Pelicans in Florida, 
in which the writer says that 
he noticed that the young peli- 
cans in each nest were of dif- 
ferent sizes and ages. He 
could not find any reason for 
this. I think I can explain 
it. Down at the Coronados I found the same thing. The young pelicans and 
cormorants were of different sizes and ages in one nest. The reason was that 
when the pelican or cormorant laid an egg it had to sit on it to guard it from the 
gulls which were always on the look-out for a nest left unguarded. In this way 
the egg was incubated, so consequently the young birds were hatcht on different 
dates. 
Sterna forsteri. Forster Tern. Several seen on the trip down. 
Diomedea nigripes. Black-footed Albatross. A bird which I took to be of this 
species followed us for some time going down. 
Fulmarus glacialis glupischa. Pacific Fulmar. Many seen on the trip; they 
were very shy. 
Oceanodroma. Petrel, sp. ? We observed many petrels, but as we took none we 
PORTION OF COLONY OF CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICANS 
ON SOUTH ISLAND 
