“ Frequently flocks of six or eight pelicans would pass like grey ghosts in the moonlight, flying in "pelican order," each just behind and a little to one side of the one preceding it. They but cleared the water, rising and failing in perfect time to skim the long, smooth swell. They were all conting from the direction of the bay and flying toward the islands in a grave, business-like manner that ever marks the species as one that takes life seriously. ”

“ That there are many skins collected today which the demands of science do not warrant, everyone knows. A remedy is needed, which, if it does not materially increase the birds, will at least leave many unslaughtered that annually pay the penalty to the over-zealous collector. Those who accumulate vast series of eggs will have to plead hard for justification, although the egg evil is not so wide-spreading as some have claimed. It is well known that almost every bird will lay a second time when robbed and rear a brood as successfully as if the first nest had been undisturbed. ”

“ If the rank and file of bird students would put aside the idea that "microscopic" subdivisions of plastic species are made only for the purpose of bestowing new names, and think of the determined "subspecies" as admittedly short, but still definite steps along the evolutionary highway, not only would the whole science of ornithology be benefited by a new interest, but we would be spared much of the ranting about "hair splitting", in which well-meaning but misguided souls indulge from time to time. What constitutes a subspecies is just now a difficult question to answer. ”

“ On Feb. 16 the nest contained one egg but that night a heavy wind storm brushed it against an adjoining limb and the little home was ruined. March 10 the nest containing the second set of eggs situated about twenty feet from the first, fell into the hands of an eager collector. Weeks passed, and although the dainty song of the male was often heard from his favorite perch on a telegraph wire, the female could not be found. Imagine my surprise when on April 23 as I was passing down the steps, I saw the third nest not six inches from my head. ”

“ Here the warblers and vireos pour forth their most exquisite songs and the creepers and nuthatches industriously gyrate up and down the oaks and pines while the woodpeckers and sapsuckers drum idly on the dead stubs. Here all bird life dwells in seeming harmony, and as recurrent thoughts carry one back to the hum-drum of city life I almost wish I might linger alway in this idyllic spot. ”

“ Before we had gone as far as White's Landing, I thought I discerned a stranger in the distance, and sure enough a closer view proved that we were in pursuit of a rare bird, none other than the Rhinoceros Auklet, with which this paper is supposed to mainly deal. With such a prize before us, we rowed for all we were worth, and soon were in fair range of it. A shot from a rocking boat at a target on the rolling waves, is not the easiest imaginable, and ours failed, or rather, the instant we fired, our Auklet disappeared in the water. ”

“ The young grew at a great rate and kept the old birds busy from morning to night bringing food. They remained in the nest on an average about two weeks, or until it was too small for them. After leaving the nest the old birds continued to feed them for some time. It was a ludicrous sight to see five fluffy youngsters ranged one after the other on the rose-bush stakes, with quivering, outstretched wings and constant plaintive cries waiting their turn to be fed by the parents. The old birds took them one after another, never seeming to make a mistake as to whose turn it was next. ”

“ When in sight of the ledge I pointed it out to Rollin who was making his first trip to the locality. He remarked: "Pshaw, is that your great cliff: I will jump from the top when we get there." I advised him to remember that the altitude makes a slight difference in the appearance of objects. Another hour of steady climbing and we neared the foot of the precipice, where Rollin postponed his jump as he did not think it possible to reach the top of the cliff!
No birds were visible but we tied up the horses and a stone thrown from where we stood, brought the female off the nest. ”

“ The protectionist who would prevent the slaughter of a single bird is as rampant as the collector who thinks he would be justified in shooting every winged creature of the air. Many excellent pleas have appeared in various journals of late, the writers of which doubtless speak from the heart and wish to eradicate evils,—such as the "egg collecting scourge" as it has been termed—which have some foundation in fact. ”

“ It was here that one of the cormorants in pursuit of a flying fish chased it out of the water so near the boat that the fish passed within a few inches of my face, and the bird, rising to the surface an instant later, was so startled by the sudden discovery of the boat, it uttered a squawk of horror which was drowned in a gurgle as its author hastily disappeared below. A cormorant never tries to fly when it is in a hurry and can as easily dive. After leaving the kelp and getting fairly out to sea, gulls were rather common, flying in small flocks of three or four to a dozen. ”

“ He has become so tame as to take up his roosting place in a climbing Cherokee rose vine which runs over the rear gable of the house, close to a window at which is my work table. I could look on him as he came to his lodgings, which were always approached with a sharp outcry, while at other times he would announce it was roosting time by perching on the tall flowering spikes of a garden plant and crying out in a harsh clicking note which could be heard for several hundred feet. ”

“ Emerson is an ardent naturalist within the full meaning of the term, and has made photography as much a part of his collecting as the gun, while his note books, carefully kept for twenty years, contains a wealth of valuable notes on the birds of the coast counties of California. The Bulletin will soon print his list of the Birds of Santa Cruz County. His skill as a taxidermist, and his exquisite touch as an artist are not less pronounced than the other traits which mark him as a true naturalist. ”

“ The Waxwings come in May in large bands and fill themselves with these berries, flying then to orchard or creek trees where they sit puffed up in little brown balls, disgorging the kernels which later take root and grow.
In the spring of 1897 Mimus began to show a great deal of playfulness by chasing away the robins from the pepper trees and from about the house even down to the orchard, sailing at them with his flashing white-barred wings and tail, until all had left his grounds. At no time does he wander off the place nor has he brought a mate in returning each fall ”

