The California Gull 
to count the nests. An outlying ridge of rock, barely severed from the 
main shore, we did not visit at all, although it was crowded with birds. 
The shore line at this place sloped rather sharply for, say, two-thirds 
of the distance occupied by the colony, running from the water’s edge up 
to forty feet; but there was also a considerable flat which was densely 
covered with breeding birds. The shore here, although of volcanic origin, 
was largely covered with rounded rocks, probably water-worn, and 
further mitigated by the guanos of long occupation. 
The variety of eggs presented was bewitching (the motif of our visit 
was chiefly oological), but we were shut out of fully three-fourths of our 
preferences by the fact that the eggs were near hatching. Of two sets 
of four, for example, those of one were pipped, and the others, though 
taken, presented only “tops” when finished. Significantly, the number 
of fresh or savable eggs among the twos outnumbered those among the 
threes, ten to one. 
In fact, there was 
scarcely a set of 
three found which 
we could be sure 
of saving in per¬ 
fect condition. 
This leads quick¬ 
ly to the suspi¬ 
cion that sets of 
two represent for 
the most part 
second attempts on 
the part of those 
whose previous 
attempts have for 
one reason or an¬ 
other proved fu¬ 
tile. That this is 
not altogether the 
case is, of course, 
abundantly prov¬ 
en by the num¬ 
ber of twos ready 
to hatch. Many of the ones, in like manner, were perfectly fresh, the 
beginning of new sets; but others, as certainly, were actually “sets,” 
and placed in nests which were intended to hold no more. 
One suspects further that a deficiency in the normal number of eggs 
I 4°9 
