THE. C951).OR Volume Vii September-October 1005 Number Among the Sea Birds off the Oregon Coast, Part I BY WILLIAM LOVELI, FINI, ExZ T HE coast line of Oregon is rngged and very picturesque. It is interspersed
- with short sand beaches and jutting rocks, which have been left standing at
intervals by the erosion of the sea. Sixty miles south of the mouth of the Columbia is the largest group, charted as Three Arch Rocks, so named because each has a great arch worn completely through its base. These great stacks of basalt are a mile off shore; the outer rock is 297 feet high and the inner rises 304 feet above the sea surface. In shore from Three Arch Rocks is a smaller broken group, some of which may be reached by wading out at extreme low tide. Our plan was to make a careful stud. y of the sea birds that lived on Three Arch Rocks, and picture them with our cameras. This could not be done in a day, nor in several hurried trips, so we intended to hazard a camp on the ledges of one of the rocks, where, with the least possible disturbance to the birds, we could watch them carefully for several days in succession and collect a good series of ph?toffraphs. How could we carry out these plans? The only way the rocks could be reached was by a small boat. We found no one along the beach who cared to take the risk of helping us. But we did find a small fourteen-foot, double-ended dory at Netart's, the only available craft along the coast. In point of necessity, if we camped on the rocks, we had to have asupply of fresh water, tenting and clothing for stormy weather, some fuel for cooking, and provisions enough for emergency. Besides this, we had a heavy camera equipment of two 5x 7 long- focus cameras and about ?5o plates. We were in a dilemma. This boat was too light to carry such a load, to say nothing of passing the barrier of big breakers that never ceased to pound in along