“ A moot point has long been as to whether the bird lays its egg directly into the nest of the victim, or deposits its egg elsewhere and places said egg by the way of its beak into the foster nest. Mr. Chance is so sure of the correctness of his own conclusions, which are of the former import, that he has issued a "challenge" involving a wager of 500 pounds with anyone who wishes to set out to prove the contrary. Thus he hopes to stimulate further careful and scientific enquiry into "the cuckoo's secret". And at the same time the Englishman's love of sport will come into play! ”

“ There are species little known, such as the Californian Pine Grosbeak and some others in the Sierras which no collector could be criticised for collecting on sight, but this idea of making a daily killing, shooting everything in sight be it sparrow, warbler, flycatcher, woodpecker or what not, simply to swell the number of skins of the season's work is gory and not compatible with the ideas which a conscientious ornithologist should hold. ”

“ No doubt the abundance of bird life is accounted for by the protection they receive from the Chinese, whose religion prevents their wanton destruction. In Japan however it is just the opposite. I noticed in a Japanese taxidermist's more than 100 skins of the beautiful Kingfisher and an equal number of the brilliantly colored Wag-tails, beside a horde of Finches, Thrushes and larger birds. Of what use such large numbers of skins can be is a mystery to me. Aside from the wild birds, the bird stores of Old Shanghai are worthy of notice. ”

“ Ichthyologist, mammalogist, herpetologist, and invertebrate systematists seem to struggle along without the use of trivial names; why cannot ornithologists? If we had a list of common names which were ordinarily recognized, they would be useful, but such a thing is impossible, and why we should advocate the use of such names as sinew, jabiru, limpkin, parauque, grassquit and dickcissel is a fact I do not understand. Scientific are more accurate than, and as readily used when known, as trivial names, in fact, are often preferred. ”

“ In 1821 William Cooper departed for Europe in order to perfect himself in zoology, and was the first American member of the Zoological Society of London. He attended the lectures of Cuvier and those master minds of the Jardin des Plantes, and on his return to the United States took up the study of Palæontology, being among the first in our country to engage in this science. He became the warm friend of Schoolcraft who afterwards made for himself a name as a historian of the Indian races. ”

“ The gigantic struggle of the Civil War found him a student and an active worker in the field of science. Watching this struggle, listening to the roll-calls of the dead, sick and wounded, he again sought service in the army, and on May 24, 1864, Gov. F. F. Law commissioned him as Assistant Surgeon, 2d Cavalry, California Volunteers, and he served with this regiment until its muster out. Even during this period he did not relinquish his scientific work, which was that of identification of individual specimens, of reference, and in publishing his observations. ”

“ The female Snowy Plover often waits until one is within a few feet of the nest before she leaves it, and when she does hop off is generally unobserved. This Plover is a very quiet, unobtrusive bird, in fact, one might tread the beach for hours in the midst of these birds and not know of their presence unless particular pains were taken to ascertain it. Instead of rising from the ground and flying overhead like the Terns, on the approach of a person they run along the sand a few hundred feet, remain motionless for a short time, and then run on again. ”

“ All night they are going and coming and some of them must go many miles front home and make perhaps several trips each night to satisfy the cravings of the ever-hungry squabs. Soon after reaching the auklets, shearwaters were seen flashing by in the moonlight and the frequent, discordant cries that reached me proclaimed them to be, in part at least, the Black-vented species. ”

“ Outlined against the fleecy clouds, with snow-topped mountain ranges serrating the horizon, and ice-bergs of wonderful blueness in the channel ahead, these wanderers from the Arctic regions complete Nature's composition of an otherwise unfinished work of art. ”

“ Then came one of those long tramps which you are led to take by seeing a mirage of most beautiful eggs, and though as you come to the top of each hill you swear you will go no farther than the next, you are led on and on until the sun, after repeated warnings, slowly sinks behind the distant mountains and night claims her own. ”

“ I should be glad to receive contributions of notes or photographs to fill in any of these gaps. Or I should be glad to correspond with anyone who has anything else to offer. I am, of course, well supplied with photographs illustrating nests, eggs and young of all the common species, but there are many gaps still to be filled. I am trying to read everything that is published on American birds, but I have no access to private notes, that have not been published, unless they are sent in as contributions. ”

“ The ignorance displayed by this star organization is deplorable in the extreme, and each member should enrich his library with a few of the government publications on the raptorial birds and bluejays and their food habits, thus rendering himself more capable of exercising the discretion necessary to the proper use of a gun. The Bulletin stands for bird protection, and will strenuously oppose wanton slaughter at all times regardless of its source. ”

“ This bird is much more common in California than most people have been led to suppose. There are a number in our collection from Marin and San Benito counties, though we have only collected them casually. I have seen a good many that have not been taken and find that at close range they can be sufficiently recognized by the superloral and postocular streaks to enable one to be moderately accurate in identification. That is to say, if a person were to shoot all that he saw with this characteristic he would find the majority of his birds to be coronata. ”

“ The noise that a pair of Fox Sparrows can produce from a pile of dry twigs and leaves is really remarkable and out of all proportion to the size of the bird. I saw a whole flock of quail hurry through a thicket in the bottom of a ravine without half the clatter that a sparrow on the hill-side, fifty yards away, was raising. Everyone who goes hunting at Catalina is ever on the lookout for foxes, which are numerous on the Island, and there is scarcely any one who does not stop and listen with gun ready for use, when he hears the rythmic rustle of dry leaves anmng the dark bushes ahead of him. ”