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 8o THE CONDOR VoL, IX NATIVIDAD ISLAND "Natividad I.sland lies eight miles south of Cerros, and four miles from the mainland. It is three and three-quarter miles long, from northeast to southwest, and from half a mile to one and a half miles wide, widest at its southeastern end. "It is a barreu island, composed of rocky hills which in the middle part rise to a height of four hundred and forty-nine feet. The shores are steep and rocky bordered by detached rocks and kelp, except at the southeastern end where there is a sand beach about half a mile long. "The vegetation of the island consists chiefly of the ice plant, which forms a carpet over the island, a tall species of cactus and a few small shrubs. "There were seals along the shore, and these and one species of lreromyscus" (]OC'0111)'$Clt$ Iltllll'Cll[tl[ll$ 'l'0111'llell$l'$ (Allen), kindly identified by Mr. W. H. Osgood) "which was very abundant appeared to constitute the mammalian fauna of Natividad. We saw several lizards. "The beach was the resort of thousands of cormorants, and the island is noted for its guano deposits. The ground was honey-combed by the burrows of the shearwaters and Cassin auklets; most of these burrows were about five feet long, but one was ten feet. They were mostly deserted at tim time of our visit, and we found but two with birds in them. We stayed but a day on Natividad and noted no small land birds." Ptych0ramphus aleuticus (Pall.). One adult, April 14. Puffinus 0pisth0melas Coues. One adult male, April 14. Phalacr0c0rax penicillatus (Brandt). One adult male, April 14. Falc0 peregrinus ariaturn (Bp.). One adult male, April 14. Arenaria melan0cephala (Vig.). Three adult males, April 14. Itmmat0pus frazari Brewst. Three specimens, one male and two females (adults), April 14. 31umenius huds0nicus Lath. Two adult males, April 14. alidris arenaria (Linn.). Four females, April 14. Larus heermanni Cassin. Two females, April 14.' The males taken at this time of year on Cerros Island have pure white heads; in these two fentales the head is mottled grayish and brownish with a buff tinge; possibly they are not fully adult. Till,; SAN BENITO ISLANDS "The San Benito Islands are a group of three small, rocky, barren islands sur- rounded by outlying rocks and kelp. They lie at their uearest point fifteen miles west of the northern end of Cerros Island, and cover an area of nearly four miles in longitude by one and a half miles in latitude. They are about fifty miles from the mainland. West Benito, the largest, has bold, rocky shores and consists of an elevated plateau with a monnd near the centre six hundred feet above the sea. Middle Benito is a low flat island, its highest part only eighty-txvo feet above the sea. It is separated from West Benito by a passage two hundred feet wide. East Benito is the second largest and is marked by four promineut hills, the highest four hundred and twenty-oe feet in altitude. The vegetation consists of the tall cactus and a few shrubs. During our stay of two days we saw no nmmmals. Several lizards were seen, but noue were secured. Only five species of small land birds were found, and ouly one of these xvas at all abundant--the large-billed sparrow. They were quite common, and we found young just out of the nest, tho no eggs. Cassin auklets were also very abundant and were breeding in burrows in the ground. We took one egg, the other uests all containing one young one each.