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172 THE CONDOR Vol. XIII and others. A salute of seventeen hundred Murres was fired upon our arrival (only the east battery participating, however); and we were introduced to the fourteen Farallonians, from Mr. Rosendale, the able head keeper, to baby "Snoozer" Cobb, the idol of the thirteen grown ups. But the birds ! They are the real proprietors. The pungent odor of guano smites the nostrils at six cable-lengths remove; while ashore it is fairly stifling to the novice. From pinnacle and arch'and ledge comes the faint uproar of the Murres, always crowding, bowing, craning, gabbling; "sea pigeons" hiss and "sea parrots" flit by in silent platoons; while over all rises the discordant scream of the sea gull, the irrepressible, the irreconcilable, the insatiable Western Gull. Humans sit only by sufferance on the edge of this arian volcano, while every- where, by day or night, birds shift and seethe and gyrate in multitudinous kaleido- scopic succession. Birds--Bt'rds--BIRD?V. It is a sight to be remembered, and no enthusiasm of utterance on the part of visitors can quite spoil it for you when your turn comes. Fig. 49. iN ANGRY MOOD LOOKII?G NORTI-IEAST TOWARD SUGARLOAF The xveather was charming the first day or so. Not a breath of air stirred, and the sun was burning bright,--insomuch that a mere gross of photographic plates looked insignificant beside the boundless opportunity. But on the third day the northwest xvit?d tuned up. It blew xvith steadily increasing pressure until photog- raphy xvas not to be thought of, and out-of-door study of any sort became a test of endurance. The mercury registered 48 at night and rose to 52 daytimes. After eight days the north xvind fell and xve had dull xveather from the southxvest. This brought the nilgrants, a motley and a xvoe-begone company. There is no cover on the island save a bit of a grove of Monterey cypress near the siren, and a hedge about a tiny garden in the keeper's yard. Yet, misguided and bexvildered, the frail creatures came, day after day, Alaskan migrants, xvanderers from the mainland,and exiles from the far East. The occurrence of unusual eastern forms has been noted on these islands before. Indeed, at the present rate it xvould not be surprising if