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 8 THE CONDOR VoL. XI over the back, the wind's levitation thus bearing most of the weight. Actually, the birds now walk on the water, paddling with the big feet quite sufficing to lift the bodies clear, and, gulping food rapidly as they go, the whole performance is most grotesque. With all this excitement, there is no noise; in a few moments the last scrap has disappeared, a hundred wings are extended, and, with a final "push", each bird rises lightly to windward, resuming his tireless vigil in our wake. I am inclined to believe that among ornithologists unaccustomed.to ocean voy- aging, a mistaken estimate is apt to prevail as to the relative number of pelagic birds: I say "relative", for of course the actual total is enormous. Such a false impression would naturally arise from several causes, the principal one, no doubt, being a failure to realize the immensity of the seas, covering, as they do, four-fifths of the earth's surface: an incredible number of birds may be scattered over this vast area and yet appear, as is actually the cise, few and far between. Then, too, these birds breed in colonies, and are best known to us when assembled in appar- ently countless hordes. While it is true that in making a coastwise trip, say from San Francisco to San Diego, or New York to New Orleans, one would, during cer- tain seasons of the year, have plenty of leathered followers, few of the birds ob- served would be "pelagic", and a voyage over the high seas in similar latitudes would probably be comparatively lonely; indeed, I can confidently assert that ex- cept in high latitudes, and especially those of the southern hemisphere, one may sail not only hundreds but thousands of miles and not see a bird for days at a time. The recent voyage of the "Kansas"--with the other fifteen battleships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet--from San Francisco to Japan, via Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippine Islands, may serve as an illustration. The total dis- tance covered was approximately 12,000 miles, but except from Lat. 32 S., Long. 178 E. (some two hundred miles north of New Zealand) to Lat. 30 S., Long. 112 E. (of[ the west coast of Australia) I did not observe, all told, as many as 100 pelagic birds. Doubtless many escaped notice, but I was much of the time on deck myself, and my shipmates, knowing my hobby, were always keen to send me word whenever any "strange birds" were about. I think, therefore, such errors were reasonably few and quite insufficient to materially affect the general conclusions expressed herein. U.S. . _Kansas, T'okahama, Japan. NESTING OF THE XANTUS MURRELET AS OBSERVED ON LOS CORONADOS ISLANDS, LOWER CALIFORNIA By CHESTER LAMB HIS article does not pretend to be a life history of trachyramphus hypoleu- cus, for my stay on its breeding grounds was much too short to make full observations. It is merely an account of the manner in which the species nests in the locality where I found it. Los Coronados Islands are four in number, situated a few miles south of the boundary line of California and Mexico, and about ten miles from the mainland. They are quite small, the largest being not over two miles and a half long, by a mile wide, the next in size about half as large, while the two remaining are mere large rocks rising out of the sea. During the week, May 30 to June 6, 1908, it was my good fortune to camp on