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 THE CONDOR I Vol. IV 5o THE CONDOR. Bulletin of the COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB O1' CAIII*ORNIA. Published hi-monthly at Santa Clara, Cal., in the interests and as Official Organ of the Club. CHESTER BARLOW, Santa Clara, Cal., Editor and Business Manager. WALTER K. FISHER, Stanford University Cal. HOWARD ROBERTSON, Box 55, Sta. A., Los Angeles. Associates. Subscription, (in advance) One Dollar a Year. Single Copies,. ...... 25 Cents, Six Copies or more of one issue, 2 Cents Each. Foreign Subscription, - ..... Free to Honorary Members and to Active Members not in arrears for dues. Advertising rates will be sent on application. Advertisements and subscriptions should be sent to the Business Managers. Exchanges should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. Entered at the Santa Clara Post-office as second class matter. This issue of The Condor was mailed lar. xs' EDITORIAL Our contemporary, 7'e O$re., begins the new year with a new series. The January issue presents a change of cover paper while laid paper is used of the inside, giving a pleasing result. An excellent monograph of the cali- fornia jay by Donald A. Cohen constitutes the opening article. The editors present their thanks to Mr. Rich- ard C. McGregor for his careful preparation of the index to Volume [II which is mailed with this issue, Readers of this magazine will observe that almost the entire space of the issue is given over to text, The problem of a large quantity of MS. has necessitated tile omission of a num- ber of half-tones intended for this issue, but these will appear in the May CONDOR. Among the illustrated articles laid 6ver is One by Win. L. Finley on "Seabirds of the Oregon Coast", accompanied by several of Mr. Bohlman's superb bird photographs. CORRESPONDENCE. A LITTER FROM THE GALAPAGOS EX- PEDITION. Lat. 6 4 o/, Long IO4 January i, 1902. Editor THE CONDOR: A resolution formed this morning (the cus- tomary day for new resolutions) was to the effect that a nice, rambling, disconnected letter to you would be the proper form. (Digression: Have just spent one-half hour getting a small tern, a new oe to us, that flew about in com- pany of another, the former being the first of its kind We have seen). To begin, the weather is a fertile topic, we having had lovely weather for steamboats but for our sailing vessel a trifle too calm. We are 240 miles west of Acapulco, Mexico, where we are bound with two men from Clip- perton Island. Yesterday we made 6 miles N. W., the day before 9 miles N E., and the two preceding days roo miles each east, so you see it is about as uucertaiu as it is collect- tug eagles' eggs at Satgents. We thought four days ago that we might be at Acapulco by New Years; now we hope to get there in the sweet bye and bye. From there we go to Cocos, probably, and thence to the Galapagos. After leaving Mexico we expect a fair wind to Cocos. The evenings and mornings are glorious out here, bright, delicately-tinted clouds at sunset and daybreak that completely eclipse similar sea-scapes in California. The birds that occur off here are several in variety, The other morning, my watch from 4 to 8, the first seen was a single shearwater from $ocorro, then a petrel flitted by. Next was a young Brewster booby that circled about and flew off to join some blue-faced boobies in the distance. A red-billed tropic bird appeared for a few us and later in the day a frigate bird showed in the sky. These are our usual visitors. Around Clipperton Aeslrelala phaepygia was frequently seen and the sooty terns wander hundred of miles from the island. The blue- faced boobies found at sea at this season are all young birds, that is, ten or eleven months old. Nearly all that we have seen at sea for the last three weeks have been in this plum- age. Within 40 miles of Clipperton adult boobies were common, and of the thousands of blue-faced boobies see on the island but one was seen in the spotted plumage. Clipperton Island! How I'd like to spend the month of January there with a good 8xo camera, The family life of three or four species of birds could be pretty well photo- graphed in that time. Of the blue-faced boobies (3'ula cyanops) one can get a picture of one or a hundred or a thousand. Their tame- ness is occasionally decidedly annoying when one happens to be in a hurry attd the nests are close together. It is advisable always to walk not closer than two feet form a sitting bird. With nests scattered around promiscuously it is a regular zigzag trail one makes. Xula nes- totes which is abundant also, does not nest till later though pairs of birds are holding down nesting sites and an occasional young bird unable to fly is noted. But the land crabs! Why, there are millions